Rapids Stuck In 2022 To Start 2023

After repeated talk this offseason from Rapids coaches and players about how the team needed to stop giving up cheap goals on the road, the club kicked off 2023 by giving up multiple cheap goals on the road.  Losing 4-0 on opening day in a game that, with the exception of a few new faces, looked straight out of midseason 2022 doesn't suggest that any of the change we expected this year is coming any time soon.  In the postgame Fraser said all the expected things, taking part of the blame by being too aggressive with the tactics, but the reality is that very few of the players in burgundy last night looked ready for the opening match.  Real questions have to be asked about where this team's mentality is right now.

I'm going to break down all 4 Seattle goals here, because the failures in them really outline the whole game.  On the first when the Seattle attacker receives the ball in midfield the Rapids have the play pretty well locked down.  There's no direct pressure on the ball, but on Colorado's half of the field there are 7 defenders plus Yarbrough against just 4 attackers.  This shouldn't be a threat.  But then Gersbach makes a critical mistake.  He leaves Morris like he's going to put pressure on the ball, but then stops, then starts, then stops.  By the time he decides what he's going to do Morris has broken behind him and received the pass and its off to the races.  Maxsø starts to move over to cover and Gersbach tries to get back but neither get pressure on Morris before the cross.  Meanwhile Abubakar and Rosenberry both start to cover the same man, then Rosenberry backs off to mark empty space.  This allows Christian Roldan a free run from midfield to the 6-yrd box without any pressure where he gets a free header.  Yarbrough makes the initial save but the rebound goes right back to Roldan and he headed it home.

The second goal looked like a copy of the first.  Once again Gersbach was caught up field allowing Seattle to come down our left side.  Once again Maxsø tries to cover but can't get there before the cross.  This time Abubakar manages to head the initial cross away but not far enough.  The ball is crossed back in from the right where Rosenberry has lost Morris who slots it home.  Before he gets his touch though it goes by him and a flailing Yarbrough and bounces off Abubakar right back to Morris.

Third goal?  Gersbach upfield?  Check.  Maxsø tries to cover the empty space behind him Seattle played into? Check.  This time it started with a horrible pass to spave between two Rapids by Rosenberry.  After the cross there was a little more play in the center of the park before the ball popped out to the right side to be crossed back in.  Abubakar got in the way of the cross but could only stop it at the top of the 6-yard box where it became a tap in for Heber.

We finally saw something different on the 4th goal.  This one came off a corner kick where the defensive marking assignments made no sense to me.  The corner came in and a Seattle attacker got a head to it, but sent it directly into the head of another attacker and the rebound off of that player rebounded off of Wilson's head to the far post.  Waiting there was Jordan Morris, being marked by Cole Bassett of all people.  It was an easy header at that point for the fourth and final goal.

As you can see, with the exception of the final goal, pretty much all our problems developed from the wings.  I can't remember the last time I saw both Rapids outside backs (Rosenberry and Gersbach) play that poorly in the same game.  I don't know what they thought they were doing but it wasn't playing soccer.

Random Thoughts:

• Rubio was out due to a knee injury.  Today we found out he had arthroscopic surgery and will be out 2-5 weeks.
• Abubakar shows up in a lot of those goal breakdowns and he didn't have a great game, but I don't think it was as bad as some people are making it out to be.  On the second and third goals while he did get a touch in both cases they were uncontrolled touches while he was trying to clean up the mess.  Bad luck more than bad play, but that does seem to happen to him more often than average.
• Chris Sharpe is going to have to sit down and rethink our corner kick defense, or find out what we did wrong.  There's no world where marking Morris with Bassett alone makes sense, and it didn't look like there was another Rapid who Morris eluded or anything.
• Yarbrough looked awful on the second goal, and average the rest of the time.  Ilic will have a chance to get plying time sooner than later if that keeps up.
• Kevin Cabral started on the bench which was an interesting choice for our big DP acquisition of the offseason.
• He should start on Saturday in place of Barrios, who is clearly being hunted down by Father Time.  Based on last night he should be a super sub only this season.
• Nicholson hasn't improved since last season.
• Maxsø was the best of a bad set of defenders.  Largely he did fine on defense but his long passing was lacking.
• There were really only two players who brought positive play last night.  Connor Ronan looked good in midfield and created a few positive moves.  He faded out at times (as did most of the team) but certainly deserves to start on Saturday based on this match.
• One piece of good news for Saturday is SKC is playing right now in Portland, having had their game delayed 48 hours due to weather.  That will make them a little less rested com Saturday.

Man of the Match: Darren Yapi.  Pressed into a starting role by Rubio's absence Yapi got everyone's attention with a thundering shot off the bar in the first 90- seconds.  His play throughout the game had MLS writers questioning how he wasn't part of the recent U-20 camp and while he's no Rubio, he'll get  absence to show his stuff in March while Diego recovers from his surgery and maybe play his way onto the U-20 World Cup team.

Gentlemen, Start Your Oars

We'll miss these two on the call this year

Welcome to the 2023 regular season!  More importantly, welcome to the end of the Altitude blackout!  At 6pm tomorrow on FS1 and Apple TV the Rapids will start their campaign in Seattle, where rain and snow is expected at game time.  So its going to feel like Colorado but with noticeably more oxygen.  After a training camp spent in Mexico and Orlando it will be a bit of a shock for the Rapids.  Speaking of oars, Seattle is home to one of the best crew teams in the world, the University of Washington crew team.  Soon to be featured in the upcoming movie The Boys in the Boat, about the 1936 U.S. crew team that took down Hitler's top rowers at the Olympics (the U.S. team was the defending collegiate crew champions, the UW boat).

The first game of the season also means the first availability report and its...not great:

Availability Report:

OUT: GK Marko Ilic (waiting on visa), F Yaya Toure (knee), FW Diego Rubio (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: D Aboubacar Keita (knee), M Jonathan Lewis (knee), M Jack Price (back)

No surprise with Ilic and Toure and Keita are still coming back from their blown ACL's last season.  Lewis got 0 minutes in preseason so you had to know something was going on there.  The big two names are Diego Rubio and Jack Price, neither of which were expected.  The Rapids have said they will have more information on Rubio's injury next week but its not MCL/ACL related, so that's good.  My guess is that no matter how insignificant Price's injury is, he won't start and likely won't play.  Turf + snow is not a combination where you want to risk exacerbating an injury.

The midfield is a bit hard to predict given the injuries.  Bassett and Cabral will start, not sure about Ronan, Acosta, or Nicholson, but that seems to be where Fraser is leaning based on preseason.  Yapi feels like the only real choice up front without Rubio.

Prediction: 1-0 loss.  If we had Price and Rubio I can see us getting a point, or maybe even a win, but without them I don't see where the offense is going to come from.  With the ugly weather and our normal lack of success in Seattle I'm expecting we'll give up a sloppy goal and show no real ability to get back into the game,

2023 Season Preview and Predictions

I just got home from a week in Cabo to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary, so we're going to squeeze in a couple of posts between now and game time on Sunday to be ready to kickoff the season.  First up, my annual preview and predictions.  But before we get to that, one bit of news.  Defender Michael Edwards has been loaned to USL side San Antonio for the season, with the option to be recalled.  That will give him a higher level of competition than he would get with Rapids 2.

As we go into this year I see a team with, once again, lots of unproven-in-MLS potential  The only real addition we made this offseason that has already been successful in the league is the return of Cole Bassett from his loan in the Netherlands.  Otherwise its a collection of MLS players looking to find success with a new team or international signings new to the league.  That latter is notable as Padraig Smith has talked multiple times about players new to the league needing adjustment time, sometimes up to a full season.

Well, Colorado can't afford for the new guys to take a full year to get up to speed.  Arguably if more than one of Ilic, Gersbach, Ronan, or Maxsø fail to hit the ground running we are probably going to have a long season.  Certainly we need two of them to be ready to go starting in Seattle.  The good news is that we didn't look for our normal bargain deals in Europe.  They brought Maxsø in as a DP, and no DP should be given latitude to have a full season to get established in the league.  If you're taking up one of those spots you're expected to produce immediately.  Cabral was brought over from the Galaxy as a DP as well.  Ilic is here on loan but with an expected big number in his purchase option.  Gersbach is filling a big hole and needs to be ready to do that on day 1.  Only Ronan really has the flexibility to take some time settling in.

In the end, I think this season will come down to how well and how quickly the new parts mesh.  Its clear in this window that the Front Office recognized how badly they screwed up the last couple of windows (that's a discussion for another day) and has made moves to address our lack of depth and most of our holes.  That doesn't get them off the hook of creating the problem where we have a bunch of new parts that we're still unclear about less than 18 months after winning the West.  If we get to May and we're still figuring out our best XI and who works well with who its going to be another long season of one-and-done competitions and no playoffs.

With that, on to the predictions:

• Colorado, on the back of great goalkeeping from Ilic, beats a lower league side in their first USOC game but then gets eliminated by a MLS side in the next round
• The Rapids surprise some people and actually make it out of the group stage of the Leagues Cup, getting a draw in Nashville and beating Toluca at home.  But one knockout match is all they get
• We bring the Rocky Mountain Cup home by beating FSL on the last day of the season
• With that win Colorado leapfrogs FSL into 7th place, avoiding the wild-card play-in game and qualifying for the playoffs
• But its one series and done again, but with the new format at lease we get a home game
• The summer transfer window is quiet for the Rapids, other than exercising Ilic's purchase clause.  No other major moves are made (in or out) but some depth is added
• By midseason Ilic will be the clear #1 in net
• Diego Rubio wins the team Golden Boot with double-digit goals but less than 15
• Cole Bassett is the team MVP, cementing his status as an everyday starter and getting interest from Europe again by the end of the season
• Jack Price returns to being one of the most underrated players in the league
• Maxsø is the clear defensive player of the year and makes a push for the league's best XI
• Ronan and Max both struggle to claim the third starting spot in midfield, creating a rotation all season
• Cabral finds himself in Colorado and while he doesn't live up to the DP money the Galaxy paid to sign him does justify the GAM we traded to bring him here.  10 or more goals + assists this year.
• Yapi shows he's a year away still, but really looks set for a big 2024

Will I be right?  Probably not.  But am I optimistic or pessimistic?

Rapids Finish Preseason With A Loss

Colorado played its final preseason match today, facing off against the Union in Orlando.  The starting XI

Yarbrough

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Maxsø - Gersbach

Priso

Ronan - Bassett

Nicholson - Yapi - Barrios

This group played a pretty close to first team starting XI from Philly to a draw at halftime.  At half Wilson came in for Maxsø  and Acosta came in for Yapi, so I'm guessing Ronan or Barrios were playing center forward at that point.  Right after half the Rapids conceded, and after 75 minutes full swaps were made:

Yarbrough

Anderson - Rosenberry - Bombito - Wilson - Beitashour

Max - Acosta

Galvan - Harris - Cabral

The 90 minutes ended at 1-0 Philly, but the teams had agreed to play 135 minutes total.  That turned into a bit of a mess with the final score being 4-1 Philly, the Rapids goal coming from Cabral with Acosta assisting.  The final lineup included Anderson coming in for Yarbrough and Markanich coming in for Rosenberry before the final 45.  Edwards was a late sub as well.

And with that, we enter game week.  The team will stay in Orlando before flying to Seattle for next Sunday's game.

Welcome Marko Ilic!

The Rapids made the loan for Serbian keeper Marko Ilic official today, announcing his joining of the team KV Kortrijk.  The official announcement says he's joining "throigh July 2023" with an option to buy.  The announcement from his Belgium side is a bit more specific, the loan is through July 5th.

Once again a Rapids player press release has misleading or incorrect information.  "Through July" would suggest until July 31st or at least close to that, not through 4 days of July.  I had heard word that the Rapids were working on improving these issues, but I guess not.

Only having him until July is a bit odd.  Yesterday we talked about how if he stayed until the window closed on or around September 1st he would be the obvious starter for the Leagues Cup matches.  Even staying until the end of July would get him the Leagues Cup group games.  Now the only time I'm sure he'll get is our opening U.S. Open Cup match, which given the team's track record in the competition is likely to be our only USOC match.  Otherwise Ilic is going to have to beat our Yarbrough for playing time or Fraser will have to decide that giving Marko time over Will is worth it for long-term strategy even if it reduces our chance of winning that game.  A hard place to be in when you only have him available for 22 league matches before having to make a decision.

With this move you have to figure Colorado is largely done for the offseason.  We could see a late trade involving an international slot or maybe a swap of non-starting XI players but I think our big moves are likely done at this point.

New Keeper Incoming? & Preseason Results

I was going to dedicate this post to catching up on a couple of preseason results but we've got some player news tonight to get to first.  Brendan Ploen of the Post is reporting that a loan agreement has been reached with goalkeeper Marko Ilic and his Belgian side K.V. Kortrijk to loan Ilic in until the summer transfer window, with an option to buy him outright then.

This is an interesting move in the vein of other loan-to-buys like Esteves, Namli, and even Yarbrough originally.  The only oddity is the short length.  Depending on when exactly "in the summer" is, the loan could be for as short as 18 games (if its until the summer window opens in Belgium) to as long as 26 games plus at least 2 Leagues Cup games (if its until the close of the window in Belgium).  That's generally long enough to get a good read on a field player where you can get him in for some minutes even as a sub but its much harder to do for a goalkeeper that needs to unseat an incumbent just to get playing time.  There will also be at least one Open Cup match during the loan.  If he's her through the end of the window you have to figure he's getting any USOC and Leagues Cup matches at minimum.  More on this if/when it becomes official and we have more details.

Also, relevant to this, Colorado's second round pick GK Oliver Semmle signed with Louisville City FC today, as expected it appears he didn't get an offer from the Rapids.

So now, on to the first couple of preseason matches in Orlando.  On Saturday the Rapids faced off against the home team in their first game against MLS competition this year.  The starting XI looked like (best guess on formation):

Yarbrough

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Wilson - Beitashour

Price

Bassett - Ronan

Nicholson - Rubio - Barrios

Most of that group went 75 minutes and played a scoreless draw in the first half.  At half Price and Ronan came off for Acosta and Priso.  All the action happened after the break as right out of the locker room Barrios set up Bassett to take the lead, and Rubio doubled it on a PK he earned about 7 minutes later.  Orlando would get one back before the Colorado made full-scale subs:

Rodriguez

Anderson - Bombito - Edwards - Markanich

Priso

Bassett - Harris

Galvan - Yapi - Cabral

This group gave up a goal to end the game in a draw.

Then yesterday the burgundy boys took on USL side Miami FC.  The big news in the starting XI was the first minutes for Gersbach and Maxsø:

Rodriguez

Anderson - Bombito - Maxsø - Gersbach

Priso

Acosta - Max

Galvan - Yapi - Cabral

This group gave up a goal in just 8 minutes, which hurts, but bounced right back with Max and Priso combining to set up Cabral for the tying goal.  Colorado had chances but couldn't break the deadlock in the first half.  At the break Yarbrough replaced Rodriguez, Markanich replaced Gersbach, and Harris replaced...somebody.  Then in the 60th minute the remaining 8 players were swapped out leaving an XI of:

Yarbrough

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Wilson - Markanich

Bassett

Ronan - Harris

Nicholson - Rubio - Barrios

This group would take the lead on a Rubio goal from a Nicholson cross with less than 15 minutes to go.  Markanich would get one 3 minutes later off a rebound of his own shot from a Ronan cross.

Colorado will play Philly on Saturday in their last preseason friendly before the season opener next Sunday in Seattle.

Its A New Day In Colorado

The Rapids unveiled their new away/alternate kit today.  Named the New Day kit it was designed in partnership with artist Pat Milbery, according to the Rapids the first time in the league a team has partnered with an artist on a design.  Not only is it a great new look for the club it also continues the idea of a community kit, first started with the Black Diamond kit in 2019 but really strengthened with the Class V kit in 2021 and its goal to raise awareness for mountain preservation.  For the New Day shirt the Rapids are bringing the focus to mental heath and the stigmas attach3ed to it, especially among teenagers.

I think this is a great looking kit, arguably the best looking one since the team's green era.  I love the continued focus on the community and this shirt's specific focus on mental health.  I know some fans were hoping for more of an orange/yellow style based on the sunrise graphics the team had been using in their promotion but the light blue is a traditional Rapids color.  

The only draw back is a big one.  The MSRP on the authentics are $159 before adding name/number customization.  That is just a ridiculous number.  Its hard to find another kit in the world that is that expensive.  Blackburn's run $65.  Arsenal's $70.  Real Madrid's $90.  Essentially I could get almost two kits for the price of one MLS shirt.  The replicas are a cheaper option but leave a lot of the kit off (like the star).  Now this isn't on the Rapids.  Adidas sets the price for the whole league (possibly with league input) so Colorado just has to go along.

If you can get past that Colorado is doing a fun promo for their season kickoff party on March 1st.  Bring (or buy there) one of the new shirts and they'll put name/number customization on it for free at the party.  For that night only they'll be using the stylized numbers they used during their release countdown.  The rest of the season the numbers available will be the darker blue ones you'll see on the player's kits.

MLS Season Pass Goes Live And Another Keeper Rumor

On Wednesday Apple and MLS officially launched MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, the new home of every league game for the next 10 seasons.  To be very clear up front for people who are still confused, the ONLY other place MLS games will be broadcast are simulcasts of the same video feed on FOX (approx 1 game a week).  No games on Altitude.  No games on ESPN.  No games on Univision.  Just on Apple.  But also, no local blackouts either.

Full season ticket holders get a free subscription with their tickets, for everyone else its $99/season ($79 if you already subscribe to AppleTV+).  And to be clear on this point as well, this is a separate subscription from AppleTV+ and you don't need the latter to get the former.  Most season-ticket holders got their sign-up link on Wednesday and report a very easy sign-up process.  I say most because those of us who buy our tickets through Centennial 38 had our codes delayed due to administrative issues but we will have them before the season.

That said, my first look at MLS Season Pass was a good one.  Its easy to fine, being front and center on all versions of the Apple TV platform I've looked at (iPhone, PS4, Xfinity X1, and my LG Smart TV).  You can set your favorite team so the Rapids selections are always listed first.  Even without having the subscription there's a lot that can be watched with just your Apple login.  For the Rapids they have a great 16+ minute team overview narrated by Drew Moor with appearances from Jordan Angeli and Marcelo Balboa among others (including C38's David Wegner).  There's also a 3-4 minute video with Drew Moor finding out the history of C38's Man of the Match Oar presentation.

On Wednesday the Rapids also announced Jordan's Angeli's return home from her time with the Crew to lead most of the Rapids on-screen work with MLS Season Pass.  She will be joined at times by Drew, and 'Celo will contribute during the week.  Balboa is also serving as a Spanish language commentator for MLS and will work various games on the weekend (not necessarily the Rapids match).  It sounds like Jordan will be the lead presenter for any Rapids generated pre/post-game shows as well as sometimes serving as a sideline reporter for the MLS broadcast of matches and sometimes joining Connor Cape and Brian Crookham on the radio call.   Drew Moor will also appear at times on gameday, both the pre/post game shows and on the radio call.  It sounds like he and Jordan will do the heavy lifting putting together features to be available between gamedays as well.

The one name missing, obviously, is Richard Fleming who will be sorely missed.  If we can't have him though, getting Jordan back and teaming her with Drew is a great backup plan.  With the obvious exception of Mr. Fleming you have to go back to Marc Stout to find somebody who has been involved in Rapids broadcasting who's as good as this crew.  I'm looking forward to what they're going to bring us this season.  One the season starts not only with the first team games be there, but so will MLS Next Pro (Rapids 2) games as well as regular updates on MLS Next (academy).

On another subject Colorado has been linked with another international European goalkeeper.  This time its Serbian international Marko Ilic from Belgium side Kortrijk.  Ilic turned 25 yesterday and has made 60+ appearances over the last 2.5 seasons for Kortrijk.  Before that he made 60 appearances in two seasons for Serbian side Vozdovac.  He's also been capped once for the Serbian National Team had has been the regular backup in recent camps.

There was a report that the Rapids submitted a 600,000 Euro offer for him, and there's another report that he's settled with his new team and ready to leave.  Kortrijk is hovering just above the relegation zone and Ilic has been out since November, reportedly due to a finger injury.  Good chance he sees it likely that the team will stick with his backup, especially if they get relegated and need to cut salary, and he sees his chance to move is now,

Its also fairly clear that Colorado really wants to sign a starting-level keeper this window to push Yarbrough.  He's going to be  34 years old and in the last guaranteed year of his contract.  He also played better when Irwin was a real threat to his starting role than last year, when Irwin dropped to third choice behind a young Abe Rodriguez.  Bringing in a starter-level keeper will force Yarbrough to up his game if he wants the team to pick up their option on him for 2024, and if he doesn't Ilic, or whomever we sign, will be able to step in.