Off To Sandy....To Play Vancouver???

You read that right.  Due to the ongoing issues with COVID Canadian teams are still not allowed to travel back and forth across the border so they are once again playing "home" games in the U.S.  Montreal and Toronto are camped out in Florida, while Vancouver is borrowing Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy for their home matches.  So Sunday the Rapids will be making one of their three trips into the dark place but this is the only one to play the Vancouver, the other two are RMC matches.  Also, make sure you catch that date, we play at 8pm on Sunday this week.  TV is, well, you know.

Injury Report:

OUT: D Steven Beitashour, M Braian Galvan

QUESTIONABLE: D Lalas Abubakar, Sam Vines

No official change in the injury report, and based on talk in social media it sounds like no expected change in who we see on Sunday night.  Fraser was asked about their availability and he gave a non-answer.  So for now I think we have to assume they won't play.

As much as I would like to see some changes I don't think Fraser is going to make any moves until he gets Vines and Abubakar back.  Until we can get Acosta back in midfield its going to be tough for the Rapids to avoid getting run over in the center of the pitch.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Shinyashiki.  Vancouver has started hot this year while the Rapids...haven't.  They're going to have to show something more than they have so far before I predict a win.  They bounced back well from setbacks last year (at least ones not related to breaks in the season) so I'm guessing we get a point but not more than that.

Alarm Bells should Be Ringing!

 

If you read my season preview you'll remember I ended with:

 I would expect to have a handful of games this season where we start on the back foot and never get off it.

Well, Saturday was the first of those games.

While the stats showed we played Austin fairly even, the actual game didn't reflect that.  Expansion Austin FC imposed their will on the Rapids, especially in the second half, and showed to the league all the weaknesses fans were concerned the Rapids had entering the season.  The 3-1 score line was maybe a bit generous to the Rapids given what we saw.  Hopefully we'll look back at this game as the worst game of the season for us and we'll bounce back to a better level of play, but so far through two games we're not seeing much to give us hope in that outcome.

Random Thoughts:

• Captain Jack with yet another dead ball assist on the Rapids goal.  Which makes you wonder why we played a short corner later in the game.  Price is arguably the best free kick taker in the league (at least as far as setting up shots, there are better players to shoot on goal from a free kick), why take that out of our arsenal?
• We're going to break down all three Austin goals.  On their first Namli turns it over in midfield but the Rapids have the threat contained, or should, as its 6 Austin attackers against 7 Colorado defenders, plus Yarbrough.  Acosta makes a bad choice to leave his man and go to the ball, then leaves his feet just as the ball is being passed to his man.  Suddenly a controlled situation is now a dangerous one.  The open man is unchallenged to the endline, causing all the Rapids to crash to the near side of the goal.  The ball is crossed in front of a sliding Rubio(?) and Rosneberry does a weird half-volley clearance which disrupts the shot from the Austin attacker but the ball runs past the far post to the wide open Austin attacker that Rosenberry left.  Easy tap-in past Yarbrough.  Trusty and Wilson were non-factors in defense, didn't do anything wrong but weren't in a position to help either.
• On the second goal Rosenberry plays a ball out of the back to Bassett on the sideline.  Bassett then flails around and misses the ball, letting it get stolen easily.  The Rapids, in transition upfield, are now caught flat-footed.  Despite that Wilson does a good job closing down the ball and actually makes a good play to knock the ball away.  A bit of bad luck strikes though as the ball goes right to Rosenberry's man who Keegan overran, which allows a strike to the far post, while Yarbrough was partially screened by Rosenberry.
• On the final goal a simple forward pass ends up being hit either by the Austin attacker with a nice flick-on or by Rosenberry with an unlucky bounce (really hard to tell which one of them got the touch), but either way the ball gets put right into the path of the attacker on the right sideline.  Lewis got caught ball-watching a bit which allows the cross to the center.  A half-bad touch/half pass puts the ball back on the original attacker's foot, who has no pressure from Rosenberry and the shot deflects of Wilson putting Yarbrough out of the play.
• You'll notice one name keeps coming up over and over in those descriptions.  Rosenberry had an awful night.  Maybe the worst he's had as a Rapid.
• That said, there was some bad luck too, Austin got some lucky bounces on their second and third goals.  But the second should never have happened, sloppy play by Bassett set it up.  The third, well, sometimes luck just isn't on your side.
• The core issue we saw in this game though was our paper-thin midfield.  With a middle triangle of Namli, Bassett, and Price we aren't stopping anything.  That puts the backline on their heels all night.  The first move is to get Acosta out of the LB spot and back into midfield, to give us some bite.  Bring back Kelly from Phoenix if you have to but we can't afford to put Acosta on the back line any more.
• After that, we probably have to strongly consider pushing Namli back to the wing.  He's too much a defensive liability at the 10 spot without a true enforcer behind him.  Let Bassett take the 10 role and move Barrios to the left.
• I'd also start Shinyashiki over Rubio at this point.  Rubio has done nothing so far this season but fall down and cry to the ref.  Partially that's because or weak midfield is forcing everyone to drop deeper to get the ball, but Rubio has not shown anything to claim a starting spot.
• Shinyashiki also had one of the most honest comments in postgame:

"It seems to be a theme with us. We talked about it since last year – when we give up one goal the floodgates open and we give up two or three and it happens consistently with us. It’s something that we have to change. It’s the mentality of not conceding the first one, but if we end up conceding the first one, it’s [about] pick[ing] up our heads, just [doing] better so we don’t give up the second or the third. It happened way too often last year and in 2019, too, so just something we have to get better at.”

• He's right, it is a pattern.  The Rapids give up goals in bunches far too often.  Its a flaw that should have been fixed by now and its mental, not technical.  Fraser needs to earn his salary and figure it out.
• Next up a trip to Sandy to play a Vancouver side that has looked good beating Portland and drawing TFC.  This is a team that we expect to finish ahead of, we can't drop more points. 

Man of the Match: Auston Trusty.  I know that sounds weird after the defensive lapses we had this match, but he didn't have any of them and played well.  His distribution in particular was good.  I say let him start next to Abubakar when Lalas gets healthy.

Home Opener!

A home game!  With fans!  Yes, the Rapids are back in Commerce City tomorrow night!  I won't be present (I got my second vaccine on Tuesday so I'm not through my 14 day waiting period yet) but about 8000 fans will be!  If you can't make it well, you know the TV realities.  

We're set to play, wait, who are these guys?  Austin?  When did they get a team?  Seriously though, this will be Matthew McConaughey FC's second ever game and apparently about 200 of their fans will be showing up tomorrow.  I'm expecting Rosenberry and Barrios to have a great match attacking Austin's left side, because as we know Austin is allright, allright, allright....

what, nothing for that joke?  Ok, moving on.  The injury report actually got worse this week:

OUT: D Steven Beitashour, M Braian Galvan

QUESTIONABLE: D Lalas Abubakar, Sam Vines

Which might explain why Beitashour didn't start last week.  The good news is that both Abubakar and Vines were featured in the photos from training in the stadium today, so hopefully they'll be available. Austin will have two players out to injury.  My starting XI guess:

I think Vines, with his preseason work in Olympic qualifying, will be ready to start but Abubakar will need another week to get to full fitness.  He'll likely be available off the bench.  If Vines can't go we'll see Acosta again with Bassett in mdifield.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by Shinyashiki.  Austin didn't look very dangerous in attack, after we got a shutout on the road in Dallas I'm not too worried about giving up a goal at home.  But we haven't dialed in our shots yet so this will be a bit of a stressful of a home opening win, but we'll get the 3 points.

Rapids And Dallas Duel To Scoreless Draw

That was one of the more entertaining scoreless draws the Rapids have played in recent years.  both teams had good looks, both teams probably could have gotten 3 points, so both teams should feel a draw was a fair result.  As you would expect for the first game of the season the teams looked sloppy and ran out of steam late.  Both sides had long stretches where they didn't threaten (the 15 minutes on either side of halftime for Dallas, a good chunk of the second half for Colorado) and the air went out of the ball about the 60th minute, but hey, MLS is back!

Random Thoughts

• The stats really show how equal this one was.  both teams had the same number of shots (Dallas had one more on target), the Rapids won the possession battle but not by a ton, and expected goals went to Dallas by 0.1, 0.9-0.8.
• The ref somehow managed to keep control of the game without dishing out cards.  Right around halftime things were getting hot but he talked to the players, managed the situation, and things calmed down.  A great job by him.  The only card in the game was on Bassett late in the match for a professional foul.
• That said, Wilson was really treading the line a couple of times in the match.  Almost gave up a PK, and probably could have had at least one card.
• Wilson was so active on both ends of the field that if he had any more camera time he'd have to apply for his SAG card.
• I don't understand our strategy for depth at LB.  We signed Beitashour last season to be Vines backup, then when Vines isn't available for the playoffs we play Acosta instead.  Supposedly this is because Fraser didn't feel confident putting Beitashour in that spot with no play all season. We then re-sign him this offseason and he plays a ton in preseason while Vines was with the Olympic team. Vines is not available due to injury...and we start Acosta in that spot again.  So why do we have Beitashour on the roster?
• Acosta isn't the answer BTW.  He seemed to want to play everywhere but LB.  He did well enough but against a better team he will get burned.  Outside of his responsibilities at LB he played well, but we need him in midfield where he wants to play.
• All in all the back line did good enough to make sure any shots that got off were pretty much right at Yarbrough.  He had one big save in the first few minutes of the match but other than that it was pretty much all routine.
• Jack Price looked good.  He had one two-footed tackle that had it been 6" to the right would have been straight red but he timed it perfectly for a clean clearance of the ball.  His free kicks were dangerous all night, we should have scored off a couple of his corners.
• Shinyashiki played a lot better than Rubio.  Its one game so I'm not worried, but if it continues we would have to consider him starting at the #9 position.  Rubio, outside of one great tackle, was fairly quiet.
• I was hoping Drew Moor would get subbed in.  He's originally a Dallas guy and with this being our only trip to Dallas this season and him being on a one year contract this might have been his last chance to play at "home".
• Next week is Austin and for an expansion team they looked pretty organized against LAFC.  They faded at the end and allowed 2 easy goals (and certainly Bradley's blunder to sub out Vela in the 22nd minute by mistake helped) but they won't be as easy a 3 points next week as we hoped.  That said, we should still beat them.

Man of the Match: Michael Barrios.  Maybe it was playing against his old side but he was active on Saturday night.  He had the best chances and hit the post on one of them.  If he can keep this level of play up he's going to put goals on the board (either himself or setting up his teammates). He was a bit unlucky in this one but the goals will come.

And Here We Go

Its been far too long since we've seen the Burgundy Boys in action.  That ends at 6pm tomorrow in Dallas.  The 2021 season is here!  It took less than 24 hours for my predictions to be out of date, the USSF announced today that the plan for the U.S. Open Cup is off and these first 3 games will no longer count for USOC qualification.  Currently there is no USOC planned for 2021, but they hope to figure something out in the latter part of the season.

While the Rapids didn't change much on the field, for the better, they didn't change much off the field, for the worse.  There is still no resolution to the Altitude/Comcast/DISH negotiations which means once again the only option so see the Rapids on TV is to have DIRECTV or be outside Altitude's broadcast area nd watch on ESPN+.  Or find...other methods.

Not great news on the injury front.  While there's been no information out of Commerce City the MLSSoccer.com injury report does not look good:

OUT: M Braian Galvan

QUESTIONABLE: D Lalas Abubakar; D Sam Vines

Both Vines and Abubakar were subbed out early in the last preseason game on Saturday, presumably that's when they picked up their knocks.  Galvan's been out for a bit so that's not a huge surprise.  Dallas will be missing starting forward Jesus Ferreira and midfielder Thomas Roberts (who is likely going on loan somewhere anyway and wouldn't have been expected to play significant minutes even if healthy).

My guess at our XI then:

Obviously Vines goes in for Beitashour if he can play, and I think Abubakar would push Trusty out.  I expect Lewis to start in front of Beitashour as more of a true winger over Shinyashiki, giving some cover in front of Beitashour.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Barrios.  Before seeing the injury report I thought we could steal 3 points tomorrow but now I think getting a point on the road will be good enough.  The makeshift backline will leak a goal even without Ferreria but we'll even it out with Barrios returning to Dallas and getting some revenge.

2021 Predictions

So we've covered the roster and strategy, that only leaves one thing left before getting into weekly coverage tomorrow with the first game preview.  That's my annual predictions!  Last year I got 8 of 11 (and one was voided with the lack of a USOC) which is better than I normally do.  Lets get to it.

• Rapids are comfortably in a playoff spot (top 7 make playoffs this year) for most of the season and finish 5th, but they push hard for that 4th spot and a home playoff game
• Because of that they surprise the 4th placed team in the playoffs and win on the road, but fall in the next round
• The do stumble a bit out of the gate which means they don't qualify for one of the 8 MLS spots in the USOC
• We win the Rocky Mountain Cup again, despite 2 of 3 being played in Utah
• Rubio wins the team Golden Boot with double-digit goals
• Namli is the team MVP (yes, same prediction as last year)
• Vines repeats as defensive player of the year
• One but only one American starter is sold in the summer window (extra credit prediction, its Bassett)
• The Rapids add an international player in the summer window, but not a major blockbuster player on paper
• Mayaka will not be in the Rookie of the Year conversation despite being picked as the consensus #1 before the draft
• The other 6 playoff teams in the West will be LAFC, Seattle, Portland, SKC, Minnesota, and San Jose
• Acosta and Vines get National Team callups during the season, Lewis and Trusty do not.  I'm pushing on Bassett getting a callup or not

Ok, that's it.  We'll check back at the end of the season to see how I did.

2021 Strategy

Yesterday we talked about the roster.  Now lets talk about how we're going to use it.

Before we get to that though, MLS has made a roster rule change that could impact the Rapids going forward.  As we all know, international players can become domestic by acquiring green cards or going through similar processes to fall into a category where they no longer need a visa to be employed, thus not taking up an international slot.  For all of MLS's history the player's status changed as soon as their employment status did.  MLS has now changed that rule.  Starting in 2022, a player who is an international on roster compliance day (which falls a day or two before the season starts) is an international for the whole season, even if they get their green card the next day.  For 2021 anyone who's an international when the secondary transfer window opens in July is an international for the rest of the season.  (This is obviously grandfathering in players who are on the cusp of converting to domestic, as teams made roster decisions based on the old rule).  In recent years the Rapids have been pretty aggressive in getting players green cards if they're willing to go through the process, so this will likely impact our planning in the offseason.

Ok, back to strategy and tactics.  Every indication from preseason is that we are continuing to use some version of the 4-5-1 that we used last season.  It appears to be a pretty standard flat back four, two midfielders in the center, an attacking mid, two wingers, and a false 9 at striker.  The three center midfielders will vary their position depending on who exactly is playing but in general I expect Jack Price to play closer to a 6/defensive mid, Acosta or Basset to play more of an 8/holding or box-to-box mid, and Namli to play a 10/creative attack role.  We'll also see Sam Vines on the left push into the attack more than Rosenberry on the right, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the center backs slide left a bit when we're in possession.

So that's how we'll line up.  But the style we'll play will be possession based and we'll try to use the ball to pull the opposition out of shape.  You'll see steady build up in a area trying to draw the defense to the ball, and then you'll see the Rapids look for the pass across to the open part of the field the defenders vacated.  In attack this will be Rubio getting the ball in the center and looking for one of the wingers or midfielders making runs into the space the defender closing Rubio down left.  If nobody closes Rubio down he'll take advantage to make the shot himself.  The idea is to overload the defensive rotation so that they lose one of our attackers.

In attack the Rapids biggest flaw is that they don't have a player who, when nothing is working, will put the team on their back and carry them over the line.  Think Conor Casey at his best.  The player you knew you could rely on when you had to have a goal to find one unless the opposition was playing top notch defense.  We saw this in the playoff loss to Minnesota last year,  Once we got down and missed that chance at the start of the second half it was apparent there was no way back into the game.  We didn't have that spark we needed.

That leads into the defensive half of the strategy.  We don't put anyone off their game.  That's not to say we have a bad defense, we don't, but or defense just lines up and tries to stop what comes at them.  They don't make teams adjust to them and there's no bite in it.  The only starter on the team who you can expect to get stuck in regularly is Jack Price.  Otherwise we will try to out-technical the attack with positioning, not force them off the ball with physical play.

None of these are losing strategies, but they do require you to be on your game every game, and it means all eleven players need to be on the same page.  We have enough talent that if somebody is having an off game there should be room to compensate, but if nobody is having a good game then it can get ugly quickly.  We won't be able to use physical force and sheer will to stay in games like we saw in the past (like when Pablo was our captain).  I would expect to have a handful of games this season where we start on the back foot and never get off it.

Roster Review/Preview

Game Week!  Game Week!  Yes, after an extra long offseason its time to start playing meaningful games again!  Over the next couple of days we'll get a roster review in (you're reading it now), a season preview, and my annual predictions.

Before we get to that though, one news item of note.  The Rapids announced today that fans will be allowed into the Dick for games at about 45% capacity.  If you have season tickets through C38 (like me) they've got everyone covered.  We'll all be socially distanced in our own groups of 2-4 people, but we'll be there.  I'm passing on the home opener as I'll only be 4 days post second vaccine shot but after that I plan to be in 117 every game I can.  If you have your tickets through the Rapids you'll be able to contact them starting Thursday to get your options figured out.

Now, on with the roster review/preview.  The Rapids only lost 5 players from the 2020 roster, and the only two that actually played in 2020 were released/traded during the season (Kamara and Nicholson).  Combined they had 11 appearances for a total of 696 minutes.  Along with those two Deklan Wynne, Niki Jackson, and Abdul Rwatubaye were released at the end of the season not having made a 2020 appearance.

Added in the offseason were one experienced player (Barrios), one draftee (Mayaka), and four homegrown players, two from the Academy (Larraz, Yapi) and two by trade (Toure, Edwards).

So essentially we're entering 2021 with the same roster we entered 2020 with.  Barrios alone should make up for the minutes and stats Kamara and Nicholson contributed (Kamara had 3 goals and an assist, Nicholson didn't make the scoresheet).  The Rapids are counting on their extremely young roster to improve year over year in order to improve their results.  Generally I don't favor that strategy, especially given where Colorado is trying to get to (something more than just barely making the playoffs) but I think in this instance, with COVID making international acquisitions difficult and playing havoc with budgets, it was probably the pragmatic thing to do.  The only player who didn't spend 2020 in the U.S. that the Rapids acquired was HG Michael Edwards who has spent the last couple of years in Germany with Wolfsburg, but as an American its a lot easier for him to come home than trying to get a new international signing through the extra COVID protocols.

So here's our "2-deeps", to steal a football term:

GK: William Yarbrough, Clint Irwin - I think its clear that Yarbrough will continue to be the starter based on playing time in preseason, but Irwin is a very capable backup.

RB: Keegan Rosenberry, Kortne Ford(?) - Rosenberry has been very reliable at RB but its odd the Rapids loaned out both Seb Anderson and Jeremy Kelly, the natural backups for Keegan.  I know they can recall them at any time but we have no real depth at RB without them.  Ford would be the most likely to step in I think, but Beitashour and Moor could both fill in in a pinch

CB: Lalas Abubakar, Auston Trusty/Danny Wilson, Drew Moor - Abubakar is the clear #1 at CB, but his partner is still a bit up in the air.  Trusty and Wilson seem like 2A and 2B.  Moor is currently the #4 but maybe Ford can work his way back into the rotation.  While I'm not worried about any of our top 4, none of them stand out.  Lalas, when he's on his game, can be one of the better CB's in the league but he's still inconsistent.  Everyone else is MLS quality but nothing more yet.

LB: Sam Vines, Steven Beitashour - Sam Vines was ironman last year, playing every minute of every game until the playoff match, and then we started Acosta despite signing Beitashour to be Vines' backup.  We seem to have learned our lesson as Beiatshour has been getting plenty of time in preseason in order to be ready to step in if needed.  The failure of the Olympic team has a silver liming as Vines won't miss a chunk of the season at the Olympics, but he may still be called up given the busy schedule the full National Team has this year with the Nations League, Gold Cup, and World Cup Qualifying.  Beitashour will be fine as a spot backup but if Vines were to pick up a long-term injury we could have a problem.

DM: Jack Price, Collen Warner - Captain Jack is the  closest thing we have to a destroyer on this squad (more on that later this week) and he will probably serve some suspensions this season for card accumulation.  Warner will be a capable spot backup.

Holding Mid: Kellyn Acosta/Cole Bassett - I expect these two to trade off starts most of the season.  Both are fringe National Team players and should be able to handle the role.  Going to be hard for our young midfielders like Mayaka to push them out for playing time.

Attacking Mid: Younes Namli, Nicolas Mezquida - We need a big season from our only DP, Namli.  He showed flashes last year and was arguably our second most important player, but he needs to step up and be the clear MVP if the Rapids are going to content for MLS Cup.  Mezquida will be a good super-sub off the bench  but I don't expect to see him start in Namli's place very often.

RW: Michael Barrios, Braian Galvan - Barrios is the question mark this season.  He seemed to be critical to the Dallas attack but then fell out of favor in big D.  Can he return to that form in Colorado?  If so he could be a big improvement for the Rapids and another threat in the attack.  Galvan is young, and cocky, but has some great skills on the ball.  Clearly another super-sub option on the bench.

LW: Nicholas Benezet/Jonathan Lewis - Really this position is a question mark.  Either of these guys, or Andre Shinyashiki, could start opening day.  If its the latter we may see Shinyashiki play more centrally as a second forward off Rubio's shoulder while the other two are clear wingers.  If we stick with a winger then I expect Benezet to start as Lewis still hasn't grabbed that role yet.

S: Diego Rubio, Andre Shinyashiki - We are thin up front and neither of these guys are likely to set the league on fire.  Rubio may have double digit goals in him, but he's not scoring 15+.  ~12 should be enough though if the rest of the team chips in at a rate they did last year.  This position will be a false 9, drawing defenders and delivering the ball to attackers cutting in from all around him.  If defenders decide to worry about the other threats and back off of Rubio he's going to make them pay.  But if the other attackers can't deliver and the defense puts the clamps on our one forward we're in a world of hurt.  Shinyashiki doesn't bring that much different to the role than Rubio does, but the drop off between them isn't that big either which is good for depth.

Bench: Michael Edwards, Oliver Larraz, Yaya Toure, Will Vint, Darren Yapi - A bunch of young guys with no professional experience.  Once we get past our first and second XI its a mystery to what we have.  But its better that its in the third XI and not further up than that.

So that's the roster as we hit Opening Day.  Lots of competition between the first and second team, but not a lot of stars standing out.  MLSsoccer.com's preview of the top 5 players at each position in the league didn't include a single Rapid anywhere.  Which,, outside of Vines, is probably fair.  But I would bet that if you did the worst 5 starters at each position in the league there would be no Rapids either.  This roster is built to be young and to be greater than the sum of its parts.  We'll see if it works.

Rapids Finish Preseason With A Draw And A Win

 On Wednesday the Rapids and the Galaxy played to a 2-2 draw.  The Rapids lined up with:

Irwin

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Trusty - Vines

Price - Acosta

Barrios - Namli - Shinyashiki

Rubio

The Rapids got a 17th minute goal from Barrios, off a Vines assist

At half the team swapped out to play:

Yarbrough

Larraz - Wilson - Moor - Beitashout

Warner - Bassett

Yapi - Mezquida - Lewis

Benezet

The second goal came from Bassett with Lewis getting the assist.  Both  LA goals seemed soft, one coming through Abubakar and the other beating Yarbrough near post.

Then last night Colorado defeated USL Phoenix 1-0.  The starting XI:

Yarbrough

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Trusty-  Vines

Price - Bassett

Barrios - Namli - Shinyashiki

Rubio

The Rapids scored off a free kick by Namli that Barrios finished.  The concern in this game is that Vines left in the 28th (replaced by Beitashour) and Abubakar left in the 43rd (replaced by Wilson).  Not exactly normal subs, crossing fingers that there were no serious injuries.  There were a handful of subs late for Colorado, and Jeremy Kelly got time with Phoenix in this game.

The Rapids finish preseason with a loss to FSL and a draw with the Galaxy, having won every other game (and barely conceding any goals in them).  Its pretty clear who most of the starters are based on preseason:

Yarbrough

Rosenberry - Abubakar - A - Vines

Price - B

Barrios - Namli - C

Rubio

A is a toss up between Wilson and Trusty.  I think it will be Trusty but it could go either way

B could be Acosta or Bassett, I'm guessing Acosta

C is the real question mark.  Shinyashiki appears to have the inside lane to play on the outside, but both Lewis and Benezet are pushing him for that spot.  I really have no idea who will start here in Dallas.

Rapids Lose Meaningless Preseason Game

On Saturday the Rapids looked out of sorts, especially in midfield, and got worked over by FSL, losing their first preseason game 3-0.  Despite running out close to a first choice lineup the Rapids never looked in the game and barely bothered MacMath in the FSL net.  It sucked, but its a preseason game.  In the long run it doesn't matter and I'm not particularly worried.  We look like that against Dallas in two weeks, then we have a problem.

In other news, the league announced today they're participating in FIFA's concussion substitute trial this season (as is the NWSL).  Teams will be allowed two additional substitutions in case of players needing to be pulled form the game with concussion symptoms.  If a concussion substitution is used the opposing team will get an additional sub to even things out.

MLS is also continuing to use the COIVD rule of 5 subs this season, at 3 total times during the match.  That means in an unlucky game with two concussion injuries both teams will be able to sub 7 total players.

Streamed Friendly Tomorrow

The Rapids will stream their Visit Tucson Sun Cup friendly against another team (FSL) tomorrow night at 7pm.  There may be a territorial restriction on the stream requiring you to be within 75 miles of DSG Park.

On Wednesday the Rapids played, and won, two 45 minute scrimmages against FC Tucson and LA Galaxy II.  Against FC Tucson the Rapids lined up with:

Irwin

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Trusty - Beitashout

Price - Wilson

Namli - Bassett - Barrios

Shinyashiki

After giving up an early goal, their first of the preseason, the Rapids came back with two goals from Shinyashiki for the 2-1 win.

Then against LA Galaxy II the lineup was:

Irwin

Ford - Trusty - Moor - Beitashour

Warner - Larraz

S. Bassett - Wilkerson - Benezet

Mezquida

(Sam Bassett is Cole's younger brother, getting a taste of preseason as an Academy player)

Mexquida scored early and often, getting his first goal in the 2nd minute and ending up with a hat-trick in a 3-0 win.