Rapids Fumble Their Way To A Draw

Well, that was something.  A game where it felt like the Rapids were going to lose a game they should of won they pulled out a draw at the last minute.  It was both an unexpected point gained and two points lost at the same time.  IF at the beginning of the season you had told Rapids fans they would have 5 points after 4 games, including a win over FSL, we all would have taken it.  At the same time though, we dropped 2 easy points against Nashville and we probably should have won this game, so its not hard to feel like we're not where we should be based on our play.

At the same time, after the first 45 minutes in Portland this was already looking like a lost season.  Certainly the Rapids teams of the last couple of years would have gotten down after giving up another cheap PK on a hand ball.  Instead the Rapids kept playing good defense and looked for opportunities to get on the board.  Seattle made it easier picking up a mustard-and-ketchup red with about 30 minutes left and Colorado thought they were back in the game when they got a penalty kick shortly thereafter.  Then Mihailović stepped up and took the PK attempt from Navarro, only to hit a rather poor shot close to Seattle's keeper.   Not nearly good enough for a team-record signing.  He partially made up for it in the 88th minute when his free kick was pushed onto the bar by the keeper, only for Cabral to be waiting to tap-in the rebound to level the score.  Cabral had a chance to be a double-hero late but somehow failed to get any contact on a corner inside the 6 and the game ended 1-1.

Again, at halftime in Portland this team looked like a mess, but since then they've only allowed three goals, and two of those were penalties off of stupid handballs.  Sorry Rosenberry, a captain ahs to be smarter than to leave his arm out like that (the less said about Lewis' idiocy, the better).  The defense has managed to figure out their problems fairly quickly.  They'll get tested in a couple of weeks when they go to Miami but against some average offenses they've held their own.

The same can't be said for the offense.  Its telling that the Rapids best non-PK/scoring shot this season (based on xG from FotMob) has come from Sam Vines, midway through that first half in Portland.  There are some real questions to ask about the guys making the top salaries on this roster:

• Djordje Mihailovic - Has not looked like a TAM-level player, much less a "team-record signing" player yet.  His game on Saturday, other than the free kick, was fairly bad and taking a PK away from a guy who made one last week and then hitting an easily saved shot is a bad look.
• Rafael Navarro - Does good things off the ball, but he's being paid to score and he's not scoring.
• Kevin Cabral - Well, we all knoew going into this season who Cabral was and that hasn't changed.  Credit for being in the right place to finish off that goal this week, but is few goals he's had for Colorado have all been like that, where somebody else does all the work and then he has a simple finish.  For a DP he needs to be doing more.
• Lamine Diack - A TAM-level player who's here on loan for the first 20 games can't get a start 4 games in when the players starting in front him are out injured and we play a striker out of position on the wing instead?  That's a really bad sign.  If we don't see him this week its hard to think of him as anything but a bust already.

That's a lot of investment that's not being converted into goals.  DM has a combined xG of 0.86, 0.79 of which comes from the saved penalty.  Navarro's highest non-PK xG is 0.14.  Cabral has two shots outside his goal, of 0.11 and 0.08.  These need to turn around today.

The Rapids are a team that can compete defensively but are still bottom of the league in generating and converting chances.  So far we've scored from a corner kick, an own goal, a penalty, an open play goal, and a free kick.  You can't rely on penalties and own goals, and 3 goals in 4 games is the same pace as we scored at in 2023.  Offensively only a couple of lucky breaks has us looking better than last season.

Man of the Match: Oli Larraz.  Really this feels as much an award for the last couple of games as one just about how he played in Seattle.  He was good in Seattle, but he's been real solid the last three games.