Final Preseason Match? Hail No.

The Rapids played, or attempted to play, their final preseason match against Toronto on Saturday.  The weather had other ideas.  A wild opening 3 minutes had the score at 1-1 after the burgundy boys conceded in the first minute only to equalize on a Shinyashiki goal from a Mezquida pass two minutes later.  10 minutes after that the hail rolled in and the game went into a long delay.  The teams came back out and finished the half, only for another hail delay to hit at halftime.  It got o the point where they just called the game at halftime at 1-1.

Its hard to draw to many conclusions from a delayed and shortened match, but giving up a goal in the first minute isn't good.  The only regular starters missing were Vines and Namli (and the injured Benezet), while Moor got the start next to Abubakar.  I think we'll likely see this same lineup in DC on sAturday, with Vines and Namli re-inserted in place of Wynne and Mezquida.  Shinyashiki appears to be the one to get the nod in place of Benezet, and if I had to bet on the Moor/Trust battle I think the veteran will get the start.

Figuring out how to not leak goals is going to be key to the early season.  I expect the defense will add some depth this week as Kelly will almost certainly be signed and the fact that Afamefuma hasn't been released yet has me leaning towards him getting an offer as well.  That only leaves Will Vint as an unknown.  I'm assuming at this point he'll be signed once he qualifies as a homegrown player (there's some amount of time a player must spend in a team's Academy before he counts as a HG).

Later this week I'll have my annual roster review and predictions post before the first game preview on Friday!