Monday, August 31, 2020

Improvement, But Not Enough


The Rapids didn't embarrass themselves on Saturday night, which was an improvement from the week before, but they didn't do enough to meet the standards they set for this season.  My predicted 1-1 draw was accurate (though I picked the wrong midfielder to score, nice job Bassett) which on its own isn't a bad result against the conference leader.  When you realize its the 5th game in a row without a win, leaving us at 8 points out of 7 games, and it happened while we were up a man for the last 12+ minutes you realize its not good enough.  The team now has a week of rest before heading out to San Jose on Saturday for t he first of 4 games in 11 days since the game the players decided not to play has been rescheduled for Wednesday Sept. 12th.

Random Musings:

  • I already see fans complaining about Yarbrough not stopping the KC goal but that was a well hit and well placed ball that he was partially screened on.  It wasn't impossible to stop but it would have taken a highlight save to do it, and I can't blame him for not making it.  Sometimes you just get beat and you have to tip your hat to the opposition.
  • This game was also a good example of why Yarbrough is starting.  Listen to him command his defense.  You don't get that from Clint Irwin.
  • The defense lineup being the same as the FSL debacle surprised me, I really thought Trusty was going to get a shot.  I know a lot of fans don't like Wilson, and I don't think he's earning his salary, but over the last couple of games he hasn't been a real problem.  We have bigger areas of concern.
  • Like, for example, our midfield.  Price and Acosta have been pretty quiet the last couple of games and I feel like we're 7 games in and we don't yet know our best 4 attackers.  Lewis has been great off the bench and missed a great chance (on a tough ball to be fair) to win this one late.  Shinyashiki has some flashes early in this one but then regressed to his poor play of recent games.  Rubio's biggest contribution was not contributing on the goal and dummying the ball past him.  Kamara is apparently carrying a knock and didn't have much time to contribute.
  • Nice job by Bassett on the goal, though he almost put i over (when I watched it live I though he had put it over at first).  Good job finding the space.
  • In my preview of Stage 1 I said we needed a minimum of 7 and more realistically 10 points in the 6 games.  Well we got 1 point int he first two, both at home.  Now we have to get 6-9 points in the 4 games in 11 days stretch, with only one at home.  I'm not licking our odds.
Man of the Match: Younes Namli.  Bassett is getting the nod, justifiably, for the goal from a lot of people but I felt like this was the game where we really started to see why we signed Namli as a DP.  He was dangerous whenever he got near the box and KC knew it, putting 2 or 3 players on him each time.  Unfortunately Namli was a little selfish at times, believing his footwork would let him beat the defense more often than it really did, and more importantly his teammates weren't using the space he was creating by drawing all those defenders.  When they did good things happened, as we saw on the goal that Namli set up by drawing in the defenders and then laying the ball off into the space Bassett was running into.

Friday, August 28, 2020

Game On Tomorrow


It appears that the MLS players have agreed to resume play with tonight's matches, so tomorrow's Rapids-SKC match is on as scheduled.  Obviously a weird season has gotten even stranger now, so its hard to really feel like we're in a season but we'll try.  Kickoff tomorrow at the Dick is at 7, with no fans of course.  Altitude will have the game, but only if you have DirecTV of course.  Yeah, this is not helping...


Shortly before the game was called off on Wednesday MLSSoccer.com posted a starting lineup that has both Trusty and Abubakar in the back, and Namli, Shinyashiki, and Bassett as the attacking midfield.  I think the latter was largely due to squad rotation and we'll see the lineup we saw last Saturday in midfield.  I do think Fraser is ready to give Trusty his shot after the poor defensive effort last week though and he'll put out the same back for he planned to on Wednesday.

Prediction: 1-1 draw.  Goal by Namli.  I'm not ready to get back on the horse and believe the Rapids are going to win but I can hope they can play KC to a draw.  Is there a good reason to believe that?  Probably not.  But they did look vulnerable in Orlando and only some very helpful calls got them the win.  Their defense isn't great so its really a matter of if we can keep some pressure in the attack and not get overrun like we did against FSL.

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Players Boycott Game

I'm sure you've heard by now, but the players from Dallas and Colorado (as well as the rest of MLS) decided not to play tonight in support of BLM and the ongoing situation in Wisconsin.  Because they kicked off an hour before the rest of the league Orlando and Nashville did play their game tonight as the players didn't get their decision formalized until after kickoff but that was the only game played.

I support not only the player's decision to make a stand but also what they are standing for.

I'm sure we'll hear more tomorrow and in coming days about what the next steps are and how that impacts the planned Phase 1 of this season.

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Time To Bounce Back


Well after the debacle on Saturday night we're right back at it down in Dallas tomorrow.  Kickoff against our MLS Cup opponents is at 6:30 and the game is on Altitude for those of you who get it.  Its too soon to call this a must win but a loss tomorrow would put us out of the expanded playoff picture and really call into question our hopes for whatever 2020 turns out to be.


Fraser talked about squad rotation both in the post-game and in today's press conference.  He also mentioned that Yarbrough has won the starting job.  I'm kind of guessing at who will or won't be rotated, but Moor and Kamara seem like obvious choices, and I think we see the wings change as well.  I'm going out on a limb projecting Trusty to start but after the mess on Saturday something has to change.

Prediction: 1-0 loss.  Dallas has a lousy attack but a great defense so far.  Meanwhile we have a lousy defense and our attack is adequate.  Combine the current state of the team, a road match, and the short rest and I can't see us getting points.  It will be low scoring and an scoreless draw wouldn't be shocking, but I think Dallas nicks one goal and the three points.

Monday, August 24, 2020

Rapids Fall On Their Face In The RMC, Again

We're going to do something a little different tonight.  I could rant, again, about how nobody in a leadership position seems to care about results against FSL.  When your second year sub (Shinyashiki) is the only one to come out and say he's embarrassed about the result, that says something.  Or I could rant about how we're 1-1-7 against FSL with 7 goals scored an 26 allowed since the infamous "Rapids Way" editorial.  But I've done all that before and thee's really no reason to spend any more time covering that.

Instead I want to look tactically at why we failed on all four goals.  We're going to see that the Rapids were consistently in a position to have the numbers, yet failed to stop anything FSL was doing.

Goal 1, in the 57th minute.  Meram is bringing the ball upfield with a couple of teammates against a flat back 4 for the Rapids.   Jack Price closes in but Meran executes a nice spin move away from him and lays a square ball across the field.  Here's the look at that moment:

See the problem?  Kreilach is approaching the box and has enough space to run the whole stock show through the gap.  In this shot you can see 9 of the 10 field players for the Rapids, the 10th (Lewis I believe) is off screen in the upper left.  There's an FSL player deep off the screen on the rightand midway on the left.  Including them there are 5 FSL players near the box and 7 Rapids. yet Kreliach has all day to hit his shot.  Danny Wilson recognizes the danger and tries to close him down but gets there too late.  Wilson was, correctly, covering the center space and the player making the run through it at the time of the pass.  The failure here is that all of Acosta, Price, and Abubakar ended up in the same space trying to close down Meram, leaving the rest of the center of the field wide open.

Goal 2, in the 76th minute.  The FSL attacker (Rusnak I believe, I'll assume its him going forward) is bringing the ball down the Rapids right side.  Rosenberry has him and while he allows Rusnak to cut inside the pass/shot he gets off is not very dangerous if the rest of the team is doing their job.  They weren't.

The problem is that Abubakar lost his man and now he has a easy run at the pass.  Yarbrough does correctly read the threat, comes out, and gets the ball first but he spills it right back into the center of the box.  Chang (seen here at center the top of the box, the one on the right of the two FSL attackers) has a free run at the rebound for an easy goal.  Again there are 4 FSL attackers and 8 Rapids in or around the box, yet nobody picks up the run from Chang.  It appears Vines has him early in the sequence but expects to hand him off to Wilson as he crosses through the box, while picking up the closer attacker (that's Vines at the top of the box with the other FSL attacker in the picture) but Wilson is trying to cover for Abubakar losing his man.

Goal 3, in the 85th minute.  This was after Wilson was subbed out and the Rapids went to a 3 man back line.  In this one Chang brings the ball in deep on the left, with Vines all over him.  Sam does a good job forcing him to give up the ball, using the end line to his advantage and leaving Chang nowhere to go. but backwards.  However...

Yeah, that's Corey Baird sitting right there, in the box, with nobody around him.  3 FSL attackers and 5 Rapids in or around the box and only Vines is anywhere closing down a man.  Price, seen at the top of the box on the left, starts the sequence outside the center circle as Chang starts to turn into the box and comes at a dead run to try to get to Baird but is still a good 3+ yards away at the shot.

Goal 4, in the 89th minute.  This one is a simple counter-attack coming out of midfield.  A FSL player plays the ball from the midfield stripe into Baird, who one-times it to the outside to Chang.  Chang gets into the corner again and...

The camera was moving with the cross on this one, thus the blurriness.  But the white smudge on the right side is an unmarked Meram crashing the box leading to the goal.  As you can see, again, there are 5 Rapids in the box and 3 (including Chang offscreen left) FSL attackers, yet none of the attackers have any pressure on them.

Four goals.  On all four of them the Rapids had at least a two man advantage.  Yet on none of them were the eventual scorer under any real pressure to make a tough shot.  FSL rammed it down our throats the whole second half and the midfield wasn't even a speed bump.  Abubakar in particular had a bad night of ball watching but everyone on the team was guilty of it on at least one goal.  Inexcusable defense, especially from a team led by a notable defender like Fraser.  He's only had one shutout in his 11 games in charge and its hard to see that changing soon.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Rapids Re-Re-Start On Their Own


For the third time in 2020 the Rapids are starting the season tomorrow night.  This time it will be on their own as they play in an empty DSG Park for the first of at least 3 times.  No fans will be allowed during the Phase 1 games in Commerce City.  Just like the restart in Orlando we're facing FSL,  but this time the Rocky Mountain Cup is up for grabs.  Kickoff tomorrow is 7pm and the game is on Altitude, for those of you who get it.  KSE did reach an agreement today to add Altitude to the AT&T streaming options, but that's just an expansion of the deal with AT&T owned DIRECTV.  Those of us with Comcast and DISH are still out of luck.


This is really a guess, we had a number of questions after the MLS Is Back tournament and I'm not sure this solves any of them.  But this is largely the way Fraser has been leaning since he took over and I think he's going to stick with it.  The most likely places for changes to be made are center back and forward, where we could see Trusy instead of Moor and Rubio instead of Kamara.  I'm pretty sure Irwin will get his starting spot back now that he's recovered from his concussion.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Namli and Lewis.  There's clearly no way to suggest that the Rapids will have a clean sheet given their defensive issues, but I think they are the better team.  Lewis continues his hot streak and Namli makes his first impact on a Rocky Mountain Cup match.

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Here We Go Again

So, I guess we're going to have more of this on-again off-again season.  Phase 1, covering 6 games, starts on Saturday at the Dick against FSL.  Lets reset where we are right now.

First, watching the game.  No fans will be allowed into the Dick for the 3 home games of this 6 game stretch.  Also, frustratingly, Altitude and Comcast/DISH are still at an impasse.  While Altitude lifted their blackout for the Nuggets and Avs playoff games, there's no indication they will do the same for the Rapids regular season games on ESPN+.  That leaves fans in Denver with the only option to see the games being a DirectTV subscription.  I expect other not so legitimate methods will be used by many.

Second, what's at stake.  MLS has announced that 8 Western Conference and 10 Eastern Conference teams will make the playoffs this season (the difference being because the East has two more teams in it than the West).  With such an unusual season its hard to draw a Bodmer Line for making the playoffs as there's nothing to compare it to, but over the last 5 years the 8th placed team has finished around 1.25 pts/game.  That means that after this 6 game stretch, making for 11 total games so far this season, a team would want to be 14 points to feel like their in a playoff spot.  The Rapids are currently at 7.  So they're looking for 7 points over the 6 games to at least be in the playoff race.  Given our expectations coming into the season that's a bare minimum this team should be accomplishing.  In reality they need to earn more like 10 points to be meeting expectations.

Also, for the two games against FSL, the Rocky Mountain Cup is at stake.  The Committee of 10 has decided that the two scheduled games will be the full RMC competition for 2020 and the Cup will be awarded after the second game, with a couple caveats.  First, both games have to be played.  Second, each team has to host one of the games.  If, due to COVID, only one game is played or if one team hosts both games then the Cup will not be awarded.  Also, to be clear, the MLS Is Back game in Orlando is not part of the competition.

And as a reminder, I am currently on the Committee of 10

Third, the shape of the team.  After a great run in the last 2/3rds of 2019 and an good brace of results to start the season the MLS Is Back tournament took the wind out of the team's sails.  While the play improved over the three games getting 1 point out of teams we're going to be playing again in this six game stretch is not a positive sign.  The biggest problem seems to be that this team doesn't appear to have as 90 minute MLS quality center back on the roster.  Abubakar is good but is inconsistent over 90 minutes, Trusty can't get off the bench, Father Time got a few steps closer to Drew Moor in the offseason, and the less said about Wilson's play the better.  Figuring out the right combo on the backline is going to be crucial for whatever the rest of this season is.

Beyond the backline there are questions about who starts in attack.  Kamara did not have the best of tournaments and Rubio is lurking waiting for a shot.  Likewise Fraser moved Namli to the wing for the last two games after Shinyashiki had an awful appearance against FSL in game 1.  That's not the best position for our DP.  Meanwhile Lewis came off the bench and scored twice, so he's clearly pushing for more playing time (the club reportedly turned down a borderline insulting offer from Barnsley for him this week).  There are lots of options but no clear answers.

Three weeks, 6 games.  Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday, a week off, and then Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday again.  We don't know what the season will be after that, but we should have a good idea of what this team is at the end of it.

Saturday, August 8, 2020

MLS Releases First Part Of New Schedule

MLS announced the Phase 1 schedule for its American teams today.  This will consist of 6 mostly regional games played between Aug 22nd and Sept. 12th.  The Canadian teams will take part, all playing each other, but the exact details are still being worked out and will be announced at a future time.

The Rapids schedule looks like this:

  • Sat Aug 22nd, 7pm, FSL
  • Wed. Aug 26th, 6:30pm, @Dallas
  • Sat. Aug 29th, 7pm SKC
  • Sat. Sept. 5th, 8:30pm, @SJ
  • Wed. Sept. 9th, 7pm, Houston
  • Sat. Sep 12th, 7:30pm, @FSL
These 6 games ill be followed by another 12 games to be announced later that will probably still be mainly focused on intra-conference play but may include some crossover.

For the home games no fans will be allowed in the stadium but a select number of credentialed media will be allowed.  The road games in Dallas and FSL will likely have a limited number of fans based on what the teams said today.  There's no official announcement yet but the release from the Rapids made it clear we can expect to find the games on Altitude, for those of you who still get Altitude, and on Altitude Radio.  Those of us without Altitude thanks to the ongoing dispute with Comcast and DISH are likely out of luck as I assume the standard blackout rules for MLS Live will apply.

I can say that the two game set with FSL will include the Rocky Mountain Cup.  Should both games be played in home markets as expected then the Cup will be awarded at the end of the second game.  The Committee is currently working on plans to have an on-field presentation if possible, though the team's and league's rules in regards to the pandemic may prevent an actual handoff of the Cup.  Regardless, the result will be official and the winning team will have the Cup whenever they can for the rest of the season and next season.  This precludes any of the remaining 12 games being part of the Cup competition, but it seems unlikely we'd get a balanced schedule between the teams in Phase 2, if there are any games at all.

Overall its not a bad schedule for the Rapids, though we'll be 11 games into the season and have played 5 of them against FSL and SKC.  A winning record and a Cup should be expected by the end of this 6 game stretch.

Monday, August 3, 2020

Rapids History By The Numbers: Recap

So after going over more than 350 player number assignments in Rapids history we have the complete list of the best to wear each number..  Here's the full recap of each player who's best at their number, the years they played in it, and links to the writeups.

#1 Joe Cannon 2004-2006
#2 Nick LaBrocca 2013-2015
#3 Drew Moor 2009-2015, 2020
#4 Jeff Larentowicz 2010-2012
#5 Kyle Beckerman 2002-2007
#6 Sam Cronin 2015-2017
#7 John Spencer 2001-2004
#8 Dillon Powers 2013-2017
#9 Conor Casey 2009-2012
#10 Carlos Valderrama 2001-2002
#11 Terry Cooke 2006-2009
#12 Matt Kmosko 1996-1997
#13 Wolde Harris 1998-1999, 2005
#14 Omar Cummings 2007-2012
#15 Chris Carrieri 2001-2003
#16 Jason Moore 2000-2001
#17 Marcelo Balboa 1996-2001
#18 Matt Pickens 2009-2013
#19 Chris Henderson 1996-1998, 2002-2005
#20 Mark Chung 2002-2005
#21 Julian Baudet 2009-2010
#22 Marvell Wynne 2010-2014
#23 Colin Clark 2006-2010
#24 Bouna Coundoul 2006-2007
#25 Pablo Mastroeni 2002-2013
#26 Deshorn Brown 2013-2015
#27 Kosuke Kimura 2007-2012
#28 Sam Nicholson 2018-2020
#29 Scott Palguta 2009-2012
#30 Gabriel Torres 2013
#31 Clint Irwin 2013, 2019
#32 Jack McBean 2018
#33 Matt Okoh 2000
#34 Tyrone Marshall 1998, 2011-2012
#35 Rob Valentino 2009
#36 Shane O'Neill 2012
#37 Edu 2012
#39 Harrison Henao 2012
#44 Axel Sjoberg 2015-2019
#45 Josh Gatt 2015
#50 William Yarbrough 2020
#52 Braian Galvan 2020
#55 Danny Mwanga 2013-2014
#57 Carlos Alvarez 2014-2015
#77 Diego Serna 2005
#90 Mohammed Saeid 2017
#94 Marlon Hairston 2014-2018
#99 Andre Shinyashiki 2019-2020

Not surprisingly eleven of them are from the Cup winning season in 2010, with an equal number from 2009.  The big surprise is thirteen from 2012, though when you start looking at the singles & doubles you see that year is getting a lot of help from numbers that had no other choice (Edu, Henao, Marshall, etc.).  The weakest year is 1999, with only Balboa and Harris, but that was apparently enough to get us to the USOC final that year.

The big missing name from this list is Paul Bravo, who appears on most of the top 10 lists in the record book.  He was just unlucky to play in the same number as probably the third best player in team history, Conor Casey.  Other notable names missing are Ross Paule, Adrian Paz, and Dominque Badji, while Tim Howard is the biggest keeper missing, though keepers have it hard because they all wear #1 pretty much, so they have limited chances to make a list like this.

I hope you've enjoyed the trip through Rapids history over the last couple months of lockdown.  Its starting to sound like MLS is trying to get their plans for playing in home markets out there in the near future, so there may be some discussion to be had about the current team soon.  We'll see how the ongoing MLB debacle affects that though.