Stealing a line from our opponents area of the country the Rapids face what's pretty close to a must win game tomorrow at the Dick. San Jose is in town and both teams are battling for the last playoff spots. Game time is back to a more normal 7pm. The Supporters Group tailgate stats at an early time of 4pm due to the homebrew challenge. Come out and check out what some of the fans have been brewing up!Injury Report:
OUT: MF Ciaran O'Brien (L hip sprain); FW Ross Schunk (R ACL tear);
QUESTIONABLE: FWD Conor Casey (head trauma)
PROBABLE: DF Danny Earls (R groin strain),
Discipline Report:
TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: Conor Casey, Omar Cummings, Pablo Mastroeni
Believe it or not we're actually significantly healthier than the Earthquakes. They have 6 players listed as questionable or worse. The Rapids will have to play some guys out of position this week, my guess:
Pickens
Wynne - Baudet - Moor - Kimura
Larentowicz - Pablo
Smith - Ballouchy - Clark
Cummings
That's the XI we used against Dallas last week and I doubt we'll see a change with the injury report being what it is. Earls for Kimura, if he's healthy, is the only likely difference.
Key To Look For: No more keys. Just win baby. We're on a 7 game winless streak and about to go on the road for 2 games, if we don't win now when will we win?
Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Jamie Smith. The Rapids still haven't proven they can win, and until they do the best I can predict is a draw. With the juggled lineup I think our goal will come from an unexpected place in Jamie Smith.
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Remember when we had Ihemelu, and we got to the point that we expected 1 gaffe a game that would cost us? That's what I think were getting from Baudet now. I would prefer they go back to the back 4 of Kimura-Wynne-Moore-Earls. If Earls isn't ready to go 90, then we can bring in Wallace and see what he has to offer. I thought that Wynne and Moore had started to build a pretty good partnership in the center, and should get the opportunity to continue with that.
Of course, Baudet is one of Smith's favorites, so I don’t see him coming out if he's healthy.
I'm looking forward to seeing Clark this week. I forgot to mention this in my comment on last week’s game summary, but I thought that Colin played his best game of the year, so far. Not to say that he is back to 100%, but there was definite improvement. It was good to see him finally going one on one with defenders. If he continues to improve from game to game, he may peak at the perfect time of the season. Hopefully, we are still in contention at that point.
My big question is, when will Lopez get a chance to start? Although Ballouchy hasn’t really played poorly the last few games, he seems to have regressed from his early season form. He’s back to square and negative passes which kill the momentum of the attack. He never seems to see that simple through ball that someone can run on to. He obviously has skill, but seems to lack the maturity and vision to lead the attack. I think he is better suited to come on as a sub once Lopez is out of gas. Once the defense is worn out, he can run rough shod over them.
With Lopez starting, we can have a more focused attack. With Cummings up top alone, we need someone who can bridge the gap between him and the midfield. A player that can hold the ball in midfield, distribute & control the tempo of the game. As well as, transition into a 2nd striker when needed. We need someone who can play through the midfield & put the ball to Omar’s feet with precision. We can’t just lump it up top and expect Omar to hold it, like we can with Conner. That’s just not his game.
It’s time for the Rapids to step up and end the swoon. We are quickly running out of games to turn this around. The way RSL are playing, we can’t afford to go into the last game of the season needing points, yet again.
Sorry for the long rant, but the frustration has been building for far too long.
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