Catching Up On Some Game Recaps

A nasty cold sidelined me last last week, which means we haven't had a chance to discuss our first two preseason matches.  Plus Vines got his debut for the Nats and Lewis got another cap.

Also, unrelated to the game results, both Benezet and Namli arrived in Denver last night.  The team apparently has the first part of the week off before camp restarts and a number of players returned to Denver for the break (I'm guessing in particular those with families here).  Presumably the two new signings will fly back to LA with the rest of the team midweek.

Now, on to the games.  Last Wednesday the Rapids got their first game" action in a scrimmage against Cal State - Fullerton.  I'm not going to use a full lineup image for every combination of lineups we've used in the first two games because this post would get out of control, but here's how we started

* = Unsigned player

The wingers are further forward than this lineup shows.  When you consider that Vines and Lewis were on Nats duty and Benezet and Namli haven't joined camp yet, that's pretty close to our starting XI on Feb. 29th.  Swap Vines for Afamefuna, Benezet for Shinyashiki, and Namli for Mezquida and that's what I would expect to see.

Overall the game had may subs, with Andre Rawls, Jeremy Kelly*, Drew Moor, Danny Wilson, Sebastian Anderson, Kwadwo Poku*, Brian Lopez*, Cole Bassett, Darren Yapi*, Niki Jackson, and Matt Hundley being the XI after halftime, then after another 30 minutes Jacob Hauser-Ramsey* in for Moor, Andres Alarcon* in for Wilson, Abraham Rodriguez* in for Rawls and Abdul Rwatubyaye in for Anderson, with Anderson returning in replace of Jackson at 90 (the teams played 105').

Drew Moor score for the Rapids before the defense gave up a late PK for a 1-1 draw.  I know the reaction is "wait,  we only managed a 1-1 draw against a college team) but this was the first game action for any of these guys and the coaches stressed the only thing that mattered from this game was fitness.  So I'm not worried.

On Saturday Colorado took on Orange County SC of the USL.  They went with a more mixed lineup to start:

Only five or so expected starters in this one.  Cole Bassett continued his hot preseason after scoring twice for the U20s he got a goal here early.  Shinyashiki drew a penalty, which Kamara *sigh* had saved, but the resulting Rapids possession resulted in a Kamara goal from outside the box.  At this point we need to have somebody else taking PKs.  Kamara's track record in the last 9 months is not good.

At halftime the lineup became: Clint Irwin, Jeremy Kelly*, Lalas Abubakar, Auston Trusty, Robin Afamefuna*, Nicolas Mezquida, Brian Lopez*, Kellyn Acosta, Darren Yapi*, Niki Jackson, Matt Hundley.  Niki Jackson got a brace in the second half as the Rapids won 4-0.  Rawls would sub in for the final 30 minutes between the pipes and Seb Anderson would get the last 20 minutes in place of Yapi.

The game was over in time for the guys to watch Sam Vines and Jon Lewis play for the Nats against Costa Rica.  Vines got the start, as had been announced, while Lewis was on the bench.  Vines had a great game in defense, rarely putting a foot wrong, and was called out by many commentators for how well he showed at a historically weak position.  His contributions on offense were less than I think Berhalter wants out of his LB, so he has work to do, but he certainly put his best foot forward at claiming a backup role to one of the likely out of positions RB's (Dest, Cannon, etc.) who would still start in front of him.  Vines got 77 minutes before being subbed out.  Meanwhile Lewis had a quiet game, only getting 17 minutes at the end of the 1-0 win.