The Colorado Rapids did well to go into halftime with a one-goal lead over the LA Galaxy in the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs on Saturday night.

The first 10 minutes of the second half made it clear that this Rapids team, short on gas and impact players, ran into an MLS Cup contender in immaculate form. The result: a 5-0 loss back home in Colorado for Game 2.

“The message (to the team) is clear: these games, they are coming. They’re a good team and we found out again: (Galaxy) is a good team,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “We knew we were ready, but the message is clear that no matter how many goals you concede until tonight, the next game is the important one at the moment.

“You’ve got to get home, 18,000 fans are waiting for us on Friday night and we’ll figure it out. I’m the type of coach and person that’s going to look hard and find the solution to help us do that.”

The lone goal of the first half came on the Galaxy’s lone corner of the half. Galaxy forward Dejan Joveljic got his head on Riqui Puig’s high cross and beat Reggie Cannon vertically to get to it. The shot looked straight but it went wide of Zack Steffen’s left hands.

Then it got ugly. In the 52nd minute, Galaxy left back John Nelson received a pass from right back Miki Yamane in a dangerous position, which he took a touch and buried into the opposite top right corner past Steffen. Less than two minutes later, Joveljic returned the favor to Puig in the first half with a pass to the Spanish midfielder to make it 3-0.

Joveljic secured a brace in the 75th minute and Puig earned one with the finishing touch in the 87th minute.

Rapids defender and captain Keegan Rosenberry attributed the result to his team meeting a lot of great players, with Puig pulling the strings, highlighted by his three goal contributions on the night.

He said the Galaxy didn’t necessarily do anything different from the first two games of the season — both losses in which the Rapids gave up three goals — but they did more with playoff intensity.

“Special players, good, talented guys. We didn’t do a good enough job of limiting them and especially Puig,” Rosenberry said. “Our job is to try to force him off the ball and not give him time on the ball. He’s a guy who goes and finds the ball, goes to different spots that are unorthodox and hard to track.

“He’s a good player and they have a lot of them. We didn’t do a good enough job tonight and they punished us for it.”

The Rapids ruled out star midfielder Djordje Mihailovic with an ankle injury in the week leading up to the game, but expected local star Cole Bassett to return from a four-month layoff. As of Friday, the club said Bassett was ready to go, but suffered a setback and was ruled unfit ahead of Saturday’s game.