Colorado came out fired up in the opening seconds of Saturday’s MLS game against Atlanta United.
Pressing across the field, the Rapids wanted to force the Five Stripes, already trying to deal with the thin air and hair dryer blown heat, into an early mistake that could affect the game.
Atlanta United has seen this tactic before.
After a few passes, the ball went to Atlanta United’s Darlington Nagbe.
Playing his first game after an injury layoff that lasted almost three months, Nagbe gave a shoulder shimmy to one Rapids player that left him staring into space like one of the prairie dogs that can be found outside Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Nagbe then dribbled up the field and hit a long diagonal pace to a streaking Chris McCann, who had acres of space.
That was the end of the Colorado's press for a while. Atlanta United went on to win 3-0, with Nagbe completing each of his 33 passes.
“D is D,” teammate Julian Gressel said of Nagbe. “He gets us out of trouble a lot of times. It was good to have him back on the field.”
Nagbe hadn’t played since suffering an adductor injury against Portland on June 24. He said on Saturday that the muscle had previously felt tight. It finally gave way when he was making a simple low, hard pass across the penalty box against the Timbers.
He said the adductor is 100 percent now after a rehab that he said could at times be frustrating because it was the longest he has even been out. But he worked hard and gradually began to realize that he was going to be OK, which is how he described his performance on Saturday.
“On the ball and everything felt good,” he said.
Nagbe pushed forward when needed and got back several times to provide cover for the defense with timely tackles in his return.
“Very good, very good, very good,” Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino said to describe Nagbe’s 70-plus minutes.
Atlanta United improved to 11-3-4 when Nagbe starts. The win pushed them back atop the Supporters’ Shield standings with a game at San Jose on Wednesday. If he plays again on Wednesday, Nagbe said he wants to improve on how he keeps the ball so that the team can kill games more efficiently.
With Nagbe in the middle of the 3-5-2 formation used by Martino against Colorado, Miguel Almiron moved from the midfield and into a striker role. That move gives him the freedom to stay forward and move around, according to Martino.
Almiron took advantage to score two goals. Of his 11 goals this season, all but three have come in Nagbe’s 18 starts.
“I think every player is important but Nagbe is a special player,” Almiron said. “We missed him when he is on the field.”
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