Leagues Cup 2024

Before we get to tomorrow night's game a quick update on our international players.  Djordje Mihailovic had the first goal off a free kick (think of his LAFC goal, pretty similar) in the U.S.'s 3-0 victory over Guinea.  With the win they made the quarterfinals and will play Morocco at 7am on Friday.  If they win they get the winner of Japan-Spain in the middle of next week.  If they lose there's a chance Djordje could be back in time for the Leon game on Monday night.

In the CONCACAF U-20 tournament the U.S. won its quarterfinal over Guatemala 1-0.  The win included an 89th minute PK save by Rapids keeper Adam Beaudry to protect the shutout and the win.  With the result the U.S. qualifies for the U-20 World Cup next year in Chile.  The U.S. plays the winner of Panama-Canada in the semis on Friday night, which turns out to be Panama.  Kimani Stewart-Baynes got the start for Canada but the team was eliminated by a Panamanian goal in the first half of extra time.  This also eliminates them from qualifying for the U-20 World Cup.  KSB should be available next Monday.

Ok, now on to the Leagues Cup.  A quick refresher on how this tournament works.  The teams are separated into 3 team groups and the top two teams from each group advance to the knockout rounds.  There are no ties in Leagues Cup, a game that's tied after 90 minutes goes directly to PKs.  Teams get 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for a PK win, 1 for a PK loss, and 0 for a regulation loss.  Tiebreaker is head-to-head (with the winner of PKs considered to be the winner for the tiebreaker), or goal differential/total goals if its a 3-way tie.

Sunday night Portland played Leon in Portland (technically Leon is the home team for both matches but the MLS team's stadium is used.  Long story.) and won on a last minute goal 2-1.  So that give Portland 3 points and Leon 0, with both of them having a game against the Rapids.  First up is tomorrow night as the Burgundy Boys also head to Portland.  Because of how the point system works the Rapids can't clinch or be eliminated, but the result could make the work they need to do against Leon easier.  Portland can clinch a spot in the knockouts with any result against us other than losing in regulation.

If we win tomorrow (in regulation or PKs), we need to get to PKs against Leon, doesn't matter if we win or lose them.  Losing to Leon in regulation after beating Portland in regulation would be the 3-way tiebreaker scenario

If we lose tomorrow (in regulation or PKs) we need to beat Leon (in regulation or PKs)

tl;dr - Winning tomorrow means anything but a loss in regulation to Leon is enough

All of that to say, I don't really know what to expect tomorrow.  It sounds like Armas is going to put out a strong lineup, but will it be the full lineup or will we see somebody like Anderson get some minutes?  And what will Portland do?  Knowing they only need a PK loss to qualify will they go all out?  A PK win is all they need to clinch first place in the group.

If I had to guess I think we see a full lineup tomorrow, assuming everyone is healthy.  Bassett pushes up for the missing Mihailovic and Ronan moves in behind him, with Lewis and Harris on the wings.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Bassett.  Rapids lose in PKs.  These are two very even teams, and we aren't the same Rapids who got blitzed in the season opener in Portland.  I think missing Mihailovic though is enough to only get a draw, and not having our top penalty taker costs us in the kicks.

Player Updates

OK, we've got a handful of player updates from the various youth tournaments, the All-Star Game, and sadly, an injury update.

Keegan Rosenberry - Got the start in the ASG and played the first 26 minutes before being rotated out.

Moise Bombito - He started the ASG on the bench, presumably he'll get rotated in during the second half.  As far as his transfer saga goes the last update we had was from Tom Bogert a week and a half ago.  At that point the Rapids and Lyon were still in talks.  The number $5.5 million had been floated as something Lyon would consider but the Rapids wanted more.  They were discussing $5.5 million and a player swap.  Bombito returned from the Gold Cup and told the team he wanted the Lyon transfer.  I expect its just a matter of time until it gets done.  There will likely never be a better time to sell him as his stock is sky high right now.  The Rapids should take advantage.

Djordje Mihailovic - He started for the U.S. Olympic Team today against the hosts.  France won 3-0 but the team hung in there until the 2nd half.  After Djordje smashed one off the crossbar France turned around and got their first goal on the other end of the field.  After that the game opened up a bit as the Yanks had to chase a goal.

Adam Beaudry - Beaudry got the start in the first game of the U-20 tournament, a 9-0 cruising over Jamaica.  The U.S. swapped keepers for the second game, a 4-0 win over Cuba.  The third game was scheduled for tomorrow but due to violence in Celaya the Group A teams are being moved to Leon so the game will be delayed.  The U.S. has already qualified for the quarter-finals.  The semi-finalists will qualify for the U-2 World Cup.

Kimani Stewart-Baynes - After being held back from the Canadian U-20 team due to our injury crisis at wing (more on that below) KSB was released to join the team in Mexico after Saturday's game.  He missed Canada's 2-2 draw with Honduras but started their game yesterday, a 1-0 win over Dominican Republic.  They have a critical game with El Salvador on Friday, a win or a draw clinches qualification for the knockout rounds.  Even a loss leaves them in good shape to advance as a 3rd placed teams, they'll clinch advancement tonight if Mexico beats Guatemala.

Kevin Cabral - Now the bad news.  The elbow injury Cabral suffered on his goal in LA on Wednesday and then played with until halftime required significant surgery.  He had the surgery today and he'll be out for 12 weeks.  Our last regular season match is 11.5 weeks from now.  So he's essentially done for the regular season but might be an option off the bench in the playoffs assuming we qualify.  He won't be fit to start though.

I DIDN'T HEAR NO BELL!!!

Was the Rocky Mountain Cup over when the Rapids choked away a lead in the 84th minute in Sandy?  I didn't hear no bell.  Was the RMC gone when we gave up a goal in the first 10 minutes Saturday night.  I Didn't Hear No Bell.  Did we fumble the Cup away when we gave up an equalizer 3 minutes after a 2 hour weather delay?  I DIDN'T HEAR NO BELL!

The Cup was over when Cole Bassett coolly slotted away an 88th minute penalty kick to gave the Rapids a 3-2 lead in the game and a 6-3 lead in the Rocky Mountain competition.  Of course we still had to hang on for 4 minutes of stoppage and we've certainly seen games in this rivalry flip in that time but not on this night.  Post-game the team had a long on-field celebration interacting with the supporters who had waited out the lightning delay for this moment.  I've been physically present for 5 of the 6 times the Rapids have won the Cup (2020 when pandemic kept us out of the stadiums is the only one I've missed) and this is the most engaged and involved I've seen the team celebrating  You can tell how much they wanted this, particularly Chris Armas.  Surprising for a first year coach to be that hyped up for it when somebody like Pablo or Fraser, with ties to the team, weren't (maybe unfair to Fraser given his only win was that weird 2020 year where the celebrations were in the locker room).

Going back to the game itself though it was a rough start.  The early goal by the Utah Soccer Club put the team in a hole and for 30 minutes they didn't look like climbing out of it.  The long-distance shot did fool Steffen a bit with a bounce right in front of him, but he was late to read it and didn't get his arms out to stop it.  He's paid to be better than that.

It took until the 35th minute for the home side to really get into the game.  A relatively non-threatening attack changed quickly when Bassett took a Navarro pass at the top of the box and flicked it over to an unmarked Lewis who buried it for the equalizer.  Suddenly the pressure was on for the burgundy boys.

It only took 4 minutes for that to pay off.  Vines put high pressure on to win the ball and quickly poked it to Bassett in the box.  He quickly laid if off to Lewis again, but this time Johnny crossed it t Sammy who had continued his run and he finished to put the Rapids in the lead in the game, and the Cup.  Colorado kept up the pressure and got another good look before half but couldn't convert.

Then the rains came.  A normal 20 minute halftime turned into almost 2 hours.  I actually drive home to get my car away from the forecast hail, then drove back once a restart team was announced.  Once play was back on a lot of energy had gone out of the building with most of the fans.  FSL struck immediately, and there's not much more the Rapids could have done to stop it.  It was a very well placed ball with two defenders on the shooter.  After that it started to feel like another case of the home side choking away the Rocky Mountain Cup again.

In the last 10-15 minutes of the game though that pressure started to pay off.  The team had more advanced play in the FSL box and had a couple of good chances they didn't convert.  They earned back-to-back corner kicks and on the second a FSL defender was caught with his arm out chicken-wing style and the ball went right off the elbow.  Clear PK.  After Navarro took the ball like he wanted the kick he dropped it into Bassett's hands and Cole left no doubt.  After the game he said that he saw that the FSL's keeper's bottle had penalty tendencies on it for him and Navarro and as soon as he saw it he determined he was goin to go right down the middle, because he was sure the GK would dive based on his note.

Its interesting than the three goal-scorers in this game were the two longest tenured players Basset and Vines (I'm going back to Sammy's original signing) and the 5th longest tenured player in Lewis, who was traded to the Rapids a few months after Anderson signed as a homegrown and Rosemberry was traded here.  3 guys that have suffered through far too many RMC disappointments made sure we wouldn't have another one.

We go into the Leagues Cup  break on 41 points in 4th place in the West.  The Bodmer Line is 44 points so one win the the final 8 games should be enough to make the playoffs.  A home playoff game is probably 52-53 points wo we'll need 12 in 8 to pull that off.  We're currently on pace for 54.  The good news is that 6 of our 8 games are against the teams currently 7-12th in the West and the 7th is against 8th placed Toronto in the East.  The last is against the West leader and 2nd overall Galaxy.  LA, Toronto, 7th placed Portland, and 8th placed Seattle are at home, the games against 9-12 are on the road.

Before that we've got a trip to Portland for the Leagues Cup on the 1st, followed by the Leon game at the Dick on the 5th.  Mihailovic might be back for the latter of the two but it depends on well the Olympic team does.  Going to catch my breath for a couple of days and then we'll get into some late-season reviews.

Men Of The Match: The rare double-MOTM this week.  I have to choose Bassett for having the winning goal in both wins over FSL this season.  But I also have to give Lewis credit for a goal and an assist in this game.

Biggest Game Of The Year (So Far)

After choking away a win of the Rocky Mountain Cup in Sandy with 6+ minutes to play the Rapids have a chance to make up for that with a win tomorrow night.  Any other result and the Utah Soccer Club takes it back home with them.  Both teams are missing key pieces so it should be a fairly even battle, but historically the Rapids have not played to their level in this matchup.  They need to put the history behind them, come out like they have for 174 of the 180 minutes of this rivalry so far this season, and put Salt Lake away before they can break our hearts at the end (again).  Kickoff tomorrow is at the normal 7:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Adam Beaudry (U.S. U-19 team),  M Kevin Cabral (arm), M Djordje Mihailovic (USA Olympic Team)

Quick note, Beaudry is starting for the U-19s as I write this.  Cabral can't go after his elbow injury as he scored on Wednesday but otherwise all our non-National Team players are available.  That includes Kimani Stewart-Baynes who the Rapids have held back from his Canadian U-20 callup due to the injuries to Harris and Cabral.  They hope to release him to the team on Monday.  Daniel Chacon is also off the IR (and was on Wednesday) though per Burgundy Wave the team plans to bring him along slowly so don't expect to see him in a gameday roster for a while.

Straight-forward.  Put your best players out there and win the game.  These are our best 11 (minus the missing Mihailovic).

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Bassett and Navarro.  Honestly I want to predict a draw.  We've seen this story before, the Rapids have a chance to win this rivalry and fall on their face.  But I can't get over the fact that the Rapids were the better team except for 6 minutes in both games in Sandy.  Both teams are missing their best players from the last game (Arango and Mihailovic), and its not like Djordje was firing on all cylinders back in game 5 when we beat them.  So I'm going to be optimistic and predict a win, but I won't be surprised to be wrong.

Rapids Get Run Over Like It Was 1996

Well we were hoping to see something other than a replay of the '96 games but the first half last night looked a lot like the era of the early Internet.  Armas went with a highly rotated roster, starting Anderson, Lewis, and Loffelsend and reinserting Bombito immediately back into the lineup.  It didn't work.  Now I'm glad to see Armas learning from the last time we finished a 3-game week with an RMC match and we didn't rotate.  We ended up running out of steam and choking away the win in Sandy.  But its got to pay off on Saturday.

The first 30 minutes of this game felt a lot like the opening 45 in Portland to start the season.  LA had their way with us, constantly driving the ball into our third and getting multiple good opportunities.  Only an officiating mistake kept us from being down 1-0 in the first 5 minutes.  Everyone was quite surprised to get into the halftime locker room only down 1 at 3-2.

The primary problem was that the central midfield triangle of Bassett ahead of Ronan and Loffelsend was just getting overrun.  Its an example of why Bassett is better in the 8 role than the 10.  Further back he can stabilize the midfield, hold possession, and break up attacks.  Instead Ronan and Loffelsend don't have the bite or the skill to stop a good team like LA.  Jasper regularly dove into tackles, got beat, and then his man had a free run at our back line.  Meanwhile Conner just hasn't been at a starting-MLS level since he returned from injury. particularly defensively.

Credit should go to two much-maligned wingers, Jonathan Lewis and Kevin Cabral, for combining on the first goal.  Cabral just likes scoring against his former team.  If I'm honest I'm starting to come around on Cabral.  He still shouldn't be a DP but he's finding his form and actually does a good job getting attacks started, he just struggles at the finish.  Lewis, on the other hand reverted to his old self later in the game shooting when he should have passed and passing when he should have shot, both while we were trying to find the equalizer later.

The other Rapids goal was a case of glass half-full or half-empty, depending how you look at it.  The bad news, Navarro had his 3rd PK in a row saved.  The good news, Bassett was crashing the box and put away the rebound.  At this point Mihailovic or Bassett should take all our PKs.

In the second half the Galaxy did a good job instituting a low block and despite multiple chances Colorado could not find an equalizer.  San Vines had a great look, Lewis had a look, Yapi had a chance, but nothing would go in.  Now we move on to maybe the most important match of the season with the Utah Soccer Club coming to town.

Man of the Match: Zack Steffen.  Had to keep us in it in the first half while his defense was giving him no help.

Throwing It Back To 1996

At one point around 2010 LA-Colorado was the most played competitive game (including playoffs and the USOC) in MLS.  That was largely because those are the only two teams to have played every season of the 29 MLS has played in the Western Conference.  San Jose took a couple of years off, Dallas played in the short-lived Central Conference for a couple of years, and KC bounced back and forth between West and East during expansion.  Tomorrow the Galaxy are wearing their newly released '96 throwback kits for this old-school matchup (my rant about how LAFC and Miami got throwbacks before the other '96 teams can be found on Twitter).  Kickoff tomorrow is at 8:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Adam Beaudry (U.S. U-19 team), D Jackson Travis (stress fracture), M Calvin Harris (groin), M Djordje Mihailovic (USA Olympic Team)

Kimani Stewart-Baynes was expected to leave for Canada's U-20 team on Monday, but he's not listed as out on the availability report.  Daniel Chacon, who I've not listed at all this year because he's been out with an ACL tear has suddenly gone from out to not listed.  Were they left off by mistake or was KSB's release delayed and is Chacon healthy?

Hard to know what kind of rotation we'll see tomorrow with the Rocky Mountain Cup on Saturday.  I expect Bombito (who is back in training) to be saved but other than that we could see any number of people starting.  Steffen, Maxsø, and Vines seem like the most likely sure things but after that I'm really not sure.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Bassett.  Both teams are playing in the middle of a 3-game week and I don't think either of them are going to pushing that hard.  LA has a slightly better defense than we do but if we can avoid boing into a full meltdown I think we can hang with them and get a point.  

Hot Night Saps Rapids Attack

Before we get into the review of Saturday night's game a quick roster update.  Today Colorado officially transferred Marko Ilic to Red Star Belgrade.  Terms of the deal were not announced but Burgundy Wave does not expect any fee that might have been paid to equal what we paid for him a year ago.  Thus ends one of the worst transfers in Rapids history.

On to Saturday night and a haphazard game where neither team could get into rhythm.  Fair play to RBNY, part of that was due to their high line, but it was also a off-night for the Rapids.  The 1-1 draw was probably fair, maybe a bit generous to New York, but in the end there's not much for Colorado to complain about.

I wanted to do a breakdown of the Red Bull goal.  Here's the setup at the moment the secondary assist pass is released:

Rosenberry on the right of our back line has just stepped out to track the overlapping RBNY player behind the ball.  Ronan is on Harper but giving him enough room to get the pass in.  As Rosenberry steps out Harper finds the space to play Vanzeir through.  Despite that we're still in good shape with Abubakar, Maxso, and Vines all available to cover and only two other threats beyond Vanzeir.

When Vanzeir controls the ball and plays it back to Morgan our defense is set up like this:

Abubakar has done the right thing, collapsing back on Vanzeir to cut off the shot and pressure him.  Rosemberry is trying to recover from being fooled and add some more pressure.  Maxso though got caught sleeping and didn't step to Morgan.  That leaves him free to receive the pass and one-time the shot.  Also Vines is completely marking space with the other RBNY attacker all alone on the left flank.

Now this was a bang-bang play, I'm not sure Maxso gets there in time to stop the goal anyway.  But leaving Morgan that open made it easy for them.  On a final note this counter came off a poor punt from Steffen that RBNY immediately recycled back into the attacking third.

The Rapids pushed back hard in the second half and got the goal they deserved, even if it was an own goal.  They were more dangerous late in the game too but were just sloppy enough that they couldn't convert.

Man of the Match: Zack Steffen.  Despite the poor punt that led to the RBNY goal Steffen still had a really good game and kept us in it, particularly in the first half.

Red Cows Come To Cow Town

The country's biggest city sending a team named after bulls to the home of the world's largest stock show is an interesting dichotomy.  its also the first time that RBNY has been to Colorado in 6 years.  We've got two pretty equal teams, both sitting in 4th place in their respective conferences and both playing at a bit over 1.6 PPG.  Both are also missing key midfield pieces )in RBNY's case they sold their defensive midfielder to Liga MX recently).  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7:30pm and its going to be a scorcher.  Looking at mid-90's at kickoff after hitting triple-digits during the tailgate.  So everyone, seriously, stay hydrated tomorrow.

Player Availability:

OUT: D Moise Bombito (Team Canada), D Jackson Travis (stress fracture), M Djordje Mihailovic (USA Olympic Team)

After this weekend we'll get Bombito back (barring a sale) but we won't see Djordje again until maybe the Leon match in Leagues Cup but if the U.S. makes the semis then not until MLS restarts (unless the Rapids advance in the Cup).

 Based on last week's game without Mihailovic I think this is pretty obvious.  Bassett pushes forward with Ronan and Larraz behind him.  After a goal and an assist Cabral has to get the start and Fernandez gets the start on the other side against his old team.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by Navarro.  RBNY has a better defense but not as good of an offense.  I think this turns into a defensive battle and the heat and altitude finally take their toll and allow the Rapids to get the upper hand.  But its not going to be a comfortable win.

Yapi Hour Indeed

Colorado blew out S. Louis Sunday night.  As expected they couldn't handle the altitude at the end of the game and the home side made them pay.    Up until the last 15-20 minutes though the visitors were using their counter-attacking strategy to good effect.  Despite the Rapids generally having the possession and momentum advantage, St. Louis had as many shots on target as Colorado did and only one less hot overall.

Both teams benefitted from the counter in the first half, with all3 goals coming quickly after control changed hands.  Kevin Cabral deserves significant credit for scoring the first goal and setting up Bassett for the second (returning what Cole did on the first).  The St. Louis goal was a combination of Ronan being completely faked out (and once again not showing defensive intensity in recovering) combined with Larraz (and to a lesser extent Edwards) losing track of the goal-scorer.

Once Lewis converted Harris' cross for the third goal all fight was out of StL.  They had been struggling for 10 or so minutes before the score but after it they were done.  That set up the best moment of the match and arguably the moment of the season (at least at home) so far.  Darren Yapi finally getting his first MLS goal.  That has been a long-time coming and he's been snake-bit on his chances but one finally paid off, and it wasn't an easy goal.  You can see how much it meant to the team as everyone, including bench players and coaches, ended up in the celebratory dog pile (not Steffen, but that's a long run for the goalkeeper only to have to turn around and run all the way back, so I don't blame him).  I think Chris Armas beat the rest of the staff down the sideline.  Hopefully getting the first one through opens the floodgate for him.

Colorado goes into the final week before the Leagues Cup break with an outside shot of driving the Bodmer Line to 0.  They need 7 points to get to the average total points for a 9th placed team.  They have a road trip to the Galaxy sandwiched by home games with RBNY and FSL.  If they can win two and draw the third then the post Leagues Cup run-in will be about fighting for playoff position. 

But really at this point I think every Rapids fan would trade losses to Red Bull and LA for a win over FSL and a reclaiming of the Rocky Mountain Cup.

Man of the Match; Darren Yapi.  Yeah, Bassett was probably the actual Man of the Match, that's who they gave the oar to, but he turned around and gave it to Yapi as the one who had earned it.  So who am I to argue with that?

Again

Since mid-May its been a schedule of playing every other Wednesday with the exception of the international weekend.  So its 3 game week, full week between games, 3 game week, repeat.  We're ending another 3 game week cycle, we'll have a full week off, and then don a 3 game week again.  Ridiculous scheduling all to get the Leagues Cup in.  We're even playing through the Copa America.  Well nothing we can do about it but go forward, and to be honest we'd probably play Thursday-Sunday this week even without Leagues Cup because of Independence Day.  Kickoff against St. Louis tomorrow night at the Dick is at 7:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: D Moise Bombito (Team Canada), D Jackson Travis (stress fracture), M Djordje Mihailovic (yellow card accumulation)

QUESTIONABLE: D Lalas Abubakar (hamstring)

That's. not good.  We knew about Djordje's suspension but combined with Abubakar's possible absence there could be some shuffling tomorrow night.  The good news is that St. Louis has a longer absence list than we do.

There are a couple of different ways Armas could go.  In midfield I think the question is does Bassett or Ronan push forward?  I think it should be Ronan but I think it will be Bassett.  Cabral is rested and will likely start, Fernandez/Harris at the other wing is a toss-up.

On the back line you either do the above if Lalas can't go, or you put Michal Edwards in and keep Rosenberry/Anderson on the right.  If Keegan can't go a third time this week then it will obviously be Edwards and Anderson, but I'm betting Keegan can get us at least 60 minutes at CB, and then Lalas can come in for the last 30.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Navarro and Bassett.  Both these teams have below-average defenses, so even on a 3-game week there should be goals to be had.  Colorado has a notably better offense, though our engine is missing with DM out.  Still I think we can pull out another 3 points at home at altitude.

Oli Oli Oli, Oi Oi Oi!

On Wednesday I said:

 2-1 win, goals by Navarro and Mihailovic.  KC has the third worst defense in the league and is coming to altitude on short rest for a game that we use to traditionally win.  In the past we would play down to our opponents but this team doesn't do that.  That said, I expect SKC to play a low block that we'll struggle to break down enough to really put the game away.  We won't be concerned about losing, but we may not feel comfortable about the win until late.

Turns out we were worried about losing for 20 minutes or so in the second half, but other than that it was a fairly accurate take on what the game would be.   SKC wasn't particularly hood but for the first 5-10 minutes of the second half, but for a while that looked like it might be enough as the Rapids reverted to their more recent traditional 4th of July play instead of their historical tradition of winning.  This was the first win in almost 10 years on the 4th of July.

At half Colorado led in essentially every stat and had completely dominated play, but had nothing to show for it.  SKC made them pay coming out of the locker room, with multiple good looks including hitting the crossbar.  Three minutes in the Sporks overloaded our left side, pulling our defense that direction.  They then switched the field which left left winger Leibold with the ball and no pressure as Rosenberry moved towards him.  He whipped the cross in to the top of the box where Thommy has some space.  Abubakar moved to cut that space down, but Vines also tried to jump in front of the shot.  Thommy whiffed on the cross and just popped it out to the Rapids left...into the space Vines had just vacated.  Russell was unmarked and easily slotted it home.

My first instinct when watching the replay was to blame Vines for, once again, leaving his man unmarked.  He does deserve some blame for that decision, he needed to trust Abubakar to step up to Thommy.  Looking at the bigger play though first SKC should get credit for pulling us out of position.  Despite that though the Rapids are still in good position with 5 guys defending 4 initially.  Rosenberry slides back to his natural position and gets support from Bassett to try to pressure the cross (they don't get there), the CB's take the two center attackers, and Vines has eyes on Russell.  But then Thommy comes from deeper, somewhat taking advantage of Bassett moving to the right but also Ronan is not doing anything defensively.  He's somewhat pacing Thommy as the ball gets played out to Leibold but just lets him run by into that space.  If Ronan sticks with him Vines would, presumably, not feel the need to try to support Abubakar and leave Russell open.  This isn't the first time I've notice Ronan not being as engaged as I'd like on defense.

Colorado didn't go away after the goal, but for about 15 minutes it looked like they didn't really have an answer.  Finally pressure started to mount and off a Mihailovic free-kick in the 69th minute an unlikely goal scorer stepped up.  Oli Larraz got his head to the cross and put it far corner.  I don't know what Meila was looking at on the cross but he made a weak effort to stop it and didn't get close.  The first MLS goal for the homegrown!

The Rapids kept up the pressure after that, with the insertion of Yapi to play alongside Navarro.  It paid off right at the end of normal time.  Yapi got behind the defense but unfortunately took a poor touch.  Melia thought he could get to the ball and came rushing out but Yapi used his speed to get there first and poke the ball across the front of goal.  Meila clattered into him and the burgundy boys had their 10th PK call of the season.  Mihailovic stepped up to score it and on the back of two great Colorado homegrown plays and n goal+assist from the soon to be member of the U.S. Olympic team the Rapids celebrated Independence Day in American style with a 2-1 win.

With the win Colorado sits in a tie for 4th place in the West and needs about 10 points over the last 12 games to feel good about making the playoffs.  This is only the second time they've reached 40 goals scored in the first 22 games (1998).  In case you're wondering this is the 10th time they've had 10 PKs in a season, with the high-water mark being 14 PKs, with 12 scored.

Man of the Match: Oli Larraz.  I know that Djordje has a goal and an assist, and that would be the normal choice, but how do you not reward a homegrown who got his first goal?  Not to mention the momentum really changed after that.  Also credit to Armas, he pulled Harris off and put Larraz on and my reaction was "we're down a goal and we're going more defensive?  WTF?".  Well that's why Armas is coaching and I'm blogging.  Both Larraz and Yapi were subs and they both paid off big.

Using Some Sporks For Our Fourth Of July BBQ

Let me take you back to 2019.  10 games in, Hudson is fired, and a notable offseason signing, Benny Feilhaber, is traded "home" to KC.  In the post trade coverage Benny says "I want to be playing on a team that’s competitive and fighting for championships".  Well since then neither team has won a major trophy, but the Rapids have won 12 or so more regular season games than SKC.  Just something to think about as we go into our Independence Day game against them tomorrow night.  SKC is struggling this year and Colorado should take advantage of that fact.  Kickoff is at the normal 7:30 with the traditional fireworks show after the game.  Also as is tradition I will not be in attendance as I celebrate my anniversarhy with my wife (26 this year).

Player Availability:

OUT: D Moise Bombito (Team Canada), D Jackson Travis (stress fracture), M Kevin Cabral (red card suspension)

We're in pretty good shape for this one, and we've had an extra day of rest compare to having a midweek Wednesday game.  SKC is missing 2 players for sure and has 3 questionable.

The only question this game is Ronan vs. Larraz.  Everyone else is written in ink I think.  I expect Armas to go with Ronan since he did that against LAFC on Saturday and there is less defensive concern against SKC.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Navarro and Mihailovic.  KC has the third worst defense in the league and is coming to altitude on short rest for a game that we use to traditionally win.  In the past we would play down to our opponents but this team doesn't do that.  That said, I expect SKC to play a low block that we'll struggle to break down enough to really put the game away.  We won't be concerned about losing, but we may not feel comfortable about the win until late.

Rapids Run Out Of LAFC But Call-ups?

Sorry for the delay on the recap.  Yesterday...was rough.  Anyway this isn't going to be much better.  We'll recap the game but follow that with some good news.

On Saturday night the Rapids went into LA hoping to prove they could play with the best in the league.  What they proved is that they aren't there yet.  Much like the FC Cincinnati game earlier this season the Rapids were clearly the second best team on the field.  Unlike last season however, the difference wasn't so great that we looked like we belonged in a lower league.  Until Cabral did something stupid (more on that later) it was clear LAFC was better but Colorado could surprise them and steal a point.  So that's still improvement, even if we're not where we hoped we would be.

The first goal for LA was a case of them being faster than us and beating our press.  The black and gold were bringing the ball upfield and the Rapids had things pretty organized.  But a through ball was pushed down our left side and Bouanga just flat out beat Sam Vines.  He crossed it over to Bogusz who beat Rosenberry.  Simple play of 3 attackers ahead of the ball on 4 defenders but both wingers torched our outside backs.

The real problem came from Cabral being an idiot.  In the 3rd minute he went in with a dangerous tackle that was borderline red.  He got away with a yellow but he was playing on the edge all game.  Early in the 2nd half it appears Armas had enough and was getting ready to sub him, but in the 62nd minute before that happened Cabral pulled an LA attacker back who was breaking and picked up his second yellow.

This was the first time all season we were down a man, and it kind of showed.  On both of LAFC's subsequent goals they found space when the Rapids defense failed to pass off their men defensively.  On the first goal after the card LA had overloaded our right side and Ronan came over to assist.  But Rosenberry stayed on the player closer to Ronan, which means one of the central defenders should have dropped back to take the deeper man.  Instead with Ronan out of position he opened up space that LAFC played into for Bogusz to get his second.

On the fina goal to complete Bogusz's hat-trick he just kind of ran through our defense and received a pass.  Edwards, Bassett, and Larraz all had him for a second or two but they all seemed like they were passing him off to a teammate but there was no coordination in it.

The good news is that on either side of halftime we had some good control and were dangerous at times.  We probably should have gotten a goal.  If we had managed to squeak one past the keeper and if Cabral hadn't gotten a red card you could see a scenario where we can play stingy defense and take our first point out of the Bank.  Instead it 0-6 being outscored 17-2.

On the good news front yesterday Keegan Rosenberry was selected for the All-Star game by All-Star coach Wilfred Nancy of the Crew.  Its his second All-Star selection after being selected his rookie year for the Union.  Its the Rapids first All-Star since Tim Howard in 2017.  I was a little surprised at the choice because IMO this hasn't been Keegan's strongest year but I think like Drew Moor in 2015 this is about recognizing his quality play over a number of years, not just this season.

I also thought guys like Cole Bassett or Djordje Mihailovic would be candidates but neither of them were selected.  In the latter's case (and possibly the former's) that might be because of the news that broke this afternoon that as of right now Mihailovic is expected to be one of the three overage players named to the Olympic soccer team, along with Nashville's Walker Zimmerman.   The Olympics start in Paris the weekend after the mid-week All-Star Game so he may not be in consideration for the ASG because of that.  Bassett is also hoping to make the Olympic team and would then also not be available for the ASG, but his inclusion seems more tenuous right now.  FIFA does not require players to be released for the Olympics and it sounds like the USSF is struggling to get everyone they want, so his selection may be dependent on how many players in front of him aren't released.

If one or both of Djordje and Cole are selected the Games start July 27th.  The last league match before Leagues Cup is on July 20th, and its the final Rocky Mountain Cup game.  Depending on when the Olympic team gets together any selected players may not be available for that one.  While I am fully supportive of them going to the Olympics it would be great if the team could arrange for them to fly out that night after we win back the Rocky Mountain Cup.  :D

Man of the Match; Djordje Mihailovic.  This is more of a "well nobody (other than Cabral) played poorly, but nobody really stood out that much either" pick.  When we were dangerous Djordje seemed to be in the middle of things so that's what I went with.