Seattle Redux

Short and sweet, we sucked.  That's what happens when your starting XI includes about 4 players who have shown they can play at the level of a 2023 MLS starter.  After Yarbrough, Abubakar, Maxsø, and Ronan the rest of the 11 were players on the downside of their careers (Wilson, Barrios) or players who have flashes but who are not yet MLS starters or who may never be.  I was actually slightly impressed the team kept it to 1-0 for as long as they did, but eventually the dam broke in the last 10 minutes with some lousy defending and 3 Atlanta goals.  The 4-0 scoreline reflected the xG difference of 3.9 to 0.4.

In 13 games this season the Rapids have 12 points, only 3 of them have come against teams in the top half of their conference (draws against St. Louis, Charlotte, and LAFC).  Our only two wins are against the only teams below us in the Western Conference, namely SKC and the Galaxy.  We are exactly where we would expect to be given those data points.  As I mentioned last week about our schedule, the only games in the next 3+ weeks against non-playoff teams is this back-to-back series with FSL coming up.  If we can't win those the season is, for all intents and purposes, over because getting reinforcements through the summer window will be too late.  There are only 12 games left once it opens.

No man of the match after that mess last night.

One roster note, Calvin Harris got his green card today.  I thought the new MLS rule meant that players couldn't change international status after roster compliance day at the start of the season, but the Rapids announcement clarified the rule.  The player mush have appeared for his immigrant visa interview by the roster compliance date.  Essentially the player needs to have done his part of the work by the date, but won't be punished for how long the U.S. bureaucracy takes to actually process the application.  So Harris no longer takes up an international slot on the roster.