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.