Quick & Dirty Houston Preview

Long but fun day at the Con.  Christopher Eccleston, aka the Ninth Doctor, has been the best guest so far.  Its good to get back to doing these type of things.  Anyway, the quick game preview.  Nobosy is suspended, Namli, Rosenberry, and Acosta are Questionable on the injury report.  Notes from practice have been that Namli and Acosta could be available this week, Rosenberry maybe by next week, certainly by the playoffs.

Nothing has changed in the standings since Thursday, the games that would impact us are all tomorrow.  Portland, who with a draw or loss would clinch 3rd for us, doesn't play this weekend.  We want to keep an eye on Philly and Nashville in regards to our overall standing for possible CCL positioning but no impact on our playoff position.  KC plays Minnesota finishing just as we kickoff, so we'll know if we've been eliminated from winning the West by a KC win as we start.  Seattle plays Vancouver on Monday so if we don't lose we'll still have a shot at 2nd until then.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Barrios and Badji.  Neither guy started on Wednesday and I'm sure Fraser is going to put out a full strength squad to try to get this done tomorrow and go into next week with a hope of playing for something more than 3rd, but not needing to play for anything if other results don't go our way.  Houston is a bad team, we should win this without having to sweat it out much at the end.

Rapids Reserves Hold Up Against Shield Winners

Fraser decided to go with a heavy rotation in last night's game, with arguably only 5 of our best XI starting (Yarbrough, Abubakar, Trusty, Rubio, and maybe Esteves).  The bad news was that Acosta, Namli, and Rosenberry all didn't make the trip due to injury (reports today are that the first two should be available in Houston while Rosenberry will be ready at least by the playoffs if not the LAFC game).  Despite that it took until the second half for the Shield winners, starting their first XI, to breakthrough and it took a quality goal to do it.  While the loss isn't great, and boy did we have a couple of chances to get a point, its good to see that our depth held up on a cold night in Massachusetts.

Random Musings:

• Lets discuss the standings first.  KC won last night, beating the Galaxy, which clinched a home playoff match for the Rapids.  Portland won, so we didn't clinch a top 3.  KC won and is now 3 points ahead of us and tied with Seattle, and KC has a game in hand.
• So what that means is that regardless of what we do on Sunday against Houston, a KC win this weekend and a Seattle win on Monday puts them out of reach (since we lose the tiebreakers against them).  If we get a draw or Portland doesn't win we'll clinch 3rd.  There's a very good chance that by Monday we'll be locked into 3rd and the LAFC game will be meaningless for us.
• Back to the game, the team held up well against "superior" opposition.  While the Revs won the stat battle they didn't get a good look at goal until the 70th minute, and the looks they did get we covered.
• Their goal came on a low-percentage shot (less than 10%) that Buchanan took from a tight angle and just beat Trusty and Yarbrough.  Neither of them did anything wrong, it was one of those cases where you have to tip your hat and say "well done, you beat us).
• Meanwhile the Rapids had a couple of great looks and couldn't convert.  Sadly the best was probably Cole Bassett ho had it center of the box with space to shoot and managed a slow roller to Taylor.  Not what we needed there.
• Drew Moor's perfect record was broken in the 32nd game of the season.  Until last night, his first start of the season, we had won every game he appeared in and not given up a goal when he was on the field.  It was his 200th appearance as a Rapid though.
• Beitashour was solid on the right, for not having a lot of playing time.  I'm not suggesting he should be getting more, but its nice to know he's ready to step in if necessary, given that Fraser did not think he was ready at this time last year.
• There was another chance at the death that just didn't roll our way.  A cross in front of the goal managed to be a few inches in front of Badji and a few inches behind Lewis, either one of which would have had a tap-in.
• Now the schedule gets easier, with a long-eliminated Houston on Sunday and then a week until we get LAFC at home.  Its unlikely LAFC will be eliminated by them but they may be on life support.
• I've got tickets to Fan EXPO Denver all weekend, so I may or may not get a game preview up before Sunday.  Depends on how tired I am after the con tomorrow and Saturday night.  I won't get to see much, if any, of the game on Sunday as it kicks off at the same time as the keynote guest, William Shatner, goes on stage.

Man of the Match: Auston Trusty.  He was a rock in defense, breaking up a number of NE attacks and being a sweeper in front of Yarbrough.  As clearly the most improved player of the season he has a real shot at defensive player of the year.

Reverse Jameson Night

I'm not sure what a reverse Jameson Night is exactly, maybe drinking after the game?  Regardless the Rapids flew out to Boston today to face New England tomorrow night.  The Revs wrapped up the Shield over the weekend but are 1 win away from setting a league record for points.  Meanwhile the Rapids need 1 point to clinch a top 3 finish and 3 to keep up with SKC and Seattle.  So this game is both not really important and very important for both teams.  Kickoff is at 5pm tomorrow.

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: M Collen Warner

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar, D Danny Wilson, M Braian Galvan, M Jack Price

The injury report is still clear so hopefully that means Namli and Rosenberry will be available tomorrow.  But they weren't listed on Saturday and were unavailable so who knows.

This is a best guess based on who played this weekend and who didn't and knowing that maybe we won't go 100% into this one with a much more winnable game this weekend.  But at this point there's not much that would surprise me in the lineup.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Barrios.  New England is the best team in the league, but with the lack of crossover games this season we don't really know how good they are.  The West has a better record in interconference games so far this season, and this will be the only time (until MLS Cup possibly) that New England will play a playoff-caliber team from the West).  I think we're going to find out the Revs are good, but that their large lead over the rest of the league has been slightly inflated by the weakness of the East and it will be a pretty even matchup.

Rapids Clinch Playoffs, On Verge Of Clinching Home Game

A strong performance on Saturday night booked Colorado's spot in the playoffs.  Combined with the other results we were a late Galaxy goal way from clinching a home playoff match.  That will come in due time.  For a battle between 3rd and 4th place Portland was awfully flat the whole match and it never felt like they were going to win this game, but given the Rapids track record this year it wasn't until the second goal that you felt like they weren't going to give points away.  One of the better all-around games of the season.

Random Musings:

• The big disappointment was seeing Namli out injured again, and Rosenberry injured.  I think this is the first  start Rosenberry has missed since arriving in Colorado for non-COVID reasons.  Meanwhile our million dollar DP has made 5 of 31 starts this season.
• It felt like a big night in C38.  From the opening whistle there was an increased energy in 117 that we hadn't had in a while.
• Somehow Dominique Badji has turned into a great backup striker.  3 goals in 2 starts and 225 total minutes since he returned to Commerce City.  And its hard to believe at times but he just turned 29 years old last weekend, so he could be around for a while.  He's already moved up to a tie with Wolde Harris for 6th all-time in career scoring for the Rapids.
• Portland had one shot with an Expected Goals of 5.52%.  Everything else was under 5%.  Yarbrough had an easy night.
• I'm not sure how much Rubio really knew about his shot that went in.  Galvan's cross was headed by a Timbers' defender right onto Rubio's head and into the goal.  To be fair to Diego he did appear to try to put some force behind it but it was a bang-bang play and I think he could have just stood there and he would have scored.
• Ok, lets talk playoffs.  The Rapids have clinched no worse than 5th place.  With 1 more point, or a point lost by Portland and the Galaxy they'll clinch a top 3 finish in the West and a home playoff match.  (Portland or the Galaxy dropping a point would clinch 4th and a home match).  I expect to get that done no later than this weekend, maybe by Wednesday night.
• With 4 more points 9or points dropped by Nashville and Philly) they'll clinch a top 4 overall finish in the league.  This is important because the top 3 will all get a Concacaf Champions League position, and if the MLS Cup winner has already qualified for the CCL, the 4th best team would get a CCL spot.
• Looking at the remaining schedules for Seattle and Kansas City I think its unlikely we catch one (or both) of them for a top 2 spot.  Seattle shouldn't struggle to get 7 points in their last 3 games, which would put them out out our reach.  KC will probably get 9 points, which means the best we could do is tie them and KC has the tiebreaker.  With 4 games we need KC to drop at least two games to have any real chance of catching them.
• Of course doing any of that requires us to beat New England on a cold Boston Wednesday night.  The Revs wrapped up the Shield over the weekend and have almost nothing left to play for, but a win in one of their final 2 games would give them the all-time points record for MLS.
• We don't know yet which day the Rapids would host a playoff match, but it will be one of Nov 20th, 21st, or 23rd.

Man of the Match: Braian Galvan.  2 assists made this an easy pick.  He's settling in now in MLs and I'm really looking for a big year from him in 2022.

Rapids Have 3rd Chance To Clinch Playoff Spot

Ok, we had a chance to clinch a playoff spot last Saturday in Sandy and we saw how that went.  Then we had a chance to do it Wednesday night and gave it away.  3rd time is the charm, right?  If we beat Portland tomorrow night if we draw and Vancouver loses or if Minnesota or the Galaxy don't win we clinch.  We can also clinch even if we lose if the Galaxy lose and Vancouver doesn't win (Vancouver doesn't win and either the Galaxy lose or Minnesota and LAFC draw.  Also if we win And Minnesota and Vancouver don't win and the Galaxy lose we clinch a home playoff gamed.

Got all that?  Really what matters here is a win really puts us in the driver's seat for a top 3 finish, and draw keeps us in good shape for that.  A loss and its hold on to your butts time as Portland will be within 3 points with an easier schedule since they don't have to travel and play the Revs.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7pm and it sounds like Richard Fleming will be back in the booth from his health and safety protocol absences the last two games.

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: M Collen Warner

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar, D Danny Wilson, M Braian Galvan

The injury report is clean so hopefully that means Namli and Rosenberry will be available tomorrow.

If Rosenberry can't go I think we see Kelly get the start.  That may cause some knock on changes if Fraser feels like he needs defensive help (like not playing Namli in front of him).  If Namli can't go Barrios will IMO.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Rubio and Trusty.  Portland's offense has been a bit better than ours but our defense is much better.  The Timbers are coming off a crushing defeat at home to their rival Vancouver, and I don't think you bounce back from that by coming to altitude on short rest.  Colorado hasn't had to travel and had a couple of core guys (Abubakar, Namli) get some rest on Wednesday.  I think that's enough to make the difference in this one as the Rapids book their spot in the playoffs.

We've Seen This Story Before

The Rapids got a lead at home, and gave it up late...again.  A draw was probably a fair result for the game based on the play (and its what I predicted) but you hate to drop points like that.  Seattle came in looking for a scoreless draw or maybe to steal 3 points on a smash and grab and they got what they wanted.  With the draw the chances of catching Seattle for first in the West are fairly limited.

Random Musings:

• Namli was a late scratch from the lineup due to tightness, which isn't great since he's already missed so much time.  We only have 4 games to get him synced with the rest of the team before the playoffs.
• Jack Price does not get enough publicity from the national press.  He's the best dead ball specialist in the league and is 3rd overall in assists, pretty much all from free kicks like last night.  He needs 2 more to tie Terry Cooke for 2nd most assists all-time in Rapids history.
• Danny Wilson was named in the MLS mid-week team of the week, and he did play really well, but he was at sixes and sevens on Seattle's goal.  He tracked the play the whole way and covered nothing but empty space the whole time.  Doing that pulled Trusty and Esteves out of position and led to 3 Sounders being 5 Rapids.
• But the goal really comes back to Rosenberry's injury.  The prior game in Seattle are the first minutes he missed all season, after playing most of the 2020 minutes and all the 2019 minutes.  Because of that we don't really plan for him to sub out and it hurt us.  We moved Acosta to RB and he's not a RB.  He was beaten on the goal first with the pass, and then by Chu in the box where he got separation for the cross.
• It was an interesting lineup last night with Acosta at LB and Shinyashiki in midfield.  I'm guessing part of that was due to Namli's late injury.  My bet is that Shinyashiki was slated to start up top where Badji played but moved back into Namli's spot.
• Luckily Vancouver had a late comeback against Portland last night.  The Timbers appeared to be on their way to a win that would have put them within 3 points of us going into Saturday night's head to head matchup.  Now they're 6 points back so a win on Saturday puts them 9 back with 3 to play.  They would have the tiebreaker (total wins) so we don't lock up a top 3 finish with a win, but we do get to a point that it would take losing the rest of our games while somebody else won all of their's.
• A win this weekend would finally clinch a playoff spot though.
• SKC is even on points with us but has a game in hand now.  They play Seattle on Saturday so the result of that one should tell us who we might be able to catch for second.

Man of the Match: Dominique Badji.  Pressed into starting service he came up with a goal.  What more can you ask for?

Last Shot At First Place

Currently the Rapids are 6 points back of Seattle with 5 games to play.  A loss or draw tomorrow night means there are 4 games left and we have to make up at least 1.5 PPG.  That's not happening.  A win at least puts first place still in play, making up 3 points in 4 games is possible.  Anything less than a win and we need to start thikning about 2nd place (and holding off Portland for 3rd).

Oh, and our former player, Nicolas Benezet, just added some fuel to the fire.  He "can't wait to play in front of his ex-fans".  Well, that Rapids reject will be lucky if Lalas doesn't put him on his ass in the first few minutes.  Kickoff for this suddenly spicy match is at 7pm tomorrow at the Dick.

No update on injuries from the team yet:  EDIT: No injuries listed in the media game notes

Disciplinary Report:

SUSPENDED: F Diego Rubio (yellow card accumulation) 

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: M Collen Warner

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar, D Danny Wilson, M Braian Galvan

Missing Rubio isn't the worst thing in the world, he hasn't exactly set the world on fire this season.  Otherwise we should be at full strength.

The back 4 could be mixed up by Trusty starting and one of the three not named Rosenberry sitting, but otherwise I think that's the likely look.  I really hope we go with this 4 man backline, there's no point in playing one of the front 6 out of position or sitting one of them to play Galvan to force the 5-4-1.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Barrios.  Sadly I don't think the Rapids have it in them to make the West a race after what happened Saturday.  Seattle is a better team at this point, especially when the going gets tough (they're 0.5 PPG better against playoff teams than we are).  Colorado will put up a good fight but in the end the focus should be on 2nd, and holding on to 3rd, which makes next Saturday's match the most important one left on the schedule.  Beating Portland should all but lock in hosting in the first round and avoiding a trip to Seattle in the second round.

Rapids Fail To Show In Utah...Again

Stop me if you've heard this before.  The Rapids go to Utah, come out flat, go down by at least a goal, stage a furious attempt at a comeback in the second half, it turns into an end-to-end game, and Colorado loses, probably by multiple goals.  Yep, almost every damn time we go to Sandy we choke and the did it again Saturday night.  A 3-1 loss meant the team left the Rocky Mountain Cup in Utah and also failed to clinch a playoff spot.  They'll need to bounce back quickly with the upcoming schedule.

Random Thoughts:

• I think Fraser is overthinking things at this point.  Leaving Acosta and Kaye out of the 18 and starting Barrios on the bench is a poor setup for a winnable game.  I recognize we have 5 games in 13 days and the Seattle game midweek could be huge, but its a lot less huge now that we lost in Sandy.  Sometimes you need to focus on winning the points in front of you and then worry about what's next, and that's before we get into the rivalry aspects of this match.
• Likewise his continued insistence on this 4-5-1 seems odd, considering we always play better once we switch back to a flat back 4.
• But that could be due to our slow starts.  Maybe its not the formation but just an inability to really show urgency until the second half.
• Regardless, this loss wasn't all on Fraser.  Abubakar and Trusty had horrendous nights in center defense.  On the first FSL goal Trusty badly whiffs on the ball letting it go through his legs and Abubakar had lost his man leading to the goal.  On the second Trusty has plenty of time to play a ball upfield but hits a lazy pass that's easily intercepted and it comes right back past him while Lalas loses his man again.  On the last, and t be fair the team was pushed up to try to get a tying goal, Lalas misjudges a ball and his man is off to the races.  Just horrible matches from both of them.
• Colorado essentially had no offense in the first half.  They were more dangerous in the second, getting one back and it felt like for a bit a second might come, but then FSL got its legs under them again and shut things down.
• Along those lines, Cole Bassett since mid-July, has had 2 assists, 1 PK goal, and one game with more than one shot on target in 11 starts and 4 sub appearances.  I know he's got a ton of skill, but he's just not starting material right now.
• Had Rubio scored he would have broken a 3-way tie with Casey and Cummings for the Rapids leading scorer in the Rocky Mountain Cup.  They all have 3 RMC goals.
• Meanwhile, sadly, Drew Moor has joined those two and Pablo on the list with 6 RMC losses in their career (Pablo also lost twice as Rapids coach).
• Colorado really dropped a chance to make up ground on the rest of the West this weekend.  Seattle, SKC, and Portland all lost as well so a win would have put Colorado 12 points ahead of 5th, 8 ahead of 4th, and 2 ahead of SKC in 3rd with a chance to tie Seattle with a win on Wednesday.
• The Rapids now go into a 3 game stretch where they play 3 of the top 5 teams (not counting themselves) in the league in a week.  Wednesday against Seattle, where anything but a win all but eliminates them from winning the West (with a loss/draw they would be 9/6 points back with 4 to play).  Then a huge 6 pointer against Portland on Saturday where a win could put them up more than the Timbers could make up in the last 3 game but a loss could have them slip to 4th,, depending on what happens Wednesday.  finally a trip across the country to New England who might be in position to win the Shield that night (if they haven't won it already by then).
• Even with the doom and gloom the Rapids will make the playoffs and almost certainly will host the first round game.  Right now they're still 2 points ahead of the pace FSL and the Galaxy are playing at in 5th place.

Man of the Match: Younes Namli.  Not much to choose from here so I went with the goal scorer.  With that goal the Rapids became the last team in MLS this season to get a goal or an assist from a DP.  Only took 29 games.

Time To Win A Cup

There should be no difficulty getting up for this one.  The Rocky Mountain Cup is on the line tomorrow night in Sandy.  Winner takes all, a draw means the Cup will not be coming back home with the team.  Since both sides have won a game but FSL won by multiple goals they win the total goals tiebreaker in the case of a 4-4 tie on points.  Also with a win tomorrow, or a lot of other combined results, the Rapids would clinch a playoff spot and be pretty certain they would host a playoff game.  Kickoff in Utah is at 7:30 and while the game is on Altitude it is also on KSL in Utah, which streams their feed online for feed and should be available in the Denver area.  Richard Fleming has announced he won't be available for this game or Wednesday night's home game so we'll see how Tyler Maun does paired with Balboa.

Disciplinary Report:

SUSPENDED: D Danny Wilson (red card against Minnesota)

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar, F Diego Rubio

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION:  D Auston Trusty, D Danny Wilson, M Braian Galvan, M Collen Warner

Obviously Wilson being suspended isn't great but at least we have two solid center backs available.  Both Acosta and Kaye have returned from their international duties.  Acosta did not play on Wednesday night.  Sunday night in Panama he took a hit to the head that left it wrapped in bandages (no concussion issues have been reported) and on Wednesday night he still had a notable bandage on the point of contact.  Hopefully that doesn't limit him tomorrow.  Kaye played the last 30 minutes or so for Canada on Wednesday night.  I think he'll be available to start.

This is partially what I hope to see.  A return to the 4-3-3/4-5-1 that works better for us than the 5-4-1 we've been trying to use.  Pushing Rosenberry inside to put Galvan in front of him in place of another pure attacker isn't what we need.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Rubio and Barrios.  FSL actually has a slightly better offense than we do, but a much worse defense.  (16 more goals given up than Colorado in 28 games).  I hate to predict a win against FSl, especially in Sandy, given all the ways we've been burned over the years.  This team however feels like one that will build on its success last week and the massive comeback to win the series in Sandy last year and come out with 3 points, a clinched playoff spot, and the Rocky Mountain Cup!

Rapids Dig Hole, Then Climb Out

Colorado figured going to Minnesota without Acosta and Kaye wasn't hard enough, so they wasted the first 60 minutes of the game, gave up a goal, and went down a man.  Then they decided to start playing.  30 minutes later (plus stoppage) they left town 3-1 winners with United wondering what the hell just happened.  This was not how it was supposed to happen but 3 points is 3 points.

Random Musings:

• Once again we saw the 5 man back line, and once again we saw the opposition find the seam between the right wing back and the right central defender.  This is an obvious flaw we haven't managed to fix.
• Also once again we start with a 5-man back line, struggle, them make subs to go to a 4-man back line and look a lot better.
• Those two things should indicate an obvious solution.  Start with a 4-man back line.  I understand Fraser is trying to get his best players on the field and he's trying to rotate players due to the brutal end of season stretch (more on that below) but the time for playing around is over.  We've got 6 games left before the playoffs.  find your starting XI, find your formation (4-man back line) and play that to get ready.
• Wilson's red card might force the issue in Sandy next week.  It  was a clear DOGSO foul so no chance it will (or should be) overturned.  Play Rosenberry-Abubakar-Trusty-Esteves in the back and go win the game.
• Once Wilson was sent off I give credit to Fraser.  A lot of coaches would have tried to turtle in and contain the damage.  Fraser put 3 attacking players on and said "go find some points", and we did.  It also indicates that maybe we should have started some of those players (namely Barrios).
• There were a lot of questions from fans about why the Minnesota keeper wasn't sent off for his PK foul on Barrios.  There are actually two reasons.
• One, a couple of years ago the IFAB & FIFA changed the rule about a Denial of an Obvious goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) in the box.  In a case when there was a legitimate play on the ball leading to the DOGSO foul in the box the penalty is a PK and a yellow card.  The thought being that the Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity was restored in the form a PK.  This does not apply if there was no play on the ball (so you can't strike a player, shove them, etc. and not get a red) or if a handball stops a goal.  Those are still red cards and PKs.
• Even if the red card penalty still existed I'm not sure this qualified as DOGSO.  One of the pieces that goes in to judging if it was a a DOGSO is the direction of play.  The Minnesota keeper did play the ball and pushed it away from the goal before tripping Barrios.  Had ne not tripped him Barrios would have had to backtrack corral the ball, turn and shoot.  That's no longer an "obvious" goal scoring opportunity.  Which is probably why the keeper didn't get a yellow card for the foul.
• The second goal killed Minnesota.  The fight pretty much went out of them at that point (though they did have a couple of good looks).  But you could see they couldn't believe what happened.
• The third goal was just the icing on the cake.  In case your wondering:
• The last time the Rapids went down a man (and a goal) was in Snow Claisco III against Portland to open the 2019 season.  Sjoberg was correctly sent off for blocking a shot with his hand and the Rapids were down 1-0 after the PK.  They came back to draw that game 3-3.
• The Rapids have never scored 3 goals while playing at a man disadvantage.  They did score 3 goals against the Fire in the 4th of July game in 2002, and they were down a goal then too.  But between the Rapids going down a man and Chris Carrieri getting a hat-trick the Fire had Ante Razov sent off so the 3 goals were scored 10 v 10.
• With this win Colorado is in very good shape to have a home playoff game.  Right now 5th placed FSL and the Galaxy are on pace to finish with 47-48 points.  To catch and pass the Rapids at 51 would take one of those teams really stepping up their pace, and Portland doing the same.  Unlikely despite the head-to-head matches remaining against FSL and Portland.
• With a win on Saturday in Sandy the Rapids clinch a playoff spot.
• Colorado needs 8 more points in the final 6 games to set a new team record for points and PPG in a season.
• Those 6 games aren't going to be easy.  After this week off they play @Sandy in the Rocky Mountain Cup on Saturday, home against Portland the following Wednesday, home against Seattle the Saturday after that, @Foxbrough to face Shield leaders NE the next Wednesday, a nd then finish the run in Houston that Sunday.  5 games in 15 days, including 3 on the road.
• They then get a week off before the season finale against LAFC at home the following Sunday.
• Special shout out to Drew Moor for becoming the 8th player all time in MLS history to reach 400 appearances.  199 of those with the  Rapids (I think).
• The Rapids are still perfect this season when he plays, won every game and haven't conceded when he's been on the field.

Men of the Match: A special dual Man of the Match award for this one.

• First, Clint Irwin.  No, he didn't play.  But he made the most heads up play I've seen in a while, even if it was probably meaningless.  After Barrios went down in the box there was no call and play continued.  Minnesota cleared the ball out near the Rapids bench and Trusty ran over to take a quick throw-in.  Irwin leaped off the bench and shoved Auston to prevent the throw-in.  Irwin knew the VAR rules, which only allows a review back to the last stoppage of play.  Had the throw-in been taken the possible PK could no longer be reviewed.  Instead it was reviewed and given.  Now looking at the replay you can see the 4th official stepping in to stop the replay and if the VAR is doing its job its telling the center ref its looking at a possible replay and he shouldn't allow play to continue, so odds are the play would have been stopped anyway, but its good to see the bench that focused and involved, and that pause and then PK was the turning point in the game.
• Second, Michael Barrios.  For his on-field play.  Came on as a sub, drew a PK, scored a goal, and got an assist on the 3rd.  Clearly the best player on the pitch on Sunday.

Colorado Looking To Improve On Playoff Result

Last time we were in Minnesota the Rapids crashed out of the 2020 playoffs on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline.  Tomorrow they go in as possibly the favorite (though the current betting line favors United) but certainly with the expectation we can get a better result.  If you are confused about when this game is happening I'm not surprised as its been moved at least twice.  The game was announced a couple of months ago as having been moved to be on ESPN, then a couple weeks ago it was announced to have moved forward an hour to 2-,m MT and will only be on Altitude.  I think once tomorrow's World Cup qualifiers got set ESPN had to make the change to not overlap and they didn't have room for it.  This was so surprising that Richard Fleming, assuming he would have the weekend off since the game was on ESPN, scheduled a trip for him and his son to go to Seattle and watch the Sounders.  So he will not be on the call tomorrow, which might be the first ever game he's missed since he arrived.  I'm not sure who will be filling in.  Again, kickoff is 2pm tomorrow and the game is on Altitude, unfortuantely.

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar, F Diego Rubio

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION:  D Auston Trusty, D Danny Wilson, M Braian Galvan

You'll see one name surprisingly missing from that list.  Lucas Esteves is not suspended for the game after his red card last week as the Independent Review Panel (IRP) reversed his red card.  They also reveres the red card on Minnesota's Reynoso, which is arguably a bigger impact.  I'm surprised they reversed either one, but I do wonder if they felt like it needed to be both or neither to be "fair".

I was trying to wait to post this until the Rapids sent out their game notes with any injury updates but nothing's hit the inbox yet.  If it does I'll update the listing.  Reports by Matt Pollard is that Yarbrough practiced the last two days and is probable for the match, crossing my fingers that he plays.

EDIT: Injury report is out

Injury Report:

QUESTIONABLE: GK William Yarbrough

International Absences:

USA: M Kellyn Acosta

CANADA: M Mark-Anthony Kaye

Given the absence of Acosta and Kaye I expect we'll see this 5-4-1/3-4-3 formation that Fraser has been tinkering with this season instead of the 4-3-3.  I expect that in possession Barrios and Namli will push forward of Rubio and Galvan (or possibly Esteves) and Rosenberry will push up into the midfield.  In defense we'll see Barrios and Namli drop back more into the midfield and the wing backs playing back with the central 3 defenders.  There still really isn't a solution for what burned us in the playoff match as there's not much in the center of the park with our Nats out.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Barrios.  Minnesota is missing more than we are to callups, which will help, but I think our losses are probably more critical.  I'm still concerned we don't match up well with Minnesota in midfield though.  If we can get out of this game with a point and without Abubakar picking up a yellow that will suspend him for the Rocky Mountain Cup match next week I'll feel ok about the result.

Rapids Faceplant In Seattle

That was rough.  Colorado barely had time to get its boots on before they were down 1-0, then they went down 2-0 before the midpoint of the half.  It was pretty much over then, but Seattle added on just before the break to end the game.  It was ugly.

Random Thoughts:

• This game showed the difference between the team we are and the team we want to be.  Seattle capitalized on all of our mistakes.  We didn't capitalize on any of Seattle's mistakes.
• The first goal was a poor play from Rosenberry, exacerbated by a unlucky deflection.  But we would have gotten away with both of those if Irwin could have made the save.  It wasn't "easy" but a good keeper makes it.  This would just be the first indication that Irwin was not a good keeper last night.
• The second goal was Seattle at its best as a team.  I think every Sounder touched the ball in an ~18 pass sequence leading to the goal.  Despite that, it took the defense being completely out of position and Irwin missing on a ball any professional keeper should be prepared for to give up the goal.
• The final score was a bit of individual dribbling brilliance from Seattle and a whole lot of Keystone Kops defending from Colorado, including Irwin yet again not making the play on the ball.
• Seriously, the Sounders only had 4 shots on goal in the first half, and Irwin saved the weakest of the 4.  (and it was quite weak).  I really hope Yarbrough's injury is short-term.
• Meanwhile the Rapids had good looks at goal, and couldn't convert.  At the end of the game the eXpected Goals was 1.5 to 1.1.  The difference was one team being clinical in front of goal and the other wasn't.
• If I have one real frustration with this season, its been Fraser trying to adjust our system from a 4-3-3 to a 5-4-1 midseason when we really weren't built for it.  Rosenberry is not a wing back and I think forcing him into that role is the reason he's had some shaky appearances this year.  Galvan and the others we've tried at left wingback also aren't the right fits.  I know Fraser is trying to get all 3 CB's on the field at once, but we looked better in this match when we went back to the 4-3-3.  We just need to stick with that for the last 7 matches.
• Esteves got red carded on a weak call in the second half.  In real-time it looked like a ridiculous call.  In hindsight, with some help from actual refs, I can see how you might get to red but its still a harsh call.  That's a yellow at best IMO.  But its close enough that the IRP won't overturn it so he'll miss the game in Minnesota.
• With Yarbrough not starting and Rosenberry being subbed out, no Rapid has played every minute this season.
• With this result Seattle moves to 54 points, 6 points ahead of us, on equal games.  Even if we beat them here on the 20th we're still 3 points back with 6 to play.  Realistically we're playing for second at best (SKC is 4 points up on us, but we have a game in hand) and we probably need to be more concerned about Portland passing us for 3rd (2 points back but we have a game in hand).
• The good news is that there's a drop off after that.  Minnesota is in 5th on PPG and they're 10 points back on equal games.  FSL and the Galaxy are only 9 points back but we have a game in hand.  We should still be confident in a home playoff match, but it would be really good to not be in the 4th spot and have to go back to Seattle in the 2nd round.

Man of the Match: Kellyn Acosta.  Nobody really stood out, but Acosta didn't do anything wrong and was one of the few dangerous players we had.

Battle For The Top

With a win on Sunday night the Rapids would go top of the West on PPG (tied with Seattle).  Because of tiebreakers and the game in hand they wouldn't be listed in first yet though.  Getting even a draw would keep the top of the West pretty tight.  A loss would give Seattle a nice gap over the Rapids, so there's a lot on the line.  Kickoff is at 8pm MT, and its an Altitude game.

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar, M Collen Warner 

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION:  D Auston Trusty, D Danny Wilson, M Braian Galvan, F Diego Rubio

No injury updates since Wednesday, but we have to keep an eye on Yarbrough and Esteves after the knocks they took against Austin.

I expect to see us use Acosta and Kay for 90 minutes as after this match they're leaving for international callups (btw, first round pick Philip Mayaka was on the preliminary list for Kenya's WCQs in this window).  The rest of the lineup is based on who was rested on Wednesday and the always-starters like Rosenberry.  Esteves will likely be rested after 90 minutes against Austin and his injury.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Kaye.  This is a little optimistic because Seattle has always been a tough place for us to play and they're a really good team this year, but they are a little banged up.  We also got through the Austin game while resting most of our key players.  So I think we've got enough to get a draw out of this one.