A Short Preview Alright (Alright, Alright)?

I was waiting on the Game Notes from the Rapids media email before I wrote this preview, but they haven't shown up so you're going to get a very short preview.  With no updated availability report and no real idea what our lineup will be there's not a ton to talk about.  We've got Austin FC led by their celebrity (minority) owner Matthew McConaughey in Commerce City tonight and rumors are Mr. Austin himself will be in attendance as he's currently up at Folsom Field watching USC-CU.  Meanwhile his MLS team is in something of a death spiral, desperately trying to hold on to their playoff hopes.  They are 5 points out of a spot with only 4 to play, so a loss tonight would all but end their season, and even a draw puts them in a tough spot.  Kickoff at always is at 7:30.

EDIT: And of course as soon as I post this the email shows up.  So here's our Availability Report.  No surprises other than whatever is ailing Tavares is still ailing him.

OUT: GK William Yarbrough (surgery), D Alex Gersbach (surgery), D Aboubacar Keita (lower body injury), M Max (removed from team activities)

QUESTIONABLE: M Sidnei Tavares (illness)

The Rapids actually looked like a real MLS team in the second half on Wednesday, against better opposition than Austin.  If that team shows up from the beginning there's actually the potential for a win tonight.  However I haven't really seen that team for 90 minutes this season so I don't think we can expect it.  Still, I think the odds for a Rapids win are likely a bit higher than an Austin win in this one.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Bassett.  Yeah, same prediction from Wednesday.  Cole's on fire so I expect that to continue, but I'm not going to go out on a limb and predict more than one goal or a win.

Missed It By That Much

I predicted a 1-1 draw with Bassett scoring,  We got a draw with Bassett scoring...and Rubio.  So close.  The good news is that the additional goal I didn't predict gave us 23 goals for the season, one more than the 22 the 2013 DC United team scored to set the record for lowest goals scored in a 34 game season (and, COVID-season excepted, the lowest goals/game in league history).  So we've avoided that ignominy at least.  Plus the draw gives us a 1 point lead over Toronto in the race to avoid the Wooden Spoon.  By the standards of this season that's a pretty successful evening for the Rapids.

I think its fair to say that the coaching change has improved this team.  We've got 1-1-2 in the 4 games since and score 7 goals.  It took the prior 15 games to score 7 goals and the team was averaging 0.61 points per game this season to that point.  Cole Bassett continued his hot streak, getting another goal to give him 3 goals and an assist since the coaching change.  Make no mistake, I'm not discounting Fraser as a good coach, it was just clear that his methods were no longer working with this locker room, for any number of reasons.

At the same time the improved play of the team has not come with good enough results.  1 PPG looks great against what we've seen the rest of the season but compared to our historical results its still in the bottom 25% of seasons all-time.  That leads me to one of two conclusions, both of which are probably partially true.  One, Chris Little is not good enough to be a MLS coach, even if he's better than Fraser was doing with this group.  Two, as good as the coaching may or may not be, the talent on the roster isn't good enough.  I tend to believe its significantly more of the latter than the former, but both are likely in play.  Your view will likely differ.

Fun note, as mentioned I couldn't make the game, but apparently former Rapids Designated Player Shkelzen Gashi put in an appearance at the pregame tailgate and was then recognized on the field before the game.  You never know who might show up for a C38 party!

Man of the Match: Cole Bassett.  Mainly because he deserves it after this four-game run he put together.

Wait, We're Still Doing This?

Well even though our season is over apparently we have to play out the string. :D  Tomorrow night is the makeup from June's rained out game against Vancouver.  Since that night was scheduled to be Pride Night apparently the Rapids are doing Pride Night tomorrow night.  A little odd, but I appreciate them not skipping it.  Kickoff is at 7:30pm.  Alas I have a work dinner and can't make it.

We don't have an updated injury list so I'm going to hope Navarro is back for this one.  Otherwise I expect the same group we've seen (Gersbach & Yarbrough, plus Max) to be unavailable.

Yeah, this preview is pretty weak, but with nothing to play for and no update on availability there's not much to preview.  The sooner this season ends the better.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Bassett.  I'm feeling optimistic and predicting we get the goal we need to die 2013 DC United's worse 34 game goal total and a point.  I have a feeling Vancouver is not looking forward to a mid-week trip to Commerce City at this point in the season.  We get a sneaky draw, but that's all.

We End As We Began

Our season started with a bad loss in the Pacific Northwest, we were eliminated from our last possible competition with a bad loss in the Pacific Northwest.  Now we have 5 meaningless games with the only thing interesting to track is where we land on the bad offensive seasons in league history and if we win the Wooden Spoon.

The one highlight from Saturday is Cole Bassett getting a third goal involvement (this time an assist) in three games.  Its good to start seeing the old Bassett a bit.  Otherwise its pretty much the same story once again.  The winning goal was very ugly.  Our big offseason DP signing Maxso completely misplays a header.  Abubakar gets beat to the follow-up header, and then its off to the races.  Maxso can't catch up (either can Danny Wilson, but Wilson couldn't catch Valderrama "running") so our big midseason international signing Ilic has to make the save and he makes a weak effort at it, leading to an easy goal.  A lot of wasted money and international slots on that sequence.

As far as the rest of the season goes we need one more goal to tie 2013 DC United's record for the lowest goal total in a 34 game season, two to avoid owning part of that record.  We're already outside the 10 worst seasons in league history at least, but we need 9 more points to avoid the worst season in club history.  We are currently tied on points, winds, and goal differential with Toronto FC for the Wooden Spoon, but they have the edge on us on the third tiebreaker goals scored by 3.  So right now we're in last place, but we have a game in hand on TFC, which is the Wednesday makeup game against Vancouver.  If we lose then we'll have the "lead" in the Wooden Spoon, if we draw or win TFC will have it.

The End Is Nigh

We started the season with the potential to win 5 trophies.  The USOC (eliminated in May), the Leagues Cup (eliminated in July), the Supporters Shield (eliminated in August), the Rocky Mountain Cup (eliminated in September), and MLS Cup.  Of course to win MLS Cup you have to make the playoffs.  If we don't win tomorrow we'll be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and thus the fifth and last trophy we had a shot at.  Even if we win we could be eliminated with wins by Dallas, Minnesota, SKC, and either Austin or San Jose (a SJ draw would also do it).  Needless to say based on our play I'm assuming we're about 26 hours for officially having nothing left to play for.  We've had only three meaningful games since Memorial Day, and we lost all 3 (the two Leagues Cup matches and the RMC match).  Kickoff for this one is at 8:30pm tomorrow, so you can watch CU lose to the Zeroa in Oregon then watch the Rapids lose to the Timbers in Oregon.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK William Yarbrough (knee surgery), D Alex Gersbach (tendon surgery), D Aboubacar Keita (lower body injury), M Max (removed from team activities)

QUESTIONABLE: Rafael Navarro (lower body injury)

Yep, our new signing makes his first appearance on the injury report.  *sigh*  That's the way this season has gone.  Otherwise I expect to see a pretty similar lineup.  Based on Tavares play and his illness I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't start.

Prediction: 1-0 loss.  Portland's not great but they're at home and we suck.

If I Ever Lose My Faith In You

So while sitting at Red Rocks waiting for the start of the Sting concert I was able to stream the first 20 minutes of the Rapids game across town.  I was planning to watch the rest today, but every review I saw of the game told me it wasn't worth it.  Seems like the team didn't show up to play until the last 20 minutes, at which point it was once again too late.  I have certainly lost my faith in this team.

I did watch the goals and saw a team that had checked out on both of Seattle's.  Just no attempt to help teammates, mark anyone, or really care at all.  Full credit to Bassett for continuing to show that somebody cares.  His follow-up run into the box for his goal was a classic Bassett '21 move.  It certainly seems like the coaching change has impacted him positively.

Otherwise just another game where it becomes clear that we're not good enough.  At least with the goal we only need 3 more to tie, and 4 to avoid, setting the record for the worst offensive performance in league history.  And technically we're still not eliminated from the playoffs somehow, though it would require winning out, making up goal differential, and getting a lot of help.  So we'll almost certainly be officially eliminated on Saturday.  The best option though is the combination of results that would cause the last 7 teams in the West (including the Rapids) to end up tied at 40 points.  Two would make the playoffs and one would end up in last place.  With the lack of anything else to root for, that's what I want to see.

Busy Week Continues With Seattle

I'll explain the link between Sting and the match

If we were actually in any sort of playoff race I'd have real complaints about the way the league scheduled our post-Leagues Cup games.  Since it doesn't matter I'm happy to just churn through them and get the season over.  Tomorrow night the Sounders come to town looking to bounce back from a couple of draws while the Rapids hope to ride the success of their second home win.  As of right now C38 is encouraging everyone to continue to wear black and will have some visibility regarding the ongoing protest but there are no plans for a coordinated walkout at this time.  As one person put it, there's not that many people who are going to walk in to a weekday match in late September for a last place team anyway.  Kickoff tomorrow night is at 7:30pm.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK William Yarbrough (knee surgery), D Alex Gersbach (tendon surgery), D Aboubacar Keita (lower body injury), M Max (removed from team activities)

No official update from the team so I'm going with Saturday's availability report.  That report left out that Abubakar was suspended for yellow card accumulation though, but that means he should be back for this one.

I don't think I'm going to do lineup predictions for the rest of this season.  There's really no telling what's driving the lineup at this point, winning this year or seeing what we have for next year.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Navarro.  Seattle is a much better team than us and they aren't distracted by coaching issues like New England was.  The Rapids offense did look better on Wednesday so I think they might score, but they won't win.

Oh, and the link between Sting and the game tomorrow is that Sting is playing Red Rocks tomorrow night and my wife wanted to see him.  So I'll be west of the city watching the British singer instead of east of the city watching the British coach.

The Power Of Jameson Night

Only on Jameson Night would the Rapids score the first two goals (an eighths of what they've scored all year) against the league's second best team and hold on for only their second win of the year.  With the three points the Rapids avoid ending up with one of the 10 worst season (by points) in league history.  The two goals are a third of what they needed to avoid setting the record for least goals in a 34 game season and worst goals/game average (discounting the COVID year) in league history.  Colorado needs 4 more to tie and 5 more to avoid sharing those records.

The first half was pretty similar to what we've seen all season.  A bunch of midfield play with no real chances at goal.  The one good chance we got Cabral put wide of the post.  I'm not sure what interim coach Chris little said at half but it worked.  Coming right out of the locker room the Rapids earned a free kick in the 47th minute and Ronan floated it right in front of net for Bassett to head home.  It's actually pretty funny when you watch the replay, it looks like Navarro might have gotten a slight touch before Bassett and when he whips his head back around to see what happened and the ball is in the net its clear he thinks at first he scored it.

15 minutes later Navarro did get on the score sheet with an assist, in the form of a cross field pass that Harris brought down, cut back, and sliced into the far netting for the 2-0 lead.  At first I thought it had to be Navarro on the shot because I didn't think anyone on the team had that kind of ball control and footwork so I assumed it had to be the new guy.  New England got one back off a corner kick in stoppage time where Gonzalez got in front of Maxso and outjumped Rubio for a clean header.

Now the other thing to talk about on Saturday's game was C38's protest and walkout.  To be transparent I took part in the protest and helped with some of the administration behind the scenes.  Despite my bias I would say the group was successful at making a clear simple statement.  The badge, the players, the fans deserve better.  Unfortunately the Apple announcers didn't mention the walkout at all, but they couldn't avoid the banners left behind with that message.  The question is, is KSE hearing it?

Out in the parking lot the party was hopping, as you can see here.  Say what you want, C38 can tailgate like nobody else, be it before or during the game.

Man of the Match: Cole Bassett.  A nice goal and much improved play in the second half.  He was also named to MLS's Team of the Week.

Jameson Night - Interim Edition

New England is in town which means its time for one of the great Rapid fan traditions, Jameson Night!  If you're new to this tradition that now enters its third decade you can read the background here.  In total the Rapids have won 8 of 13 Jameson Night games and there's never been a draw.

That record may be challenged tomorrow as both teams come stumbling into this one.  We've covered Colorado's issues extensively but the Revolution have had a chaotic week themselves.  After being suspended for over a month Bruce Arena stepped down as Revs coach, due to reported inappropriate and insensitive comments made to his coaching staff.  Assistant coach Richie Williams was name interim coach but it came out that Williams was one of the ones who reported Arena, and this happened after Arena had informed Williams this past offseason his contract wouldn't be renewed at the end of this season.  Williams had also clashed multiple times with the rest of the coaching staff this season.  On Tuesday the Revs players refused to practice and the leadership decided to name Clint Peay the interim interim manager, dismiss two other assistant coaches, and move Williams to an unnamed role away from the first team.

So we have interim Rapids manager Chris Little versus interim interim Revolution manager Clint Peay, both in their first games.  New England has been great this season, second best in the league, while the Rapids are still just as awful.  A reminder that many fans in Centennial 38 are wearing all black and will be walking out in the 20th minute in protest of the organization tomorrow.  Kickoff is at 7:30, so the walkout will time well for anyone who wants to watch the CSU-CU game.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK William Yarbrough (knee surgery), D Alex Gersbach (tendon surgery), D Aboubacar Keita (lower body injury), M Max (removed from team activities)

Other than Keita who is injured, again, that's a good injury report.  We knew none of those players would be available.

No lineup prediction on this one.  A bad team under a new coach, who knows what we're going to see..

Prediction: 0-0 draw.  I'm sure this week has taken a lot out of the Revolution so I'm not expecting them to play well.  Even with that though they're still a better team than we are.  Removing Fraser doesn't really solve the Rapids' problems.  We'll probably look a bit better but not enough to beat a team like New England.  A sloppy mess of bad soccer.

The Badge, the Players, and the Fans Deserve Better

 

This morning Centennial 38 released the first statement above, calling on KSE to invest in the Colorado Rapids in a way befitting a professional MLS team.  Early this afternoon KSE released the second statement in response.

To be very up front I helped draft C38's statement and I stand behind everything we said in it.  It was a group effort, so it was never going to match 100% what anyone of us wanted to say, but as a whole it accurately reflects the state of the club and the fan's frustration with it.

My thoughts on KSE's response is that there wasn't much they could say after 4 hours that was going to be convincing, but leading with your real estate plans kind of draws a line under the problem.  The main reason they led with that is because they are already working on it, so its something they could put a reasonable date on in a short period of time, but that in and of itself shows the issue.  As bad as this team is, on and off the field, there are no current plans in the works to fix it.  Instead the organization is focused on a retail development outside the stadium.

Centennial 38 is following this statement up with a protest at Saturday's game.  Fans who wish to participate are being asked to wear black instead of burgundy & blue and a large number of C38 members will be staging a walkout in the 20th minute.  The plan is to go back to the tailgate lot and continue the tailgate part for the rest of the game there (though I'm guessing some people will retreat to the bar to watch the CU-CSU game instead).

We Are Who We Thought We Were

Today's press conference with Padraig Smith to discuss the state of the club after firing Fraser went just about as you expect it would, which is to say not well.  The whole thing (1 h 11m) is on YouTube and if you can spare the time I'd watch it, just so you can fully understand where Smith thinks the club is and where he thinks it should go.

The one thing that was clear to me is that KSE has no plans to significantly increase their investment in the club anytime soon.  We're going to have to figure out how to succeed with the resources we have.  You won't actually hear that in the press conference, but the way Smith avoided mentioning any type of new investment and actively discouraged the idea whenever it came up made it clear we shouldn't expect any.  This would be the time to announce it if KSE had plans.

Smith also kept bringing the idea of investment back to "buying players" but there's a lot more to investment than spending money on the first team.  First of all investment isn't just money.  Its also interest and care about the team, which KSE has never shown.  But its also investment in the stadium, training facilities, staff, and all the other pieces that go into running an organization like this.  They all need help, but Padraig's answers today make me question if he even knows how far behind the team is in those areas.

The rest of the press conference was Padraig doubling-down on everything he's said between 'The Rapids Way' and yesterday's letter to season ticket holders about how he thinks the club should be run.  Every reason that we're in this situation was some version of deviating from that plan, every answer to how we get back on track was some reference to that plan.  Of course there was very little to explain why we got off that plan other than some version of "Fraser made the decision" and no explanation as to why he's hired two coaches (Hudson and Fraser) who decided to deviate from the plan.

Even if the plan is the right one, which I'm not convinced of, I'm pretty sure Smith can't lead this club to execute it.  Its no help to have the right answer if you can't present it in a way to get everyone else on board and pulling in the same direction.  He couldn't prevent Hudson from deviating (apparently), he couldn't prevent Fraser from doing the same (again, apparently).  Why should we believe he can find a coach who will stay on plan this time?

In the end I haven't seen a single fan on any social media or message boards who's reacted well to the last two days.  The Rapids are standing at the edge of a precipice and are planning to jump off with no parachute.  The number of dedicated fans, deeply involved in Centennial 38 or other similar things, who have told me this afternoon and evening that they're out or are seriously considering it should be setting off alarm bells in Commerce City.  Losing the few dedicated fans the team has combined with a club falling further and further behind the rest of the league is not a picture that ends well.  Chivas USA is not an unfair comparison when you have reports that the club was reported to the union for inadequate training facilities.  I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel that isn't an oncoming train anytime soon.

As for me, I don't know what I'm going to do.  There are 5 home games left, and I have conflicts with each of the next three.  I was planning to choose the Rapids for two of the three but now I'm rethinking that.  As far what happens after the season?  I'm not renewing my tickets as of right now.  Maybe thy knock it out of the park with the coaching hire and player signings and if so I may renew.  Short of that though I might find something else to do with my investment.  If KSE isn't going to spend money, why should i?

Rapids Lose RMC, Fraser Fired, Smith Throws Him Under The Bus

Ok, buckle in, there's a lot to cover and I have no idea how long this will end up being.  We're going to go in chronological order starting with Saturday's game and ending with Padraig Smith's letter to season ticket holders.

Not that there's much to talk about with Saturday's game.  A 2-0 loss that we were once again never really in.  With that result FSL wins the Rocky Mountain Cup again with a game to play.  That is now 1 win in our last 15 league games, 1 win in our last 18 games in all competitions, and we've been shutout in 9 of our last 10 league matches.  We've been shutout in 15 of our 26 league games this season.  At least Bassett apologized for the result.

Clearly something had to change, and as expected, the ax fell on Robin Fraser this morning.  He leaves the club 3rd in regular season games managed behind Mooch and Pablo and 3rd in pts/game for his Rapids career, behind Smith and Mooch.  It was actually just the last 3 losses that knocked him down from first to third in that stat, before the Leagues Cup break he was just barely ahead of Smith for the top spot still.

Assistant Coach Chris Little will manage the team as interim coach.  Reportedly the coaching search will start immediately, not wait for the offseason.  Still I think we can assume Little will get the last 8 games of the season.

Sadly Fraser had to go.  It was apparent watching the last three games that he had lost the locker room.  There was no drive or energy from this team, and it looked more like 11 individuals on the field than 1 team.  These are things that regardless of talent a coach should be able to implement, and we've seen Robin do this in the past.  Clearly something had soured and he wasn't going to be able to lead this team any longer.

That said, those are all symptoms of the bigger problem, the absolute trash fire that this organization has turned into.  We've covered off the field issues (stadium quality, communications, etc.) before so I'm not going to get into them tonight, but keep in mind everything I am going to talk about is in the context of the rest of the club being an absolute mess, with the only thing working being Rapids 2. There is no clearer example of this than the letter Club President Padraig Smith sent to season ticket holders today:

Excuse me?  This is throwing Fraser under the bus, running him over, stopping, and backing up over him again.  Its a ridiculous abdication of any sense of responsibility for Smith's part in this fiasco of a season and really causes me to lose a lot of respect for him.  Based on the reaction on social media, I'm hardly alone in this assessment.

Before we get into a detailed analysis of this letter I think its time I be open with anyone reading.  Over the last 4+ years going back to the 2019 preseason I've had multiple opportunities to sit down with Padraig Smith one on one and talk to him about the state of the team, his plans, and everything else.  I was always clear with him that I wasn't going to carry water for the FO, and he was always clear with me about what was on the record and what was off the record, and I've always respected that.  I will continue to respect that, as I gave my word.  The opinion I got of Padraig during those one on ones is not the same opinion I get of somebody who would write this letter.  It makes me think that he's a great talker, but doesn't back up his talk with actions.

Let's go through this.  First of all, the idea that "this isn't a decision we took lightly".  Isn't he the club President?  Doesn't the buck stop with him?  He's also the guy who hired Fraser and was operating as the GM until just a few months ago when the promotions happened.  I have a hard time believing that the final call was anyone's but Smith's, and he should step up and say he made the call.

The next paragraph is detailing the success Robin had, which amounts to the club record season in 2021 and one (1!) Rocky Mountain Cup.  Listen, as much work as I've put into the RMC I love to see it taken seriously, but a supporter-run rivalry trophy being the second best result in a coach's tenure is somewhat damming.  Its even more so when you realize that's the only RMC we've won since Padraig Smith and Wayne Brandt took over in 2017.   That 2021 season is also the only home playoff game we've had in that time period as well.  So its a bad look when you can only come up with two things to mention about a coach's tenure, but its a disastrous look when you realize that no other coach under the current leadership can claim even those minimal successes.

Smith then goes on to detail out the current situation and how poor it is, and why that led them to make the change.  Funny thing is, we just got done with a transfer window where it was clear we needed to make changes to avoid this situation, and the best that Smith and Fran Taylor could do is a solid left back and two loan-to-buy players, and they couldn't even get the latter two here in time to help in Leagues Cup.  This after an offseason window that netted us, if we're generous, one MLS quality starter in Maxso.  Gersbach was a waste of a signing, Ronan has potential but would be a backup anywhere else in the league, Cabral was a disaster move that will hurt us for years, and we wasted transfer fees and an international slot on a goalkeeper that can't parry a free kick to keep it out of our net against our rival.

Is any of that mentioned when detailing the current problems?  No, not a peep.  Instead Smith states that this team is capable of "much, much more" than they have shown so far.  Notably both this language and the language he used in that press availability a couple of weeks ago is identical to the language he used when he fired Hudson.  In that case he was proven correct as both Casey and then Fraser came in and took those players to much higher finishes than Hudson was able to.  But now he's suggesting that Fraser is incapable of doing that again?  Is it that Fraser changed, or is it that this group of players is not that group of players?

The next paragraph goes on to flog the success in 2021 again, talking about how they had a systemic approach to build on successes each year from 2018 through to 2021.  Given that Fraser wasn't even here until late 2019 there's some sell-promotion going on there.  The next line is actually admitting that they've deviated from that path since 2021, but then taking no responsibility for that, using a royal "we".  Smith talks about how we need to be a team that plays to its strengths.  I'm not sure this team has any strengths right now.  A team that emphasizes player development.  How many chances has Yapi had this year?  What happened to Toure?  How is Vallecilla's development going?  Where exactly is Abe Rodriguez and Adam Beaudry going to play now that you've signed Ilic?  The next one is a direct quite from the Rapids Way about approaching each game with urgency, boldness, etc. and a desire to win.  Well, I'm not seeing much f a desire to win out of the current players, so I don't know how a new coach is going to change that.

Smith's last line in this section is getting back to being a team that gets results and makes our supporters proud.  First of all, this team has never been a team that's gotten results in any sort of sustained way, and the one time we did, from 2019-2021, was under the coach that was just fired.  As far as being proud, well, its hard to be proud of an organization that won't take responsibility for their decisions, that runs a substandard game day operation, and who has to be reported to the players union for not keeping the facilities in a state that professional players feel comfortable using them.

The letter ends with typical meaningless niceties after that, but I think the point has been made.  As I said at the beginning it was time for Fraser to go, most of the supporters understood that even if we weren't happy about it.  But this letter was insulting in how it placed the blame on Robin, how it took no responsibility, and how it continues a pattern of this organization not understanding the fanbase.  Its more evidence that the Front Office lives in a bubble where they won't talk about bad things and they hope they can keep their heads down, celebrate the once-every-five-years successes, and keep drawing in the casual fan for their "fun night out" 2-3 times a season.  Until that attitude changes nothing else about this team will.

The Only Game Left That Matters

I'm not going to spend too long on this, because we all know what tomorrow is.  Rocky Mountain Cup part 2.  We lost the first game, at home 3-2 so a loss tomorrow means FSL keeps the Cup.  A draw means we need to win our home finale by two to claim it.  A win, which seems very unlikely, means all to play for in the home finale.  If the Rapids want this season to mean anything, to show the fans there's still something to root for here, they have to win this game.  A loss and I think Fraser is fired Monday morning.  Kickoff is at 7:30 on Apple TV.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK William Yarbrough (knee surgery), D Alex Gersbach (tendon surgery), Max (removed from team activities)

QUESTIONABLE: D Keegan Rosenberry (lower body injury), M Jonathan Lewis (lower body injury), , F Diego Rubio (lower body injury) 

I'm not even going to put out a lineup for this one.  Fraser needs to find the 11 players who actually want to try to win this game and put them out there.  As long as one of them isn't Priso.

Prediction: 2-0 loss.  Given how this team has played for the last two months you can't really expect anything but a shutout loss.  Hopefully they surprise us, but I doubt it.