Jasper Löffelsend Selected In Expansion Draft

Surprisingly just a few minutes ago Jasper Löffelsend was selected by San Diego FC in the expansion draft.  This won't be that much of a loss for the Rapids.  With Bassett, Larraz, Ronan, and talk that they're looking for a 6, playing time was going to hard to come by for Jasper.  He made 18 appearances last season but never really stood out.

Colorado will receive $50K in GAM for losing a player.  We originally gave up an international slot last year, our 2nd round pick in next week's draft (which we replaced with Philly's) and up to $100K in GAM based on performance.  My bet is that we didn't pay out more than $50K of that so we probably broke fairly even on the GAM and we didn't need the international slot.  So really we gave up a 2nd round pick to take a one year flyer on him.  No harm, no foul.

Expansion Draft List. Maxso Leaving?, and CCC Draw

Ok, we got a lot of news today.  First of all the team made the trade with Philly for their draft picks official.  They also released their protected list for the expansion draft and its a bit different than I predicted, largely because the roster designations on the league website weren't accurate.

The first miss was on me, I didn't notice that Mihailovic just turned 26 which made him ineligible for automatic protection.  But homegrowns Vines and Fernandez also didn't qualify for some (currently unknown) reason.  Neither did Calvin Harris who's still listed as a Generation Adidas player but apparently graduated from the program.  However Kimani Stewart-Baynes, who's not listed as a GA actually is so he was automatically protected and Travis who isn't listed as an HG actually is.

Along with that the trade yesterday meant we wanted to find room to protect Awaziem and Murphy.  So in the end the protected list looks like this (* - automatically protected)

GK: Steffen, Beaudry*

D: Chidozie Awaziem, Reggie Cannon, Ian Murphy, Keegan Rosenberry, Sam Vines, Seb Anderson*, Michael Edwards*, Jackson Travis*

M: Wayne Frederick, Djordje Mihailovic, Connor Ronan, Cole Bassett*, Oli Larraz*

F: Kévin Cabral, Calvin Harris, Rafael Navarro, Kimani Stewart-Baynes*, Darren Yapi*

That leaves Ethan Bandré , Lalas Abubakar, Daniel Chacón, Nate Jones, Andreas Maxsø , Omir Fernandez, Jasper Löffelsend, Rémi Cabral, and Jonathan Lewis unprotected.  Douda Amadou's contract doesn't become a full MLS contract until 2025 so he's ineligible to be selected.

The surprises on that list I think are Maxso and Fernandez, maybe Jones.  I wouldn't have expected Fredrick to be protected over Fernandez.  If we lose anyone I'd expect it to be him.

Maxso being unprotected is a combination of our new defenders and the other piece of news that dropped today.  Tom Bogert reported that the Rapids are in discussions with a Middle East team to transfer Maxso and apparently he wants the move.  So really all we're risking is losing on a possible transfer fee if San Diego takes him and I'm betting there's an understanding that won't happen.  

Maxso has been an above average MLS defender but he never stood out to the level of his big DP signing when he first arrived.  I was also told he was a Fraser choice more than a Smith/Taylor choice and with the new coaching staff its probably a good time for everyone to move on.  He was an ironman, playing every minute of all 43 competitive games last season, and I have nothing but positive things to say about him, but I also don't think he's irreplaceable.

With his likely departure that means we still need a CB, either somebody to play nest to Awaziem or if we're going to go with Murphy as a starter somebody to fill the Abubakar reliable backup position.  So instead of filling two spots with yesterday's trade we've really only filled one.

Lastly the CONCACAF Champions Cup draw was held tonight and out of the 11 teams we could have ended up drawn against we got...LAFC.  *yawn*  A team we see regularly.  Pretty boring and shades of the 2018 competition and getting drawn against TFC.  Even though we're the lower seeded team we'll play Leg 1 in LA and Leg 2 here in Colorado, which will get us an additional 2 weeks closer to Spring before we host.  The home game will be a Tuesday or Wednesday in the second half of February with the road match two weeks earlier.

Expansion Draft tomorrow but I'll probably only post something if somebody from the Rapids actually gets selected.  Then on Thursday its the opening of free agency and end-of year waivers, with Round 1 of the Re-Entry Draft on Friday.  

Is That Ricky Williams' Music I Hear?

 

In 1999 New Orleans Saints coach Mike Ditka thought running back Ricky Williams was such a sure bet that he traded every pick he had in the draft and two of their top three picks in the 2000 draft to move up to #5 and pick Williams.  Well today Philly said "Hold my beer".  But we'll get to that in a second.

With the half-day open trade window before the various drafts this week the Rapids made a move they've already announced before we get to the Philly trade.  They sent $1 million in GAM to FC Cincinnati in exchange for center backs Chidozie Awaziem and Ian Murphy.  FCC could get up to $200K more in GAM based on performance and retains a percentage of any sale outside the league.

Awaziem is a clear CB starter and should fill the hole next to Maxso.  He's a 27 year old (28 on New Year's Day) Nigerian who was signed by FCC in midseason, mainly as an injury replacement for Miazga.  Now that he's coming back FCC needed to make roster and cap room to bring him off IR.  Prior to coming to MLS he played for Portuguese sides Boavista and Porto, though he spent most of his time in the country on loan to other teams in France, Spain, Turkey, and Croatia.  He did appear 42 times for Boavista and he's been capped 33 times by Nigeria since 2017.

Murphy was drafted by FCC out of Duke before the 2022 season and over his 3 years there he made 80 appearances.  He also played for the U.S. U14s, 15s, and 17s.  He moved back and forth between a regular starter and a bench player and will likely take the Abubakar role of being the first option off the bench of Macso ot Awaziem aren't available.  This should allow Maxso to actually get some minutes off and not be an ironman like he was in 2024.

This trade immediately fills two of the needs I identified last week and probably means Abubakar won't return.  There may not be a spot for Edwards either.  Now the focus shifts to winger, a 6, and a backup striker.

Later today Tom Bogert, the Denver Post, and Burgundy Wave all confirmed the details of a trade the likes of which MLS has never seen before.  Colorado is sending $350K in GAM + up to $250K additional based on performance metrics to Philadelphia.  In exchange Philly is sending us every one of their draft picks, for the next 3 seasons.

for a further three years

That's the 8th (1st round) and 68th (3rd round) pick in the draft at the end of next week.  We already have their 2nd round pick from the Semmle deal.  We also get all 3 of their natural picks in the 2026 and 2027 drafts.  (Despite taking place in Dec. of 2024, next week's draft is the 2025 draft).

Not surprisingly there's been a lot of talk about this trade today in MLS circles.  This isn't the first time Philly has bailed on the draft but it is the first time they've bailed on 3 in a row.  They have a lot of faith in their Academy and they don't want to block players moving up with a bunch of college players.

From Colorado's standpoint they only need to hit on 2 players becoming MLS quality to come out ahead.  Last year they got Kimani Stewart-Baynes, who's already spent time with the Canadian Nats.  In 2023 it was Moise Bombito of course.  Before that it was Anthony Markanich in 2022.  So that's 3 MLS players in 3 drafts.  In 2019 they got Newcomer of the Year Andre Shinyashiki.  In 2015 it was Axel Sjoberg and Dominque Badji.  That's 6 MLS players in 10 drafts.  So getting 2 in 3 is certainly doable.  And if they land on a Badji or if we're lucky a Bombito then they come out ahead with only one pick.  The trades of Shinyashiki and Markanich alone almost got as much GAM as we gave up today.

One notable thing is that Chris Zitterbart, Philly's Director of Scouting, was signed by Philly from Colorado in June.  So I have to wonder how involved he was in draft scouting in Colorado vs. Philly.  Is it possible that after the success he had here he doesn't see that level of talent in upcoming drafts?  Or was he responsible for international scouting here and didn't have much influence on our draft strategy?  Or is it just the case that its two different clubs with two different ways of building?

Regardless, what this tells us is that we're going to be prioritizing the draft as our acquisition strategy over the next couple of offseasons.  That could mean stocking up on young talent, but it could also mean using those picks as trade bait for other moves.  I would expect us to be busy next week as we have 3 first round and 3 third round picks, along with Philly's 2nd round pick (we traded our 2nd round pick to FSL for Lofflesend).

Next up is the CONCACAF Champions Cup draw tomorrow at 5pm.  We are the best team in Pot 2 sadly, which means we will face either a Liga MX or another MLS team in the first round.  The options are Monterrey, Tigres, Cruz Azul, Pumas, Chivas, LAFC, Miami, Seattle, Cinci, Vancouver...or FSL.  I'm rooting for Miami as it would be the only chance to see Messi at the Dick (though he'd proibably use the cold as an excuse not to come).

Looking Forward To The 2025 Roster

If I had to predict the 2025 opening day roster right now, this is what I come up with (assuming no injuries):

At right back I think Cannon gets the nod over Rosenberry, otherwise the positions I'm confident enough to predict I've fairly confident on.  So lets talk about those wholes we need to fill:

Left Back: Is there a MLS quality starting left back that can be cobbled together from Vines. Travis. Rosenberry, Cannon, and Anderson should he re-sign?  (Reports are that Tallares have exercised their option to buy Miguel Navarro).  If not we need to go find one, again.  My feeling is that the Front Office doesn't want to put any more money into the position right now and will hope that Vines returns to something near his old form or that Travis can step-up to an every game starter next season.

Center Back: Smith and/or Taylor have already been quoted as saying this is an area of focus this offseason, and it needs to be.  Not only do we need to find a quality starter to pair with Maxso (that person isn't on the roster yet) we need to find a dependable backup.  Maybe that's re-signing Abubakar.

Left-Wing: Another must have this offseason, though it hasn't been mentioned as much by leadership as center back has been.  I think Cabral was showing that he can be a starter in this league before he got hurt (he's still overpaid as a DP, but at least we're splitting that with the Galaxy) but neither Harris or Fernandez (or Lewis if he re-signs) claimed the other spot.  If we're going to make a big splash this offseason I want to see it at this position.  Djordje and Navarro need some other threat to take the pressure off of them, we saw how they struggled when both Cabral and Bassett were injured at the end of the season.

Bench: We need at least 3 solid bench options down the spine of the team.  As mentioned earlier we need more center back depth behind whomever we sign to fill the starting hole.  I still believe we need a true defensive 6 as an option off the bench for when the matchup dictates it.  There were a number of games last season that Larraz and Ronan (and sometimes Bassett) just got run over due to the lack of bite in midfield and we had nobody to plug in to handle that scenario.  Lastly we need a true backup to Navarro.  Yapi is not a quality backup for him.  He's the guy you bring off the bench to run at tired defenses, not the guy who steps in when Navarro isn't available or needs a game off.

With the backup at left-back, many of whom can also play right-back, and the winger options already on the roster we should have enough depth on the outside if the staring holes are filled.

So that means we're looking for 5 acquisitions:

• Starting CB
• Starting winger
• Backup CB
• Quasi-starting/backup 6
• Backup striker

With Bamdre being released we probably will sign a 3rd GK too, either directly to the first team or somebody who can be called up to Rapids 2, but not somebody I would expect to have any impact on the first team in 2025.

Next week is the trade window, the expansion draft, and the waiver and first round of the re-entry drat.  Keep an eye out to see if the Rapids make any moves to fill these holes.

Rapids Announce Roster Decisions

Following up on my predictions last night the Front Office announced their roster decisions today:

Options Exercised: Calvin Harris, Nate Jones, Oli Larraz, Keegan Rosenberry*

Options Declined: Lalas Abubakar, Sebastian Anderson, Ethan Bandré, Rémi Cabral, Michael Edwards

Out Of Contract: Jonathan Lewis

* - Burgundy Wave reported today that Rosenberry met a condition in his contract that automatically triggered his option

Miguel Navarro is still under contract on his loan to Talleres and his future will be evaluated at the end of the Argentinian season next month.  Colorado also announced that they're in negotiations with Abubakar, Anderson, Edwards, and Lewis to bring them back on new contracts.

This means Ethan Bandré and Rémi Cabral have been released with no new offer, everyone else is or could come back.

I didn't think Rosenberry would have his option picked up but I didn't know about the contract clause.  I expected Abubakar to be declined and everyone else was a bit of a tossup.  I'm slightly surprised about R. Cabral's option not being picked up and not being offered a new contract, I thought the team was higher on him than they apparently were.  Other than that none of this is unexpected.

My bet is that Abubakar re-signs, Lewis looks elsewhere just to see if a change of scenery helps him (he's also eligible for the Re-Entry Draft) and Anderson and Edwards depends on what interest they get from USL Championship clubs.  Is there room on the Switchbacks roster for a Colorado kid?

At the moment the Rapids have 24 players under contract.  When it comes to the expansion draft 10 of them will be automatically protected due to their GA/HG status and they'll be able to protect 12 others.  That leaves 2 that will need to be exposed.  (They can also protect any of the 4 that they're negotiating with but I don't see that as likely.)  This assumes Navarro doesn't need to be protected.  I think the twop most likely to be left exposed are Loffelsend and Amadou*.

* - Amadou signed a Rapids 2 contract last offseason that included an automatic escalation to Rapids 1 for the 2025 season.

The next big dates in the offseason calendar are the week of December 9th.  The 9th is a half-day trade window before the expansion draft, the 10th is the draw for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the 11th is the Expansion Draft, the 12th is the opening of Free Agency and End-of-Year Waivers, and the 13th is Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Draft.

During the following week the 19th is Stage 2 of the Re-Entry Draft and the 20th is the Superdraft.  After that we cruise through the holidays up to the opening of training camp in January.

Roster Review and Expansion Draft Prediction

Ok, time to get to the nitty gritty of the roster.  Colorado has one player out of contract and 10 players in an option year.  Decisions will be made on the options players by tomorrow in advance of the expansion draft on December 11th.

The only player fully out of contract in Jonathan Lewis.  I expect that the Rapids won't be too upset about losing him.  They may give him a contract offer a a low number ($200K max) to make it clear he's coming back as a backup but they may just let him go without a new offer.

The 9 players who are on a option year:

GK - Ethan Bandre

D - Lalas Abubakar

D - Seb Anderson

D - Michael Edwards

D - Nate Jones

D - Miguel Navarro

D - Keegan Rosenberry

M - Remi Cabral

M - Calvin Harris

M - Oli Larraz

If you're wondering who Miguel Navarro is, we traded for him last offseason and then once we signed Vines we sent him on loan to Talleres in Argentina.  Apparently he's become a key component of the team down there and there's an option to purchase in the loan agreement so I expect a deal to get done transferring him there permanently.

I think its obvious that the team won't pick up Abubakar at his current number.  I think this might surprise some people but I don't think we pick up Rosenberry at his current number.  I know he's the team captain but I don't think the team signs Reggie Cannon, who's most natural spot is right back, if they planned to keep Rosenberry as a starter.

I do expect that both Lalas and Keegan will be offered contracts at a reduced number as they can be valuable stop starters and options off the bench but neither of them should be starting even half the games next season.  My guess is that Rosenberry can find a bigger role at another team in the league and moves on.

As to the rest of the group I can see all the options being exercised.  Larraz is a no-brainer.  Armas seems to like Harris so even though he hasn't nailed down a starting role I expect we bring him back for another season.  If for no other reason than to keep Kevin happy I think we pick up Remi's option, though has had a good year in Phoenix so I think he's earned it on his own.  For Bandre, Anderson Edwards, and Jones we have little or nothing to go on.  Edwards and Anderson have looked good in their limited minutes and at their numbers I think they come back.  I thought Jones might be the odd man out given that we only gave him a one year deal and we didn't see him at all this season but the reports since the end of the season are that the coaches are quite happy with his play with Rapids 2.  Bandre I have no idea but I assume we'll bring him back.

Once these decisions are made we move on to the expansion draft for San Diego.  The newcomers will get to choose 5 players from across the league, no more than one from any team.  Teams will get to protect 12 players and their under 26 year old Homegrowns and Generation Adidas players will be automatically protected.  For the Rapids that means the following are protected:

Calvin Harris - GA, Seb Anderson - HG, Cole Bassett - HG, Adam Beaudry - HG, Michael Edwards - HG, Omir Fernandez - HG, Oli Larraz - HG, Djordje Mihailovic - HG, Sam Vines - HG, Darren Yapi - HG

(Yes, Mihailovic still counts as an HG apparently)

So with the additional 12 protected slots this is who I predict the Rapids will protect.  I want to emphasize that this is who I predict they'll protect, not who I would protect if it were up to me.

The top 9 are obvious:

Zack Steffen

Keegan Rosenberry

Reggie Cannon

Andreas Maxso

Jackson Travis

Kevin Cabral

Conner Ronan

Rafael Navarro

After that it gets a little harder.  How much do they want Abubakar to come back on a lesser deal?  Same with Lewis.  Fernandez?  Remi Cabral?  Miguel Navarro (assuming they don't get a deal done before then)?.

My guess for the last 3 would be Fernandez, Remi Cabral, and Navarro if they need to do it to protect the transfer fee.  If they don't then he'd be replaced with Stewart-Baynes.

If it were me I'd consider leaving Kevin Cabral and Maxso unprotected.  The odds of San Diego taking on their contacts is pretty low and if they do take one of them that's a large contract off our books.  I doubt the Rapids are thinking that way, if for no other reason than the message it would send to those players.

MVP And Season Summary

Ok, now that we've had a couple of weeks to decompress from the season we have to ask the question.  Was it successful?

I think you have to say it was.  Yeah, it ended on a sour note with the team in a tailspin but in March if somebody had told you we'd win the Rocky Mountain Cup, finish 3rd in the Leagues Cup, claim a CCC spot, and clinch a playoff spot with 6 weeks to play you'd take that every time.

That's not to say there isn't room for improvement.  When we lost we lost bad far too often.  And the reason we crashed and burned late was a lack of depth forcing us to play our top guys way too many minutes this season.

The main thing we need to work on though is our defense.  We actually gave up 6 more goals this season than we did last season.  No team that made it past the play-in round gave up more goals than we did.  The reason we were successful this year was scoring a full goal a game more than we did in 2023.  Whatever Armas' defensive strategy is, it doesn't work.  

Early in the season the manager gave an interview to one of the blogs (Burgundy Wave?) where he mentioned his tactical belief that that outside edges of the penalty box were the key areas where goals were created.  On the offense he seems to have created something that works, as we scored the second most goals in a season in our history (1998, 64 goals in only 32 games).  However defensively it appears the instructions to the outside backs were to pinch in and defend that space in the box.  But that let oppositions wingers stand off and whip crosses into the box without pressure which killed us.

Negatives aside though, having the best offensive season in our "modern" MLS history is a huge step forward.  There are plenty of positives to build on going into 2025.  We've got a good spine of Navarro, Maihailovic, Bassett, Larraz, Maxso, and if he can be more consistent, Steffen to build around.  More on the specifics of what we need in a later post but this is a team that should expect to make the playoffs again in 2025, and hopefully this time win a series.

Now on to the MVP of the season.

That's right, I'm going with Cole Bassett as the MVP.  I know that Mihailovic had the best offensive season in terms of goal contributions in team history.  If you want to name him the MVP I will not argue with that.  To me though what allowed Mihailovic to do what he did was having Bassett sitting in behind him.  We saw that when Cole was out to finish the season that the offense dried up.  Navarro had 1 goal and Mihailovic had 1 assist in the 6 games Bassett missed to finish the season.

This was a year that Cole could have mailed in after the disappointment of missing out on the Olympic Team (especially after he was told he was on the team and then had his spot taken away).  He put a lot into the making the team in the first half of the season and he could have let the mistake made by the coaching staff (IMO) send him into a spiral.  Instead he put all the frustration into the team and led them to the Rocky Mountain Cup (scoring the winning PK) and drove the team on their Leagues Cup run.

Bassett was in the talk for the leagues best XI and guys like Doyle and Bogert had him, if not in their first team, in their honorable mentions.  In a league with midfielder like Puig and Acosta and of course the GOAT to stand out like that is impressive.  Again, I won't argue against Mihailovic but I think Bassett was the most valuable player for the Rapids this season.

Season Ends With A Whimper

Sadly surprising nobody the Rapids were swept out of the playoffs Friday night by a 4-1 score line that isn't really a fair reflection of the game.  Really the teams were fairly even until LA was able to take advantage of a Rapids side desperately pushing for a late equalizer to score twice in second half stoppage time.

Before that a freak early goal is all the separated the teams.  In the very definition of #ThatsSoRapids a Steffen clearance from the edge of the box in the 8th minute went off an LA attacker and rebounded into the empty goal to give them an early lead.  Colorado clawed back into it with their first playoff goal in 8 years by of all people, Oli Larraz.  The last time the Rapids had scored a goal in the post season it was 33 year old Kevin Doyle doing it when, as a fellow C38 member pointed out, Larraz couldn't even drive yet.  LA would take the lead back right before half on a perfectly placed shot despite being defended well and Steffen having the goal well covered.

In then end this team ran out of gas after the Leagues Cup.  Combined with the Cole Bassett injury (something he unnecessarily apologized for on Twitter/X this weekend) and Mihailovic fighting through a bad ankle injury just to play in Game 2 there wasn't enough in the tank to get past a very good Galaxy side.  Its disappointing to see the team end a good season on a 6 game losing streak (and 7 of their last 8) and shows why the quiet summer window was a missed opportunity, but we shouldn't let that overshadow things like the 3rd place in Leagues Cup, winning the Rocky Mountain Cup, and just bouncing back from our worst season ever to be in the mix for a top 4 finish in the West into late September.

We'll get into the normal end of season coverage this week then a bit of a break as I have to go to Las Vegas for work next week.  The first real big date coming up is December 10th when the draw for next season's CONCACAF Champions Cup will be held and we'll find out our opponent for the games in February.  We'll get roster updates before that probably, and we have an expansion draft coming up as well.

Man Of The Match: Oliver Larraz.  Score a playoff goal, get MOTM.

Rapids Season Likely Finishes Tomorrow Night

I hate to start off so negative but all signs point to the Rapids being swept out of the playoffs tomorrow night.  The injury report isn't particularly hopeful and we haven't played well in two months.  Still, that's why they play the games.  Worst case we get one more chance to support the Burgundy Boys at home this season and hopefully we get our first playoff goal in 8 years.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7:30pm and C38 will be doing one last-full tailgate to finish off the season.

(If you're wondering the Rapids could host another game if they faced Vancouver in the Western Conference final or Atlanta, NYCFC, or RBY in MLS Cup.  All of that is VERY unlikely though.)

Player Availability:

OUT: D Michael Edwards (back)

QUESTIONABLE: M Cole Bassett (quad), M Djordje Mihailovic (ankle)

Bassett was not on the injury report for Game 1 so he's essentially been downgraded this week, while Mihailovic has been upgraded from Out to Questionable.  Reports from training have been that Djordje has been training with the full team and could start while Cole has still be training on his own on the side and might be available off the bench.  In reality he hasn't played in 5 games so there's no way we could expect much more than 20-30 minutes out of him at best.

I think DM gets the start and Bassett will likely be on the bench, but we won't see him unless we need a goal.  Otherwise the rest of the starters are fairly straight-forward.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Mihailovic.  Things are just too stacked against us to expect anything other than a loss.  We'll keep it much closer than we did in LA, but in the end LA has better talent and will have it all on the field, unlike us.  Plus they've had our number this season.

J2-League Soccer!

As mentioned last week the weekend of the Austin game I was in Japan and I attended JEF United Chiba's J2-League home match against Ventforet Kofu.  I figured some people would appreciate a recap.

JEF United Chiba, as you can guess from the name, is based in Chiba. Chiba Prefecture.  They play at Fukuda Denshi Arena, which is about a 10 minute walk from Soga Station.  From there its a 45 minute train ride over the full length of JR East's Keiyo Line into central Tokyo.

One of the reasons I chose this game to go to is that of the games being played in the Tokyo area that weekend it was one of the most easily accessible.  Tokyo's transit system is possibly the most complex in the world and while the trains are navigable without a real understanding of Japanese the bus system is infamously not.  Most of the other games that weekend required a transfer by bus to get within reasonable walking distance.

JEF United Chiba was founded as Furukawa Electric SC when professional soccer was started in Japan after WWII and was one of the original 8 members of the Japan Soccer League in 1965 and were the only team never to be relegated from the JSL.  In 1992 they merged with the JR East Railway company team and through a series of name changes ended up with JEF (combining initials from JR East and Furukawa Electric) United Chiba.  JEF was relegated for the first time in its history in 2009 and has played in the J2 league since then, having failed to win the promotion playoff multiple times.

Not surprising since JR East is a half-owner of the team Soga Station is decked out in JEF colors and logos:

(Those were actually taken on my way back to the station after the game)

There's also some nice tilework inside the station

There's no "tailgating" culture that I could see in Japan.  In JEF's case the pregame is held on a large plaza outside the stadium with entertainment and food arranged by the team.  A number of vendors are set up and for this game the entertainment included some comedians from a Japanese reality TV show and a group of flutists who also danced, among other things.  I didn't spend that much time outside the stadium before going in.  I walked over to the team store (the club HQ with the main store is across the street from the stadium) and was going to get some food but decided that I would try my luck in the stadium rather than deal with the long line at the food truck outside.

The team's trophy cabinet in the team HQ

Some shots from around the stadium

No metal detectors here, just a quick bag check and I was in.  First thing I did was to scope out the food options in my area of the stadium.  There were many and they were cheap.  J-League scran has the reputation it does for a reason.

I ended up going with the chicken curry and naan option.  1000 yen, which with the current exchange rate is about $7.50.  The odd thing was that there was nowhere really to eat it so I took it to my seat and had to balance it on my lap.  Thus the less than stunning picture:

Its hard to tell but that naan bread was dinner plate sized and it was a good amount of chicken curry in that bowl.  A steal at $7.50.  I did see at half that there were some narrow counters set up along the railings of the exterior concourse I could have used as a table but it was too late by then.

Now, on to the actual soccer.  JEF is once again fighting for a promotion playoff spot while Kofu is settled solidly in midtable.  So there was much more on the line for the home team.  The area was fairly full for this match, it seats just under 20K (so a little bigger than the Dick).  Its the more traditional two-level bowl and my seat was right above the tunnel.  The price was 5500 yen, or about $35-$40 depending on exchange rate:

And a panorama shortly before kickoff:

The JEF supporters were in full force behind the north goal and a large contingent of Kofu fans made the 3 our train ride to set up behind the South goal:

I'll say this, I've never heard a louder crowd at any soccer match as I did here.  Both sets of fans were chanting in unison throughout the game in a way that would put even the Timbers Army and their "P T F C" chant to shame.  There was a point about the 66th minute where both supporters groups happened to stop their chanting at the same time and my ears were ringing in the sudden (relative) silence.

The first half of the game was a pretty meh scoreless draw, and the first part of the second half looked like the game was going to continue that way:

My halftime selfie

In the 67th minute Kofu would break through.  A good header was parried by the JEF keeper but would fall to Kofu's Brazilian winger/striker Adailton who easily put away the rebound.  This was, perhaps, the worst thing Kofu could of done.  Up until that point it seemed like both teams were going to muddle through to a 0-0 draw but giving up a goal seems to have pissed JEF off.  Between the 70th and 86th minute the home side would put the ball in the back of the net 4 times.  Now the first and the third would be ruled off due to offside but that meant 2 of them still counted.

The first, in the 76th minute, was after a good spell of possession by Chiba.  A wormburner shot from well outside the box by a JEF midfielder was chipped up and over the Kofu keeper by Yokoyama.  It went off the underside of the bar and over the line to level the score.  The second, in the 86th minute, came from a nice cross floated to the back post by KEF's star striker Hiiro Komori.  Hiiro is in the running for the league golden boot but played setup man on this one.  Tanaka was waiting unmarked at the far post and took a one-time volley into the upper corner to put JEF into the lead.

With that win and a win last weekend JEF United Chiba is sitting in 4th with 2 games to play.  The top 2 are automatically promoted and then next 4 go into a promotion playoff.  While JEF could mathematically catch Nagasaki in 3rd its a 6 point gap so its highly unlikely.  Meanwhile 5th and 6th place are tied on points with JEF and 7th place is only 1 point behind.  That means there are 4 teams within1 point of the final 3 spots.  Its going to go down to the wire.  Luckily JEF has twice the goal differential of the other teams.

One final note, from the time I got on the train out to Chiba to the time I got back to Tokyo I only saw one Westerner.  He happened to be sitting right next to me at the match.  He showed up just after kickoff and was professionally dressed (slacks, polo, business style bag).  He immediately pulled out a pad and started making notes and tracking players.  He didn't say anything to me and my first read on him was Italian, or at least Mediterranean.  Later in the game he reached into his bag and pulled out an iPad and i was able to see that the language was set to Italian so apparently my read was correct.  He left in stoppage time.  So if you see a Japanese player heading to a team in Italy, this game could be the reason.

Pitiful

In his pre-game interview on MLS Season Pass Chris Armas said that they felt if they got 2 goals they could win the match.  It wouldn't have been close to enough given that we lost 5-0.  Oh, and the team managed a combined 1 shot, not even on target, so I have no idea how Armas thought we were going to score 2 goals on Saturday night.

I understand we were down arguably 3 of our best 4 players this season (Mihailovic, Basset, and Bombito, leaving only Navarro).  I know this was our 42nd competitive game this season and Maxso, Steffen, Rosenberry and Navarro have all played over a full season's worth of minutes already, with Larraz and Ronan getting close.  I understand that we're the 7th seed and LA is much better than us, especially at home.

None of that excuses giving up 5 goals, our worst ever playoff loss (and one off our worst ever loss) and only answering with a measly shot.  Its like the team didn't even bother to get on the plane to LA.  Heck, if we had done that it would have only been a 3-0 official forfeit.  This has happened far too often this season (6 times we've lost by 4 or more, most since 2014) and it would be nice to see some spine and fight from the team instead of completely giving up in these games.

The good news, if there is any, is that aggregate score doesn't matter.  We wipe the slate clean and if we win the next two we advance.  No, I don't really expect that to happen but there's at least a shot.  Even if we lose Friday night and our season ends we at least have a chance to go out playing better than that.  At the very least lets at least get our first playoff goal since 2016.

OG Playoff Matchup

My apologies for my silence.  As I mentioned I wasn't going to have a preview for the Austin match and that's because I was in Tokyo on vacation.  If you follow me on Twitter/BlueSky you saw my live-thread of going to see a J2-League matchup between JEF United Chiba and Ventforet Kofu at this time last week.  I'll have a writeup of that here next week.  My plan was to get home On Tuesday and do an Austin post-game Tuesday night or Wednesday but I brought a head cold home with me and this is the first time in the last 72 hours where I could focus on writing something so we'll go straight to the playoff preview.

Tomorrow night we're on the road in LA-LA land for the first of the best of 3 series against the Galaxy.  This is an OG Western Conference playoff matchup between the only two teams to have played all 29 seasons in the Western Conference.  It was also for a long-time the most played competitive fixture (including regular season, playoffs, USOC, etc.) between MLS teams.  I haven't seen an update to that list in close to 10 years though so I don't know if it's still the case.  Regardless these are two teams that know each other quite well.  The Galaxy are also the last team we've beaten in the playoffs, going back to that epic series in 2016.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 9pm so plan for a late night.  And remember, in the best of 3 series there are no ties.  If its level after 90 minutes we go straight to a PK shootout to determine a winner.

Player Availability:

OUT: M Djordje Mihailovic (ankle)

Not a surprise after what happened in Austin to see Sjordje out for this one.  All signs point to him being prepped to return Friday night.  Great to see Bassett and Steffen back as well as Cabral.

I think Armas will use Bassett at the 10 but I'd prefer to see him at his normal 8 and maybe use Yapi up front with Navarro.  Cabral won't start but he'll be the first option off the bench.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Navarro.  So far this season we've lost 3-2 and 3-1 to the Galaxy and I don't see that changing tomorrow.  We should try to play this like we played the Club America game, being satisfied with a scoreless draw and trying to win it in PKs but I don't think we'll be successful at that.  Once LA gets one and forces us to attack they'll find a second.  We'll get one back but it won't be enough.

Rapids Lose But Will Still Host Playoff Game

Colorado played the same sort of game they've been playing, and got the same result, 0 points.  In this case they held Seattle to just a single goal but that was enough.  In the second half Rosenberry tried to pass to Larraz around midfield but the ball was a bit behind Oli.  He stabbed at it and the deflection bounced right into Morris' path.  He went in one on one with Steffen but Zack was able to make the save.  Unfortunately the ball feel to Rusnak and with Zack on the ground he had an open goal to look at.  Maxso was able to deflect it but not far enough to stop it from going in.  After the game Keegan took responsibility for the poor pass that started the sequence.

The problem continues to be a lack of creativity on offense.  The heavy legs and absence of Bassett has made it really difficult to score.  Luckily Cole said he'll be back for Austin which is good, because we'll likely need a result there.

The good news is on Sunday Portland played a scoreless draw with Dallas, which meant they can no longer catch us in the standings.  That ensures at least a top 8 finish and a home playoff game.  The next step is to avoid the play-in/wild-card game.  To do that the Rapids need to beat Austin or Minnesota needs to not beat St. Louis.  We can also avoid it with a draw and a Houston loss OR Vancouver not winning both remaining matches.  With a loss in Austin we need Vancouver to lose one of their remaining two or draw both of them.  Vancouver has a game next Sunday during the international break so we could be sure of avoiding the play-in game by then if they lose that match.

Not beating Austin likely means we finish 7th at best or keep our current 6th if we get lucky.  A win means we'll stay in 6th and could get to 5th if Houston doesn't beat the Galaxy.  We can't get into the top 4 and get home-field advantage in the first round.  Assuming we avoid the playin game we would start on the road the weekend of October 26th & 27th, have our home match the following weekend (Nov 2nd/3rd) and game 3 if needed on the weekend of Nov 9th/10th.  If we fall into the play-in game we would host that on Wednesday October 23rd most likely.

And with that we have a much needed two weeks off before Austin.  Odds are I'll be fairly quiet for those two weeks as I don't expect anything to happen this week and next week I have family things going on.  In fact, don't expect a game preview for the Austin game but I'll have a recap afterwards and a playoff preview that week after.

(Hopefully?) Not The Last Home Game Of The Season

Tomorrow night is the home finale of the regular season but barring a complete Couging in the last two games we should have a home match in the playoffs.  We only need to draw one of the two games or have Portland not win both of their games to get a home game (and even if neither of those happen if Minnesota or Vancouver fail to win both of their games we'd still get a home game).  We do need 3 points to avoid the play-in game though, which is a bit more precarious so it would be good to get that taken care fo tomorrow.  Its going to be tough with a hot Seattle team and a still missing Cole Bassett though.  Kickoff is at 7:30 tomorrow and beforehand C38 is hosting their first Tailgate Brewfest with 8 local breweries.

Player Availability:

OUT: M Cole Bassett (quad), M Kevin Cabral (elbow)

Whatever the "precaution" that they were supposedly holding Bassett out for sure looks more like a "he's hurt but we don't want to tell anyone" at this point.

This is the exact same prediction I made for Wednesday but I don't see how this is that different than what we'll see except maybe on the wings.  We have to put our best players out there, regardless of miles on the legs, and try to get a result.

Prediction: 2-2, goals by Navarro and Mihailovic.  This seems really optimistic at this point and the 2-2 score line is becoming my go to but I can't predict a win and I can't predict a good defensive performance the way this team is playing.  I'm hopeful that the final home match and Seattle being a little tired from the 3rd game in a week will be enough to push us to at least a draw and clinching that playoff home match.  I'd hate to go into Austin in two weeks needing a result to avoid 9th place.

A Rapids Game That Went To The Dogs

Woof.  This is going to be a short recap because there's not much to say.  This team is out of energy and it shows.  After a decent first half where they got a goal just before the break from Conor Ronan they came out of the locker room flat and let the Galaxy score 3 transition goals against them.  There's just too many minutes in their legs and we are stumbling to the finish line.  It is concerning we're seeing the same defensive issues in transition in game 32 as we saw in game 1 though.  There's clearly a flaw in our defensive scheme that can be capitalized on.  It was also the first loss at home in 12 matches which wasn't great.

With the third loss in the last four games the Rapids have dropped to 6th place.  After last night's results:

1 point gained by Colorado or lost by Portland clinches a home playoff game

3 points gained by Colorado or lost by Minnesota keeps us out of the play-in game

2 points gained by LAFC or lost by Colorado eliminates us from finishing above 3rd (and having home-field advantage in the second round)

Winning out now only gets us to 5th without help.  We need other results to go our way in order to get back to the top 4 and home-field advantage in the first round

Realistically based on our play I think a 6th place finish and being eliminated in a 3-game first round series is the most likely outcome.  Still a far more successful season than expected but hard to see us going out with a whimper like this.

Really hard to pick a man of the match in these games.  The team is just so dead nobody really stands out.

Colorado Needs To Find 3 Points Against Galaxy Tomorrow

With only one win in the last three games the Rapids are on the cusp of a tailspin, something they need to stop tomorrow night in Commerce City.  It won't be easy as the Western Conference leading Galaxy (and second overall in the league) are in town.  The Galaxy can't quite clinch the West with a win but they can get very close.  If Colorado can't get the 3 points tomorrow there's a good chance they drop out of the top 4 and have to start worrying about avoiding the play-in game (there's only 5 points between the Rapids and 9th place).  Kickoff is at 7:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: M Cole Bassett (quad), M Kevin Cabral (elbow)

QUESTIONABLE: GK Adam Beaudry (upper body)

We heard over the weekend that Bassett was being held out of the Minnesota game as a precaution, but having him out again tomorrow night sounds a bit more serious than precautionary.  Good to see Sam Vines available for selection again though.

I don't think Vines goes right back into the starting XI, he'll need some training time under him.  I also think we saw the limitations of Yapi on Saturday and we'll got back to more natural wingers for this one.  Otherwise this is fairly straight forward.

Prediction: 2-2 draw, goals by Navarro and Harris.  Based on what we've seen recently I'm not sure we have the legs to keep up with the Galaxy.  The home advantage will help and I think we can battle to a draw but I'd be surprised picking up all 3 points.  A loss is more likely than a win IMO.

Rapids Out Of Gas In Minnesota

Like we saw in KC a week and a half ago, the Rapids were tired to start the game and could never get in gear while Minnesota ran around them to the tune of a 3-0 win.  We're not going to go over the specifics of the game, if you saw SKC you saw this game.

Our road record isn't good this year but we've been particularly bad since the Leagues Cup, being outscored 9-4 and losing 2 of the 3 games, with our only win the last second escape in Dallas.  In Leagues Cup play we had a 2-2 draw in Philly, the scoreless draw against Club America in San Diego, and the 4-0 beat down in Portland.  Combined our last 6 road games are 1 win, 2 draws (with PK wins), and 3 losses and 6 goals scored with 15 allowed.

What I think we're running into is that our lack of rotation is catching up with us, and we see that more on the road due to the travel.  When you look at the minutes played by our main starters its not pretty.  A normal 34 game season has 3060 minutes of play.  Of course we played 7 extra games in Leagues Cup action.  Combined with our 31 league games so far we've had 3420 minutes of competitive football.

Steffen - 3420 minutes

Maxso - 3420 minutes

Bassett - 3185 minutes

Navarro - 3123 minutes

Mihailovic - 2751 minutes (plus 252 in the Olympics)

Vines - 2642 minutes

That's 4 players who have already played a full regular season and another that's about a half short if you include his trip to France.  In comparison I saw maybe a dozen non-goalkeepers in all of MLS who have over 3000 minutes already between the league and Leagues Cup.  Three of those guys are Maxso, Bassett, and Navarro (and unofficially Mihailovic).

We saw this same problem for years in Kansas City.  Peter Vermes would have his starters and run them into the ground and they would flame out late in the season.  This year the highest total for a KC player is a little over 2400 minutes.  The highest field player I could find other than the Rapids is Kai Wagner of Philly at 3257 minutes.  The highest for afield player who didn't make the semis of the Leagues Cup (so played at most 5 extra games) appears to be Thiago of NYCFC at 2969 minutes.

In the case down I-70 it was poor choices by the coach that put them in that situation.  In Colorado its a lack of roster depth.  Maxso's backup is Abubakar or Edwards.  Bassett's is KSB?  Navarro's is Yapi.  Mihalovic's is Bassett or maybe KSB too.  Vines has Jackson.  Other than Lalas these are all young kids.  We weren't expecting to be this competitive this quickly with the rebuild and our young guys just don't have the experience for Armas to throw them into the fire as often as the rotation would call for.

The success that we've had has put us in this situation.  An extra 7 games for the Leagues Cup added 630 minutes.  Being in the thick of the first-round home field race means we can't afford to take any games off and play for a draw while giving the backups some experience.  It does spotlight something we haven't had a chance to talk about here,  The fact that we took a pass on the summer transfer window.

I'm not suggesting we were in a position to win it all now and we needed to mortgage the future to cash in.  But how many summers have we seen the Front Office promise we're making moves and then sign 2 journeyman MLS players to short-term contracts for the cost of $150K of GAM and a 3rd round pick?  That's all we needed.  A experienced MLS defender who could take some of Maxso's minutes and an Alan Gordon-type to give Navarro a break without putting it all on Yapi would have gone a long way this season.  Without that I'm afraid we're going to run our legs off and flame out in the first round.

Rapids Clinch Home Playoff Game If They Avoid Going Loony

With a win against the Loons tonight Colorado will clinch a top 8 finish at and least one home playoff game (8th hosts 9th in the play-in game, all teams in the first round get at least one home game).  Of course our record in Minnesota isn't great so this won't be an easy task.  And its made harder by some missing players, most notably Cole Bassett who's out with injury.  Kickoff tonight is at 6:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Adam Beaudry (upper body), D Sam Vines (hamstring),  M Cole Bassett (quad), M Kevin Cabral (elbow)

Other than Bassett its not great to see Vines still listed as Out, but its not a total surprise.  Good to see Abubakar completely cleared from his concussion.  We might see a lineup similar to the Toronto game.

Similar to the TFC lineup with Lewis in for Bassett.  Reward Yapi for his play with another start on the other side.  The rest is fairly straight-forward.

Prediction: 2-2 draw, goals by Navarro and Mihailovic.  Both these teams are better on offense than defense and our track record in Minnesota isn't great.  I think we battle for a relatively high scoring draw but a one goal loss or win wouldn't be a surprise.

Rapids Go From Worst Season Ever To Playoffs

Sorry for being a bit late on this recap, we spent a couple of nights in Vail to see a concert

Saturday night Colorado got back to a place where entering the season few of us thought they would get, the playoffs.  And they did it with 4 games to play.  The only question in Saturday night's game was if the Rapids would find the breakthrough they needed against a fairly average Toronto side that never looked really threatening.  It took until after halftime but they found 2 goals and the 3 points needed to clinch a playoff berth.

It was great to see Reggie Cannon not only get his first start but also his first goal on a nice setup by Yapi.  The Yapster then turned around and drew a PK late that sealed the win and also gave Mihailovic his 24th goal involvement (goals+assists), a new club record breaking Diego Rubio's 23 from 2022.  The win also took Colorado up to 3rd in the West, 1 point behind FSL.

With 4 games to play we need 5 points earned or lost by Minnesota to clinch a home playoff game (top 8).  Considering our next match is in Minnesota, a win there would do it.  12 points is the magic number to clinch home field advantage in the first round, with a number of teams involved in that race.  A win in Minnesota and then beating the Galaxy mid-week puts the top of the West in play, but we'd still be 2 points behind and hoping the Galaxy trip up against Austin or Houston, so that seems unlikely.  More realistic might be catching FSL and staying ahead of LAFC to claim 2nd, but that seems unlikely as well.  In the end, anything in the top 4 would be am amazing finish to the season.

Man of the Match: Darren Yapi.  Assist and earned the PK.  Easy pick.

Second Chance For Rapids To Clinch

On Wednesday night we needed help to clinch a playoff spot and we got it, but failed to do our part.  Now we need no help.  Win and we're in.  We're also in with a draw or loss with help but lets just get it done ourselves.  Toronto is our opponent tomorrow and they're fighting for a playoff spot with both DC and Philly lurking.  Kickoff is at 7:30pm and its going to be wet.

Player Availability:

OUT: D Lalas Abubakar (concussion), D Sam Vines (hamstring),  M Kevin Cabral (arm)

Not great that Lalas is still in concussion protocol, hopefully he's getting better.  Might Cannon be pushed into starting?

With how tired we looked on Wednesday I'm assuming some heavy rotation.  Keegan and Cole get to start on the bench.  Its not great but it needs to happen.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Mihailović and Bassett (off the bench).  Toronto is not a good team, we should be able to beat them but the rain and the number of games will make this a sloppy tense affair.

Rapids Flatline in KC

Last night Colorado came out flat and never woke up.  Armas decided to go with no rotation other than Michael Edwards in for the injured Lalas Abubakar and the tired legs showed from the opening whistle.  There was no urgency or energy in the side and KC took full advantage, scoring in the first 10 minutes.  Poor passing, weak clearances, and sloppy giveaways would continue the rest of the half but the Rapids managed to hold it together and go into the half only down one.  KC would put hopes to sword coming out of the locker room though, scoring in the 49th minute and the 69th minute to put the game out of reach.  A brief flicker of hope appeared when Mike Edwards got his first professional goal in the 75th minute but KC snuffed that out by scoring their 4th in the 82nd minute.

The only good news is that Austin, Dallas, and Seattle all failed to win so we didn't lose ground in our quest for a playoff spot and a top 4 finish. We clinch a playoff spot with a win over Toronto on Saturday OR a draw and Dallas not winning and Austin loosing OR a loss and Dallas not winning and Austin loosing.

No Man of the Match, nobody earned it.

Rapids Could Clinch A Playoff Spot Tomorrow Night

With the right set of results, namely a Rapids win and Austin and Dallas both not winning, Colorado will clinch a playoff spot tomorrow night.  Getting some of those results will push clinching to the weekend, while getting none of them will take out any chance of clinching this week.  To do their part they'll need to go to KC and face a team on the edge of elimination.  A loss for the Sporks would put them at least 11 points back with only 4 to play.  Kickoff down I-70 is at 6:30pm tomorrow night.

Player Availability:

OUT: D Lalas Abubakar (concussion), D Sam Vines (hamstring),  M Kevin Cabral (arm), F Darren Yapi (red card)

Yapi being officially listed as out suggests that either the Rapids didn't appeal his card or that it was denied.  On further review I'm starting to think there's a strong possibility the ref saw something from his angle that wasn't visible from any of the camera angles.  Regardless, we'll be without him.  Abubakar being out will likely force Cannon into starting even if that wasn't the original plan.

If Cannon isn't ready it will have to be Michael Edwards that steps up to fill in for Lalas.  Otherwise the rest of the lineup is pretty clear, with Fernandez and Larraz spelling Harris and Ronan.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Navarro.  I think we're better than KC and should win this, but our missing players and the number of games in a short time is building up and eventually it will bite us.  I think its this game when that happens.

Get Downhill And Stay Downhill

I stole that title from Matt Doyle's weekend roundup because its a great description of this game and the Rapids in general.  Colorado kept pushing, got an early lead, gave it back, and then kept going to find a second goal.  Portland had a number of good chances, so its not like we were dominant in this game, but as always, we didn't hear no bell and eventually came out 2-1 winners.

The opening goal was a good example of Doyle's line.  It starts from a Keegan throw-in and goes through a 20 pass sequence where everyone but Navarro touched the ball before ending up in the goal through a Lewis spin and shot.  We just kept pushing the ball forward and cycling it around until the Timbers defense broke.  A nice snap shot from JLew who has certainly flourished under Armas.

Of course we still have some of the same problems we've seen against Portland this season.  Their goal was a carbon copy of ones scored in both of the prior games.  A corner kick headed on to the far post where an unmarked attacker puts it away.  Rosenberry was looking around after the goal like he expected somebody to take that player, but as the furthest outside player I kind of feel like he was Keegan's responsibility and the captain just watched him run by while focusing on a different attacker.

The winning goal was a masterclass from Djordje and Rafa.  A gorgeous free kick by Mihalovic was placed where only Navarro could get to it and he rose up and put it inside the near post where nobody was stopping it.  Very pretty.

Random Thoughts:

• The stats look fairly even in this game, but it felt like Portland had the bigger chances.  Steffen came up huge on multiple occasions when the Timbers had him one on one.  Better finishing and we probably lose this by multiple goals.
• Can we talk about Jackson Travis for a moment?  Kid balled out on Saturday.  If he keeps that up he'll push Vines for his starting spot next season.
• Conner Ronan was named MOTM and rightfully so even if I didn't pick him.  Probably his strongest game this season, he was really sharp with his distribution.
• I didn't predict Cannon would start, but I'm a little surprised he wasn't in the gameday squad.  Gotta figure he has a big role on KC on Wednesday.
• So lets talk about the biggest negative on Saturday, the Yapi red.  Needless to say it confused everyone watching either in person or on Apple.  It doesn't look like anything.  Word that I've gotten is that the ref saw a punch to the back from Yapi.  There is some kind of contact there but I can't see a balled fist or any force.  It would also be out of character for Yapi.  That said if there was a fist it take what appears to be barely a foul to a clear red.  I'm sure if the Rapids have any belief that Yapi didn't punch him they'll appeal, but if they don't or we find out the league told them they would consider the appeal frivolous (which carries some additional penalties) then there's a good bet that there was more than met the eye in that confrontation.  If they appeal and its a standard denial (non-frivolous) then it probably means there's not enough proof to overrule what the ref thought he saw.
• The Rapids will clinch a playoff spot with wins over KC and Toronto this week, or beating one of them and having Dallas and Austin drop a game.
• With two assists Mihailovic is now just one behind Diego Rubio's team record of 23 goals + assists in a season.
• With a goal Navarro is now only 2 behind Rubio's team records 16 goals in a season.  He's also only 4 behind Rubio's goals + assists record.  Both of Rubio's records were set in 2022.
• The win takes Colorado up to 3rd overall, winning the tiebreaker with FSL.  The tiebreaker is most wins where Colorado leads by 1, or in other words, by holding the Rocky Mountain Cup.
• Speaking of the Cup, some shots from the post-game drone show celebrating the RMC win:

Man of the Match: Zach Steffen.  Kept us in the match with huge saves.  Good to see him going from his hot Leagues Cup run bak into league play without a drop off.