Turbulent Water vs. Turbulent Water

My own pic for once, the Digital Orca sculpture at the Vancouver Convention Center

Before we get started, the Rapids announced today that the Open Cup match will take place in Sacramento on May 9th at 8:30pm MT (just about when my flight touches down at DIA).

Tomorrow night we move on from the Open Cup back to league play, and we do it across the border in the Great White North.  Both Vancouver and Colorado come into this match on 6 game undefeated streaks (which includes the USOC game in the Rapids' case).  Including the USOC match both teams have 2 wins and 4 draws during their streaks.  Game time tomorrow is 8:30pm MT on Apple.  Our announcers this week are Blake Price and Paul Dolan in English, Jesus Acosta and Diego Arrioja in Spanish, and since we're playing a Canadian team, Jeremy Filosa and Matthias Van Halst in French.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK Abe Rodriguez (Ankle), D Aboubacar Keita (Groin), M Cole Bassett (Hamstring)

QUESTIONABLE: M Bryan Acosta (Hamstring), M Max (Knee), M Sam Nicholson (Ankle), F Diego Rubio (Ankle)

Yeah, there's nothing good there.  The MASH unit continues this season.

I put Leyva in midfield on the assumption nobody listed as Questionable could start, Priso started midweek, and our other midfielders are all coming back from injury and are unlikely to start (Larraz, Galvan, etc.).  In reality probably whichever of Max, Acosta, Rubio, or maybe Galvan that the training staff feels most comfortable playing on Vancouver's turf will start, but I have no idea who that will be.  I doubt they want to risk anyone who isn't 100% on that turf, but they may have to.

Prediction: 1-0 loss.  The Rapids have been better during this streak, but I think our injury report bits us in this one.  There's not going to be much on the bench and what is available hasn't been strong offensively.  I expect us to pack the box and try for a scoreless draw, but I don't see it happening.

Rapids Win An Open Cup Match, Comfortably?

Well that was unusual.  In the Open Cup match last night the Rapids largely looked like a MLS side playing a lower-league team and won the game 3-1 without too much tension.  Jonathan Lewis opened the scoring in the 5th minute but Northern Colorado levelled it right before half.  Then in the second half the home side pulled away on a pair of goals where Lewis and Max each scored one and assisted on one.

Its great to see Lewis get on the board finally, and credit to Max particularly for the assist on Lewis' second which was a creative backheel through the backline that Lewis ran onto.  It was also good to see a mixed lineup put out there, with some starters like Abubakar and Maxsø  and younger players like Anderons and Markanich.  We also got our first look at Ilic.  It was clear we were taking this one seriously when after goin up 3-1 we subbed in Barrios and Ronan.

Today the draw for the next round was held and the Rapids were in a group with LAFC and USL Championship sides Sacramento Republic and Monterey Bay FC.  Both USL sides were drawn as hosts and Colorado was matched up with Sacramento, who made the USOC final last year before losing to Orlando, taking out SKC, the Galaxy, and SJ along the way.  They won't be intimidated hosting a MLS side.  The game will take place either May 9th or 10th.  The Rapids play the Galaxy in LA on the 6th so my guess is that they'll stay in California and try to get the game scheduled on Tuesday.  They then come home to face the Union the following weekend (who themselves are playing an away USOC game in Minnesota midweek after being on the road the prior weekend).

Also just before last night's game Tom Bogert, now at The Athletic, reported some details about the Leyva loan.  The reason the odd number of $92K of GAM was included in the deal was a nice bit of accounting work by the Rapids FO.  They got Seattle to agree to keep $92K of Leyva's salary cap hit, which allowed the Rapids to roster him on the supplemental roster instead of taking a senior roster spot.  In return we agreed to compensate the Sounders for that salary cap hit by giving them the same amount ion GAM.  So in the end the load deal is really just for a 3rd round pick in 2025, which is nothing.

Platte River Derby Tomorrow Night & Player Moves

Before we get to the abbreviated game preview for tomorrow night's Open Cup match the Rapids made two roster moves in the last 24 hours.  First, before the window closed last night, Colorado made a deal to bring Danny Leyva on loan from Seattle until the summer window opens on July 5th, with the option to extend the loan until the end of the season.  There is no option to acquire him permanently in the deal.  In exchange the Sounders will get $95K in GAM and our 3rd round pick in 2025 (assuming the 3rd round still exists in 2025).

Leyva is a defensive midfielder that is stuck behind at least a couple of top players in Seattle, but is good enough to be getting time in MLS.  He's been on the fringes of the U.S. U-20 team and is likely hoping to show himself off in the hopes of making the World Cup squad later this year.  He's also eligible to play for Mexico if he files for a one-time switch.  Presumably the Rapids see him as filling some of the hole Price's injury has left in in front of the back line.  The short length of the loan is unusual though, but the Rapids felt that with only 12 games left in league play once the window opens this summer they had to make a move now.

That statement, given to Brenden Ploen of the Post, says more about the Rapids goals than anything we've seen this year.  They openly acknowledge that there are only 12 games left (about a third of the season) once the window opens, yet they didn't really solve our left back or striker issue in the window that closed last night (Gersbach does not appear to be an answer).  And those 12 games don't include the Leagues Cup competition, but those games weren't even mentioned in the statement, which suggests they aren't going to be a concern for the club.  Its harder and hard to expect anything out of the Rapids in 2023.

Today Colorado also signed Rapids 2 midfielder Marlon Vargas to a short-term deal as allowed under the roster rules.  This is very likely to allow him to play in tomorrow night's Open Cup match.  I wouldn't expect to see him in the 18 for any MLS league matches.

Speaking of tomorrow night, the newly named Platte River Derby will mark the first matchup between the Northern Colorado Hailstorm and the Colorado Rapids first team (Rapids 2 have played the Hailstorm in each of their two preseasons).  The winner gets a trip to the 4th round of the Open Cup.  The Rapids haven't won an Open Cup game since their victory over Oklahoma City in 2017, having lost to USL Nashville in 2018, USL New Mexico in 2019, and Minnesota United in the 4th round last year (we got a by to the 4th round due to qualifying for the CCL).  They haven't beaten a MLS side in thje Open Cup proper since beating the Fire...in 2006.

Its always tough to predict the lineup for these early round games.  I fully expect Ilic to get the start in net, but otherwise we could see a real mixed lineup.  If Bombito or Keita are healthy I'd expect them to start at CB, we could see Anderson and Gersbach at the outside back positions, and I'd expect to see Harris in attack, probably along with Yapi.  Vargas will likely get a start as wekk, and Leyva could easily be on the bench.

I'm going to predict a 2-1 in for the Rapids, no offense intended to the Hailstorm but MLS backups should be at least USL League One quality.  If they aren't they shouldn't be on a MLS roster.  The winner of this match will hold bragging rights to the Centennial State.  Both teams have beaten the Switchbacks twice in Open Cup play, so the victor will be able to claim a clean sweep to the state with an undefeated record.

Rapids Get a Draw That Felt Good And Bad

On Friday I said:

1-1 draw, goal by Rubio.  And even that seems optimistic.  Colorado has looked better over the last 4 games, but St. Louis has started on fire, with the best ever start by an expansion team.  They've won 6 of 8, with their only losses being to Seattle and Minnesota two teams we've lost to.  And in those 6 wins they've scored 20 goals, with multiple goals in each of them (they were scoreless in their two losses).  If Maxsø is really back we might, might, be able able to contain them but they're going to score and we can't expect to score multiple goals right now.  So at best we can hope for a 1-1 draw.

With the exception of Rubio getting the assist and not the goal (and a light assist at that) it was a fairly accurate prediction.  Colorado had more control than I expected but in the end the same problem reared its head, no finishers.  If we had somebody that was a real threat for Rubio to play off of we likely win that game. 

• Cabral got the start, finally!  He had the most shots and shots on target of anyone on the team.  Second highest xG too (after Lewis, we'll get to him).  Of course he didn't score so that's a problem, but its good to see actual offense for once.
• And in general the Rapids had their best game of the season.  By halftime they had limited the potent St. Louis offense to 2 shots on target and led the xG 1.4 to 0.1.  Overall they outshot 21-9, 13-4 on target.  The final xG was 3.2 to 1.1.
• And it still took a stoppage time goal just to get a 1-1 draw.  We have no finishers.  And with the window closing in a hour, it doesn't seem like we're getting any help.  Its going to be a long season of 1 or 2 goal games and hoping our defense can hold up.  Very similar to Pablo-ball in 2016 (if it works), or 2014/15 (if it doesn't).
  
• Speaking of, when Jonathan Lewis came in I turned to the C38 gang I was standing near and said "what, we haven't wasted enough chances yet?".  Sure enough his first two looks were great looks at goal that he put off-target.  They combined for a 0.56 xG, most of his team leading 0.65.  That's why he can't lock down a starting role.
• On the St. Louis goal, they just beat us with a quick attack out of the back.  Cabral(?) was shouldered off the ball and didn't get the obvious call, instead giving StL a goal kick.  they took it quickly and came straight down the field at us.  The got behind Rosenberry on the right, sent a great cross in, and Beitashour was just slower than Alm to the ball.
• That ended what dominance St. Louis showed in the second half.  After than it was Colorado taking control again.  It finally paid off with a nice through ball from Priso that Rubio slightly deflected to earn the assist on Barrios' goal, but even if he hadn't touched it Barrios was in.
• Everyone expected Barrios to go far post on his shot, but he beat the keeper near post.  Burki earned MLS team of the week honors with his 12 saves in this one, but he didn't get Barrios' shot.
• With the draw its 5 unbeaten for the Rapids, but still only one win on the season.  We're not as bad as we feared after the first couple of games, but we are going to struggle all season unless we get a goal-scorer in as soon as the summer window opens.
• Next up, the Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the Open Cup on Wednesday night, then a trip to Vancouver on Saturday.

Man of the Match: Bryan Acosta.  He was the engine in making our offense go until he went off injured.  Third best xG and second best xG+xA (largely because Rubio got the assist after Acosta left the game).  We haven't seen this Acosta very often, but when we do we understand why he was signed.  Hopefully this is the start of a nice run for him, assuming the injury isn't serious.

New Kids On The Block

After our first ever visit to Charlotte last week we get our first look at this year's expansion team, St. Louis City, at home tomorrow night.  The Rapids have not fared well recently against expansion teams.  Last year we drew Charlotte in our only meeting, and our first two times ever facing Nashville were losses.  In 2021 we of course gave Austin their first ever win in our first matchup.  The Rapids also lost our first ever matchup with LAFC in 2018.  We did beat Cincinnati the first time we faced them back in 2019 (we have yet to play 2020 expansion side Miami).  1-1-3 in the first game against the last 5 expansion teams is bad.  You also have to wonder if the St. Louis fans want this one just a bit more than others, given what Kroenke did with the Rams.  I don't know if that has filtered down to the org and players though.

Kickoff tomorrow is at the new standard 7:30pm for Apple TV, and its one of the free games this week.  The English announcers are Chris Wittyngham and Danielle Slaton.  In Spanish we get the number one team of Jorge Perez Navarro and Rapids legend Marcelo Balboa on color.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK Abe Rodriguez (Ankle), D Moise Bombito (Knee), M Cole Bassett (Hamstring)

QUESTIONABLE: D Steven Beitashour (Foot), M Braian Galvan (Groin)

Great not to see Maxsø on the injury report, and according to Brendan Ploen he was a full participant in training today, even scoring a goal on a diving header.  He also saw Beitashour in full training but Galvan is still training on the side.  Abe Rodriguez went down in the Rapids 2 game last week on a goal kick, the full extent of the ankle injury is not known yet.  Bassett's injury hasn't been updated but no surprise to see him listed as out after the way he went down last week.

First of all, that's not a mistake on the jersey colors.  Since tomorrow is Earth Day the league is doing its annual recycled jerseys made from reclaimed plastic from the ocean and this year the ones the Rapids are wearing is black and blue.

Now on the lineup itself, its hard to tell what we're going to do right now.  Assuming Maxsø is good to go I feel pretty good about the back 6, but the front 5 is kind of up in the air.  Obviously Rubio and Ronan will start, and Max is rounding into form.  The other two though, and what formation we'll use?  That's just a guess.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Rubio.  And even that seems optimistic.  Colorado has looked better over the last 4 games, but St. Louis has started on fire, with the best ever start by an expansion team.  They've won 6 of 8, with their only losses being to Seattle and Minnesota two teams we've lost to.  And in those 6 wins they've scored 20 goals, with multiple goals in each of them (they were scoreless in their two losses).  If Maxsø is really back we might, might, be able able to contain them but they're going to score and we can't expect to score multiple goals right now.  So at best we can hope for a 1-1 draw.

In A Surprising Move, Rapids Wave Yaya Toure

Earlier today Colorado released news that they had waved young homegrown attacker Dantouma 'Yaya' Toure.  Toure was still coming back from the ACL injury he suffered late last summer and was not yet cleared to play, which makes this unusual timing for the move.  Generally teams don't waive players who are recovering from injury. even if they don't have a future with the club, as the right thing to do is to still help the player get fully healthy before letting him go. 

I was going back to Twitter to get the statement from earlier today from the Rapids about this move, but 20 seconds ago Brendan Ploen of the Denver Post tweeted this statement he just got from Padraig Smith:

So I guess that answers that.  Hopefully whatever is going on in Toure's life turns out ok and he can get back to playing at the level he was at before the injury.

You Get A New Title! And You Get A New Title! And You Get A New Title!

Over the last week there's been a slew of promotions and new titles being announced in Commerce City:

Padraig Smith - Club President

Wayne Brant - Chief Business Officer

Fran Taylor - Sporting Director

Chris Zitterbart - Chief Scout

Matt Pfeffer - Director of Analytics

Andrew Kewley - Futures Program Director

Andrew Bulter - Academy Talent ID Manager

Kyle Porter - Strength & Conditioning Coach

Boyd Kirk - Team Operations Manager

In addition there have been ten additional staff members added (or in Roeling's case, rejoining the club)

Ruth Fahy - VP of Club Administraion & Finance

Gabbie Pelloni - Director of Team Administration & Operations

James Roeling - Director of Soccer Development

Gabriel Pinto - Director Of Emerging Talent & Youth Recruitment

Nicole Johnson - SafeSport Manager

Liam Creedom - Data & Systems Architect

Eddie Wilding - Academy Staff Coach

Brandyn Bumpas - Academy GK Coach

Andre Hilf - Club Language Specialist & Team Operations Coordinator

and last but hardly least:

Drew Moor - Elite Player Development Coach

I think the latter group are the more significant additions.  From what I understand the promotions are largely brining people's positions at titles in-line with the responsibilities they've had for a while, but adding 10 new staff members is notable for one of the smaller front offices in the league.

The one move that may look more significant than it really is would be naming Fran Taylor as Sporting Director under Padraig Smith, who until now has largely held that role along with his Managing Director role.  I think that's a good thing, as wearing too many hats would stretch Smith too thin, but don't expect this to be a fundamental change in how the club builds its roster.  Tayler has been working with Smith for a few years now, its not like he's going to come into his new title and start dismantling the focus the team has had in recent seasons.  However having a second person involved in the process will allow for people not to be spread so thing which will hopefully help.

Along with these moves on the soccer side of the club the Rapids announced 8 promotions and 9 new roles on the business side as well.  Many of these are in media and content creation, using the new resources and outlets that the Apple deal has given MLS.

Rapids Win A Point And Lose Two Points In Draw

Somehow Colorado came away from Saturday's game thinking they showed great resilience by battling back for a point while also thinking they collapsed and threw two points away.  In honor of that dichotomy we're going to do a Good/Bad game review:

The Good

• Colorado scored two goals for the first time this season

The Bad

• Colorado gave up two goals in 3 minutes in the second half

The Good

• Bassett returned to the starting XI after his hamstring injury

The Bad

• Bassett had to be subbed out after 30 minutes when he ran after a ball behind the charlotte defense and then immediately grabbed his hamstring and dropped to the ground

The Good

• Colorado's defense without their DP kept Charlotte from a dangerous shot in the first half

The Bad

• Colorado didn't have a dangerous shot of their own in the first half, again

The Good

• The Rapids took the lead, on the road!

The Bad

• They only did that for 11 minutes

The Good

• Nicholson did a great job of setting up the goal

The Bad

• Nicholson completely lost his man on defense, allowing him an almost free header for the 2nd Charlotte goal

The Good

• Max scored!

The Bad

• Max kept giving the ball away otherwise (but to be fair, Rubio, Yapi, and Nicholson had worse passing percentages)

The Good

• Abubakar made a good play to snuff out a Charlotte attack

The Bad

• The ball fell right to an unmarked attacker as half the team ball-watched and the other half played U10 "all run to the ball" soccer, making it easy for Charlotte to get their first goal

Ok, I'm tortured that format about as much I can at this point.  In the end the Rapids went into a two game road trip feeling pretty bad and they're coming out with 4 points and being unbeaten in a month.  There's still a long way to go before we can feel comfortable about the level of the club, but the second month of the season looks a lot better than the first month did (6 points in the last 4 games).

Man of the Match: Diego Rubio.  Rewatching the goals I saw how good Rubio's pass was to free Nicholson on the first goal was.  Yapi wins the ball in midfield, immediately gets pressure.  Nicholson sees Yapi win the ball and starts sprinting right past him.  Yapi feels the pressure and makes a short pass to Rubio on the sideline who smoothly one-times it through the last line of the defense and right into Nicholson's path, which set up the easy cross to Max for the goal.  Then on the second goal its Rubio who hits the cross into Barrios' path that the Charlotte keeper completely bungled and left Barrios with an open net.

New Destination For The Burgundy Boys

Tomorrow night the Rapids play their first game ever in Charlotte.  The two teams met at the Dick last season (Charlottes inaugural year) where they played a scoreless draw.  Neither team is off to a good start, both with 1 win through 7 but the Rapids have one more point than Charlotte.  The home team also has one of the worst defenses in MLS so far, averaging 2 goals allowed per game.  Meanwhile outside of the season opener against a pretty good Seattle side the Rapids have been pretty good along the backline, with only 4 goals allowed in the 6 games since then (and two of those were to Minnesota).  Kickoff tomorrow on Apple TV is at 5:30.  The announcing crews are Jenn Hildreth and Lori Lindsey in English and Diego Pessolano and Walter Roque in Spanish.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Moise Bombito (knee), F Yaya Toure (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: D Andreas Maxsø (concussion), M Cole Bassett (hamstring), M Braian Galvan (groin)

No real surprises there, though you would like to see Bassett getting healthy by now.  He did travel with the team to Charlotte so he may be available though I don't expect him to start.  Maxsø is doing well to even be questionable after the 1-2 of head collisions on that play against SKC, I know he trained lightly late in the week but I doubt he makes the 23 for this one.

This is my expectation of what we'll see, though its not who I'd run out there.  Without Maxsø I'd prefer to see us in a 4-man back line but I expect Fraser will stick to the 5-man and have Nicholson playing right wingback.  After that the front 5 has been fairly consistent since Price's injury, though Cabral really needs to be starting and Lewis...not.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by Rubio.  Out on a limb here, but the differences in the defensive play of these two teams just make it look like the Rapids can get 3 points in this match.  If we can't score against these guys we have real issues.

Open Cup Details

Earlier in the day on Saturday the Rapids announced the details of their U.S. Open Cup third round game against Northern Colorado Hailstorm.  The game will be played two weeks from tonight, on the 26th, at 7pm.  All season-ticket holders will get a complimentary ticket to the game.  There will be either a limited or no real organized tailgate from C38, based on past USOC games, but I'm sure the regular crowd will still gather in the normal tailgate spot before the match.

RAPIDS WIN!

It wasn't pretty but they all count the same.  Colorado got its first win of the season, and on the road no less, on Saturday night.  In a game the former Wizards largely dominated it was the Rapids that performed the smash and grab they usually suffer from to grab the 3 points and get out of Dodge (or about 300 miles NE of there).  It would have been a great night except for the injury to Maxsø that looked fairly serious.

• Obviously best wishes go out to Maxsø.  It was pretty clear that the clash of heads knocked him out cold, and the way his head hit the turf led everyone to think it was pretty serious.  All reports from Saturday were positive but there's been no update since.  In this case you just want him to be ok, his ability to play comes second, but you have to assume he's going to miss a couple of games at least.
• Yarbrough had another good night in goal.  I'm not sure when we'll get a chance to see Ilic, but I'm also not worried about it if Will stays at this level.
• After Maxsø left and Beitashour came in the defense looked less sure for the whole second half.  I honestly didn't think we were going to get out unscathed the way that SKC was teeing off going into 2nd half stoppage time.  A better team would have made us pay.
• The midfield was, once again, somewhat non-existent.  We really need Bassett back so he and Ronan can figure out how this is going to work, because with Price out they are clearly going to be the keys in the center of the pitch this season.
• Cabarl is like the 3rd option off the bench.  Gersbach and Harris don't make the 18, there's no room for Ilic to get minutes, at what point do we conclude that Fraser and Smith weren't on the same page when it came to player acquisition this offseason?
• Good to see Diego back and starting.  He had to like getting his first goal on his own team.  More of that please!
• On that goal Yapi had a fun bicycle kick from the defensive third to clear the ball up to Rubio and got credit for the assist.  Not exactly how you game it out but happy to take it.
• Rubio won the ball (mostly) cleanly on the goal, despite complaints from a small number of KC fans.  Yeah there was some contact but nothing that was clearly a foul.
• The team does need to learn to kill the clock.  There were 2-3 giveaways late that should have been held up to kill time but poor passing led to KC quickly coming back at the defense.
• With the win in his 100th game managed Robin Fraser ensures that when he gets to 104 games, the same number Gary Smith managed, he'll still have the best career PPG average for a Rapids manager (Smith is currently second).
• Assuming Fraser makes it through this season and comes back next season he'll tie Mooch for most games managed in the opening game of 2024.
• 5 points in the last 3 games.  Are the Rapids turning a bit of a corner?

Man of the Match: Michael Barrios.  Just for the picture perfect dummy he ran on the goal, which pulled one KC defender out of position and caused the KC keeper to start sliding towards the far post, which left the near post hole open for Rubio to fire into.

Two Worst Offenses Face Off In KC

SKC and the Rapids have each played 6 games, each drawn 3 and lost 3, and each scored exactly 2 goals.  So of course the two teams that couldn't hit the side of a barn from inside it are scheduled to meet this weekend.  For the Rapids this is the first of two straight on the road, with a trip to Charlotte scheduled next week.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 6:30 on Apple TV.  The English announcers are Mark Rogondino and Heath Pearce, the Spanish announcers are Raul Guzman and Sonny Guadarrama.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Moise Bombito (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: M Cole Bassett (hamstring), M Braian Galvan (groin)

Well that's looking better at least.  Still don't like seeing Bassett out with the hamstring issue from training but otherwise its not bad.

Some of this is wishful thinking, mainly the idea that Nicholson won't start.  I can see him in instead of Markanich  I'm also still working on figuring out the Rapids new formation without Price, but this feels close.

Prediction: 4-3 win, goals by Rubio (x2), Barrios, and Maxsø.  This is MLS right?  Its almost certain that when the two worst offensive teams get together you end up with a shootout.  That's just how this league works.  OK, more seriously, I'm going to say a 1-1 draw with a goal by Rubio.  Hard to expect much entertainment out of this game.

A New Rivalry Dawns In The Open Cup?

Tonight the draw was made for the third round of the U.S. Open Cup, where the Rapids enter the competition.  Colorado was put into a group with other regional teams including FSL (though MLS teams can't be matched up in the third round), Phoenix rising, New Mexico United, Las Vegas Lights, and after a repeat of their upset over the Switchbacks last year, the Northern Colorado Hailstorm.  Last night the Hailstorm went down to the Springs and beat the Switchbacks 3-1 after extra time.

The Rapids were the first team drawn for the group, earning hosting rights to their match (Northern Colorado didn't submit a bid to host due to their ongoing stadium delays).  After Vegas and New Mexico were also drawn as hosts the next team out was FSL.  Since, as mentioned, MLS teams can't be matched up in this round FSL was bounced down a spot to travel to Las Vegas.  The next team out?  The Northern Colorado Hailstorm.  That's right, Colorado will face Northern Colorado for the first time competitively.

This is the Hailstorm's second season, and in both preseason they've hosted Rapids 2, but this is the first competitive match for either Rapids 1 or 2 against the new team in the state.  The game will be played either Tuesday April 25th or Wednesday April 26th at the Dick.  The winner moves on to the 4th round where once again a regional group will be created with a random draw in the group (at which point MLS teams can face each other).  The Rapids haven't won a U.S. Open Cup game since their 3-2 win over OKC in 2017.  That was also the last time the Rapids advanced in a knockout competition of any sort.  This is a chance to get this Open Cup campaign off on a good foot, playing at home against a squad two levels below them.

Rapids Continue To Improve, Continue To Fail To Finish

You saw the Austin game?  The LAFC game was essentially the same game, minus the goal from both sides.  Colorado won essentially every stat, including possession, shots, shots on goal, and expected goals, but the teams tied on the scoreboard.  6 games into the season with no wins means a moral victory like this is pretty hollow, but the team has looked better over the last two games.  Defensively after the surrender in Seattle we've only given up 4 goals in 5 matches, and offensively we're generating chances in ways we weren't doing early on.  In the end though, nobody can finish.

• Once again the player with the highest xG was a defender, in this case Danny Wilson's 0.56.  Second was Rubio with 0.3.  
• Our wingers?  Nicholson and Lewis started, Barrios and Cabral subbed in for them.  The four players combined for an xG of 0.0 and an Expected Assists of 0.04. That's nowhere near good enough from our wingers.  Add in Max as well who had an xG of 0.0 and an xA of 0.02.  3 out of 5 players in midfield combined for 0.0 and 0.06.
• You can only play who's on the field in front of you, but it was pretty clear early in the second half that LAFC was satisfied taking it easy, getting a 0-0 draw, and moving on to their midweek CCL game.  A better team would have made them pay for their casualness.
• Maxsø had a great game, if it weren't for Will's early heroics he would have been my man of the match.  Clearly the class of our offseason signings so far.
• Its starting to feel like with his addition the 3 centerback formation actually works.  Now we just need to find some wingbacks.
• Rosenberry is good enough playing right wingback, but we don't have a good option on the left.  Nicholson just isn't it.  I know he tracks back and plays defense unlike our other wingers, but that's not enough to justify him getting as much time as he is when he adds nothing to our impotent offense.
• Ronan and Bassett have to be the starters in midfield, but I'm not sure who the third option is.  Its not Max, its not Priso, and I'm not sure its Acosta.  Maybe go back to a formation of Rubio underneath Yapi?
• This review sounds pretty negative about a game where I started out saying the Rapids looked better, but really moral victories aren't enough.  To that effect:
• Worst season starts through 6 games in team history:
• 2003 - 1 point, 3 goals scored
• 2019 - 2 points, 7 goals
• 2023 - 3 points, 2 goals

Man of the Match: William Yarbrough.  His saves and sweeping keeping kept us in this match in the first 20 when LAFC was bossing the game.  After that though LAFC didn't have another shot inside the 18.