Do We Have To Pay A Tariff For This Match?

North Cascades National Park, just across the border from Vancouver

Colorado faces a big test tomorrow as they take on conference leaders Vancouver on their home turf.  The whitecaps are coming off a mid-week CCC game and have some injuries, but we shouldn't overlook them as they've been on fire to start the season.  4 wins in the first 6 games while also advancing in CONCACAF play.  The good news is that they have a lot of miles in their legs.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7:30 Denver time, an hour earlier than you would expect for a West Coast game.

Also there's one bit of roster news today.  The Rapids signed American youth international winger Bryce Jamison from Orange County SC, then immediately loaned him back to Orange County for the rest of the season.  He's signed though 2027 with team options in 2028 and 2029, so this is a long-term project.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Reggie Cannon (Not injury related), D Jackson Travis (hand), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Connor Ronan (appendix)

The Cannon absence is odd.  Hopefully nothing is wrong in his personal life.  It could also be something with his paperwork given the border crossing, but he was recently playing in England and has been a member of the Nats so you think that all would be sorted.

This is a hopeful lineup but also the lineup that had the great success against Charlotte and Armas has been fairly good about seeing those type of things.  Obviously if he sticks with Cabral and Bassett in the 10 we'll see Mihailovic as the other wing and Larraz in the 8.  Sam Vines is back but I can't see him getting that much time on the turf in BC.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Mihailovic.  I'm hedging my bets here as it really depends on what kind of lineups both teams put out there.  The lineup I laid out above against a rotated Whitecaps lineup can absolutely win this one.  But the lineup with Cabral against Vancouver's best should be happy to get a draw.  Its a bit of a chess game between the managers this week.

Rapids Shut Down Charlotte In Bounce-Back Win

Colorado put out a great defensive performance and a good second half on offense in a much needed rebound win over Charlotte.  Honestly the first half was a bit of a snooze as neither team could get a good look at goal.  The closest the Rapids got was a swerving long-range shot from Mihailovic right before half that was saved.  After half though the home sider weathered a early flurry from the visitors and then stepped up the pressure with a pair of subs that changed the game.

In the 60th minute Larraz and Cabral were subbed off and replaced with Fernandez and Calvin Harris.  From that point on Colorado had 15 of their 21 shots and 2.93 of their 3.15 of xG.  For the first 15 minutes after the subs it looked like it was going to be one of those days where Charlotte managed to get in front of every good shot we produced but in the 78th minute Mihaiovic found the net.  A Fernandez cross found Djordje in the middle of the box and DM put the ball far post out of the range of the keeper.  We weren't done yet though as 3 minutes later Navarro was dragged down int he box and Djordje stepper up again to finish the penalty for a 2-0 lead and final score.

Fernandez and Harris certainly impacted the game but the bigger change when they came into the game was the resetting of the midfield.  Bassett dropped back into Larraz's spot as the 8 and Mihailovic shifted into the 10 role.  Not surprising, to me at least, there was an instant impact. Both players were more involved in the game and the ball flowed more smoothly through the midfield.  I don't know why Armas wants to keep forcing the Mihailovic/Cabral winger combo but its clear it doesn't work.  Against Vancouver Larraz and Cabral should start on the bench and Harris and Ferandez should start (or possibly KSB).  Once Ku-DiPietro is healthy I expect him to challenge for one of the spots and then maybe Cabral can get another chance.

One other note, on the PK Malanda was given a yellow for a Denial Of An Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity.  It was a DOGSO and the rules did change a few years ago so most DOGSOs in the box were now yellow cards instead of red cards (the logic being that the PK returns the "obvious" goal scoring opportunity so a red on top of that was harsh).  However the yellow card instead of a red card change had a requirement to it, that it was a yellow card if the DOGSO happened during an attempt to play the ball.  Malanda made no attempt to play the ball, he wasn't even in range to play it, so by the rules that should have been a red card.  However the week before a similar play happened and PRO upheld the giving of only a yellow card which I'm sure was on the mind of the center referee.  For whatever reason yellow seems to be what PRO wants in this scenario.

This weekend the Rapids head north to a white-hot 'Caps team.  it will be a good test of which Rapids are the real ones, the ones we saw against Portland or the ones we saw against Charlotte.

Man of the Match: Djordje Mihailovic.  Obviously.  He was named player of the week by the league.

The Dog Days Of Spring?

 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains could fit for either Charlotte or Nashville, given that it covers both North Carolina and Tennessee but its the only National Park in North Carolina.  Tomorrow Charlotte comes to the Dick for the second time ever for the rare afternoon game with a 2:30pm kickoff.  Its also Bark at the Park so we'll see some of our canine friends around the stadium.  TV, as always, is through Apple.

Player Availability:

OUT: D Reggie Cannon (Groin), D Jackson Travis (Hand). M Ted Ku-DiPietro (Shoulder), M Connor Ronan (Appendix)

QUESTIONABLE: D Sam Vines (Thigh)

Ronan had his appendix removed earlier this week and will be out 2-3 weeks.  Not good to see Cannon back on the injury list with that groin issue.  All 3 natural left backs are likely to be out because even if Sam is cleared to start he hasn't done anything since early preseason and won't be game ready.

If it were up to me the only midfielder I'd have lined up that way is Atencio.  I'd move Larraz and Cabral to the bench, Bassett back, and Djordje to the center.  Then give two of our other wingers a chance to start.  But that graphic is what I think Armas will do.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Mihailovic.  After last week I'm not sure we can keep Zaha and friends off the board a couple of times.  Charlotte is averaging 2 goals a game while the Rapid are averaging just over 1.  I think the averages hold tomorrow and we really realize how much work we have to do.

Storm Breaks In Commerce City

 

Do you remember last week in my delayed writeup of the San Jose game when I said:

That said I see storm clouds on the horizon. 

Well, that storm hit on Saturday night.  A 3-0 loss where Portland took advantage of Steffen's absence to show the flaws in this team.  This was a game where the Timbers had more goals than we had shots on goal.

It wasn't like Portland really had to work on their goals either.  The first goal, right before half, was bad luck.  The Rapids had the attack well defended but an ill-timed poke by Atencio resulted in an own goal.  The second goal after half though was an open thoroughfare right down the center of the field.  After Moreno receives the ball at the center point he turns and is looking at a 4 on 4, with all 4 of our defensive line back.  Despite that nobody steps to Moreno and nobody shadows Antony running right down the middle. Its an easy through ball into Antony's pass and a clean hit from outside the 18 goes into the corner.  This one probably gets saved by Steffen but its hard to blame Beaudry when the defense made it so easy.

Then on the third goal was sadly similar.  Fory got the ball out wide on our right.  Maxso slides over but doesn't really pressure the ball in time.  Meanwhile Kelsey splits right between Rosenberry and Awaziem for the easy header to finish.  Two goals, two unpressured passers, two unmarked players right in the center of the field.  Ugly.

Colorado has given up 9 goals this season (including the CCC).  6 of them have been in the last 5 minutes of the first half or the first 5 minutes of the second half.  Throw in the goal given up at home to LAFC to start the season right before the final whistle and it shows an extreme lack of focus around the whistle.  The halves are 45 minutes, not 40.

We were down Steffen for this game, but Steffen doesn't get us shots on goal.  The only other missing parks were Ted Ku-DiPietro and Sam Vines.  I don't think KDP and Sammy are the missing parts here.  The current starters have to get better, and Armas needs to accept that he's not going to turn Bassett into a 10.  Move Djordje back to the 10, put Bassett in the double pivot where he excels, and tell Oli he's going to be our spark off the bench.

Man of the Match: None.  Not because everyone played bad, just because nobody stood out above anyone else.  It was all just meh.

Rapids Try To Go Five For Five

 

Crater Lake National Park

Back home after a two week road trip the Burgundy Boys are looking to extend their record undefeated start to the season to five games.  In their way are the Portland Timbers.  The Oregon Trail gang have struggled to start the season with 4 points and 3 goals in 4 games (though they got screwed out of a last second PK last week that would make the numbers look a bit better).  Both teams have players missing for international duty so we'll see a mix of starters and backups.  Kickoff tomorrow is at the normal 7:30pm.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK Zack Steffen (U.S. National Team), D Jackson Travis (hand), D Sam Vines (thigh), M Wayne Fredrick (Trinidad & Tobago National Team), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder)

Other than Vines still being injured everything else is as expected.  At this point we have to start wondering about Sam's durability.  I still ove the guy, but his injury track record since he left for Belgium is not good.

With everyone apparently healthy and available other than Steffen the starting XI seems fairly obvious.  The Rapids did call up Rapids 2 keeper Nicolas Hansen on a short-term loan to be the backup for Beaudry tomorrow night.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Bassett.  I have a feeling without Steffen we're going to be defense-focused tomorrow night which will prevent us from getting many looks.  We finish one we do get but we also continue to struggle to keep the pressure off the keeper and Beaudry allows one.

I'm Not Down

Sorry for going AWOL for a couple of days, things have been pulling me away from this writeup.  At this point I assume everyone reading knows the details of our smash and grab win in San Jose on Saturday.  Colorado was blitzed by the Earthquakes but Steffen stood tall and kept us in the game while Bassett, Fernandez, and Calvin Harris teamed up for a couple of goals against the run of play to steal the 3 points on the road.

This is the first time in their 30 years that the Rapids have started the first 4 league games undefeated and nobody should be complaining about 8 points in those 4 games.  You are who your results say you are and right now that says that we're a top 10 team in the league, which is a great start.

That said I see storm clouds on the horizon.  Colorado has the worst expected Goals Against in the league at almost 2 a game.  Steffen leads the league (tied) with the most saves.  And the eye test is that teams are getting a lot of shots off.  We've faced 80 shots, 26 on target, in 4 games.  San Jose has the most shots in the league right now, at 67, with 31 on target.  So essentially the Rapids defense is allowing shots at a rate higher than the best offensive team is creating them.  And if you're wondering our other 3 opponents are all outside the top 10 in shots and in the bottom half of the league for shots on target, so this isn't just "we've played some of the best offenses".

We can't rely on Steffen saving our bacon every game, especially this week since he's with the National Team and it will be Beaudry in goal.  The good news is that the Timbers are arguably the second worst offense in the league (sorry New England) so if there's a time to get better this week is it.  Of course fourth-to-last in shots/shots on target is...the Rapids.  So work to do on offense too.

But again, you are what your record says you are and we're a good team right now.  The key is to not let our good results blind us to where we need to improve.

Man of the Match: Zack Steffen, obviously.  12 saves, second all-time in team history (Scott Garlick against DC on July 4th, 2001 had 13).  He has played his way into real contention for the Nats and I hope/expect to see him starting during this Nations League weekend.

Career Opportunities

Waimoku Falls, Kipahulu Ditrict, Haleakala National Park

As mentioned I spent last weekend celebrating my 50th birthday and thus no writeups for the Austin game.  I was celebrating in Hawai'i, and with the Earthquakes being the closest MLS team to Hawai'i (yes, closer than the SoCal teams) the combination of those two things made a Hawai'i park the best choice for tomorrow's game.  Waimoku Falls is beautiful and I highly recommend the hike if you're in Hana on Maui.

The Earthquakes big change this offseason was giving another career opportunity to Bruce Arena and it seems to have paid off with two wins over FSL and SKC before a loss to Minnesota last week.  Along with the new coaching staff a couple of old friends in Cristian Arango and Josef Martinez are leading the San Jose attack.  The Rapids will have their work cut out for them on defense and their injury report isn't going to help much.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 8:30pm.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Jackson Travis (hand), D Sam Vines (thigh), M Josh Atencio (groin), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Connor Ronan (hamstring)

QUESTIONABLE: M Djordje Mihailovic (hamstring)

We're going to have to have a talk about the Rapids training process.  Something's rotten in Commerce City and I don't know if its the staff, facility, or some combination but the injury reports in the early season in recent years have not been acceptable.  Obviously Travis (injured in the frozen CCC match) and KDP (offseason shoulder surgery) are outside their control but the rest?

If Djordje can't go I really don't know what our midfield will look like.  This is as close as I could get to the normal 4-2-3-1 formation.  I wouldn't put it past Armas to give Sam his first career start but I wouldn't be surprised to see a 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 rolled out either.  If Djordje can go then Cole slips back to his normal spot.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Navarro.  If we were healthy I think we could beat San Jose, but we're not.  Too many questions in midfield to expect anything more than a draw.  Navarro is hot and he keeps that roll going but a lack of possession leads to the defense giving up one as well.

Up And Down Match On Saturday

A whole bunch of highs and lows from this week's game.  Colorado started on a hot foot with a quick goal from the captain in the 6th minute.  A mishit cross led to a bloop goal and body language from Keegan that clearly said "well, I didn't mean to do that!".  Maybe we'll call it a Bob Rossenbery happy little accident.  Colorado doubled the lead in the 39th minute with a Rafa header from point blank range off a Larraz cross (officially no assist for Oli since it took a slight deflection). Based on our defense so far everyone was feeling fairly good about our chances.

Then the last 5 minutes of the half happened.  Rosenberry, Murphy, and Cannon all got pulled away from their men in quick succession and even that would have been survivable if an unlucky deflection from Steffen's save hadn't fallen to Pedrinho, Cannon's man.  Credit to Dallas for pulling apart our defense but Murphy in particular was just spinning in circles covering nobody.  Then 3 minutes later Acosta played a nice give-and-go with Musa, beating Awaziem, and suddenly we're going into halftime all tied up.

Coming out of the locker room Dallas scored a third unanswered goal, this time in the 68th minute.  After some chaos in the box Cannon managed to pop the all straight up but went to the ground to do it.  Nobody stepped to the ball to cover for him which left Musa a clean shot as the ball dropped.  Steffen would have had it saved though had it not deflected off of Fredrick.  The Rapids didn't wait long to get that one back though.  4 minutes later Larraz once again found Navarro right in front of net and this time the assist counted.

In total the teams combined for 11 shots on goal and 6 went in.  And I can't say the keepers had bad games.  It was a combination of deflections and easy shots that led to the high-scoring.  Obviously the Rapids have to, once again, focus on defending in the 5 minutes either side of half and the end of the game.  Both of LAFC's goals and 2 of the 3 Dallas goals came in those periods.  On the plus side we got away from that lack of offense, scoring 3 goals from the run of play.  The key now is to find a balance between lock-down defense leading to 0-0 games and no defense leading to 3-3 games.

A final nte, I'm celebrating my 50th birthday on Sunday so there will likely not be a preview or recap for the Austin game this weekend.  We should be back to normal operations for the San Jose game on the 15th.

Man of the Match: Rafael Navarro.  2 goals make it an easy choice.

Home Opener 2025, aka F*C* Dallas

Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

While its technically not "Opening Day" because we've already had the CCC game that was a small crowd in a partially open stadium on a painfully cold night.  Tomorrow is the real start to the home season for the first home league match in front of a full crowd.  And bonus, it will still be in the 40s by the end of the game.  Our old friends Dallas are in town, not everyone sees this as a rivalry but those of us who watched all the Colorado-Dallas playoffs in the first 15 seasons do.  Kickoff tomorrow is at the traditional 7:30 time and the undefeated C38 tailgate kicks off at 4.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Jackson Travis, D Sam Vines, M Ted Ku-DiPietro

QUESTIONABLE: D Andreas Maxso, M Connor Ronan, F Darren Yapi

Travis had surgery on his hand this week and will be out 4-6 weeks.  Good to see everyone else largely recovering, though Vines' injury is a bit of a question mark.  Given how much preseason time Yapi missed I'm assuming he'll need some time before he's ready to play, but Maxso and Ronan only missed the last 10 days so once they're healthy enough to play they should be at the expected fitness.

We just went two full games with Larraz and Atencio as the double pivot and Bassett pushed up, and we had 0 shots on goal on those games.  Time to Cole back to where things were working in the first game against LAFC (and last season), especially since we're home.  I think Armas asks the defense for one more big push before getting a full week off and being able to bring Maxso (and maybe Vines?) back into the roation.  As far as the other winger I picked Fernandez because Armas seems to see something in him, but Harris (either one) might be a better option.

Prediction: 2-0 win, goals by Mihailovic and Bassett.  Just going with a gut feel here, its hard to tell what's going to happen this early in the season with the number of games we've already played.

Well, That Was Predictable

 

From my preview:

The Rapids can't sit back and try for the scoreless draw though, that will almost certainly fail.  Scoring a goal will force LAFC to score 3 to win outright and that should be the focus.  We might be able to prevent a 3-1 loss, but we can't prevent a 1-0 loss.

With 0 shots on goal for the second game in a row the Rapids were unable to prevent a 1-0 loss and elimination from CONCACAF play at the first step for a fifth time.  The team started out strong and spent the first half largely frustrating the LAFC attack while getting a couple of looks in themselves.  At halftime I wrote that it was a good 45 and there would be no shame in going out to a team like LAFC playing this way.

Then the second half happened.  In the 48th minute Rosenberry got beat on the wing and a cross got it.  Cannon's man got goal-side of him and was able to redirect it on net.  Steffen got a leg on the ball but not enough to keep it out and suddenly the Rapids had to chance the game.  But they didn't.  With 40+ minutes left and needing a goal to advance the Rapids got 0 shots on target and rarely looked dangerous.  Pitiful.

The other notable incident was in the 82nd minute when Awaziem was speaking to the ref about an off-ball incident.  The game was delayed for 5+ minutes with no explanation.  After that game it was revealed that Awaziem heard LAFC's Palencia use a unacceptable slur towards him and wanted the process for unacceptable language followed.  Which, by all accounts, it was.  If no ref heard it and it wasn't picked up by the mics (reviewing them was likely the cause of the delay) then there's noting the ref can do.  The game played on with a remarkably short amount of stoppage time given the delay, but it wouldn't have mattered.  We could have had 20 minutes and we weren't going to score.

Obviously there's no room for discriminatory language in the game (or anywhere) so full support to Awaziem for having to deal with whatever was said.  Unfortunately all we have are the two players words on what happened.  CONCACAF is initiating an investigation but unless other players around heard what was said this will likely result in no further action being taken.  And that's absolutely fair.  While I'm sure Awaziem believes what he is saying its possible that he misheard or misunderstood what Palencia said.  Without any sort of proof or other player's corroboration its unfair to Palencia to just assume he said something derogatory.

Moving back to the result you have to say with 45 minutes left this result was a disappointment.  I don't think 10 days ago the Rapids were favored to advance but at halftime last night it was pretty clear LAFC didn't have 3 goals in them so 1 goal by the Rapids would have ensured 30 minutes of extra time at worst.  Instead we got a completely punch less offense that couldn't put a shot on goal the whole game.  As expected that result led to a 1-0 loss.

There was some history made last night.  It was the first time in Rapids history that they have gone two full games ion a row without a shot on target.  Both goals against LAFC in the first leg were Mihailovic bangers from a set piece so through 3 games the team has no goals from the run of play and zero assists.  Not a good start to the season.

They also continued their history of being the only MLS team with multiple CCL/CCC appearances to have never advanced past their opening round.  20 other MLS teams have appeared multiple times and advanced a least once.  Not only that we've been eliminated pretty much every way possible.  On points (Toronto 2018, Santos Laguna & Isidrio Metapan, 2011), total goals (Leono, 1998), PKs (Comunicaciones, 2022) and now away goals against LAFC.  We've also been eliminated 5 times by teams from 5 different countries, Mexico (Leon, 1998), El Salvador (Isidrop Metapan, 2011), Canada (Toronto, ,2018), Guatemala (Comunicaciones, 2022), and America (LAFC, 2025).  So at least we're keeping our failures interesting.

Man of the Match: Chidozie Awaziem.  He was my choice before the language incident happened but playing through that is an added bonus.  He was more than solid all night, making some pretty defensive plays when needed.  He's looking like our best offseason acquisition so far.

Rapids Try For First Ever CCL/CCC Advancement

This is Colorado's 5th time in CONCACAF Champions League/Cup play and in the prior 4 tournaments they were eliminated in their opening round.  They have a chance to break that streak tomorrow night in LA but it will be a tough hill to climb.  Colorado has never gotten a a point at LAFC and they've struggled to even score.

The good news is that a 0-0 draw is all they need.  In fact any win or draw gets them through, but a 1-0 loss does them in.  A 2-1 loss forces an extra 30 minutes and then PKs if still tied.  If the Rapids can score more than 1 goal though then LAFC would have to win by 2.

In their two games so far LAFC has largely sat back and waited for their opportunities to attack, which really haven't come.  In the second half this weekend they made halftime changes that led to them controlling the second half.  Lets hope they revert back tomorrow night.  The Rapids can't sit back and try for the scoreless draw though, that will almost certainly fail.  Scoring a goal will force LAFC to score 3 to win outright and that should be the focus.  We might be able to prevent a 3-1 loss, but we can't prevent a 1-0 loss.

Its still a long shot though, especially with our injuries.  I doubt anyone who wasn't available will be available tomorrow night, not enough time to suddenly get healthy.  So we're going to be asking the back line to play their 3rd game in 8 days, along with a good chunk of our midfield and Navarro.  The natural inclination is going to be conserve energy and play off LAFC but we need to lean the other way and push hard for an early goal.

Prediction: 3-1 loss in extra time.  Goal by Navarro.  I think we force the bonus 30 minutes but then our defensive legs run out and LAFC gets the winner to move on and play Columbus.

Defense Bails Out Offense In St. Louis

It was a rough game for the attack last night but the back line stepped up with a strong game from Zach Steffen backing them up.  A couple o f surprises in the starting XI with Cannon being able to start and Bassett being moved out to wing to allow Larraz and Atencio to man the double-pivot.

Honestly there's not a whole lot to review in this game.  Colorado didn't have a single shot on target while St. Louis had five.  Every time we got the ball into an attacking position our crosses failed to find the target.  The biggest chance either team had was in the 15th minute when St. Louis had a point-blank shot but Steffen was able to fend it off with a reaction save.  St. Louis did put one in the back of the net in the 20th minute but it was correctly ruled off due to offside.  After that the game settled into a few half-chances for St. Louis and one good look from a Mihailovic cross late that nobody could get a touch on.

In the end a draw is a good result from this match.  A road game sandwiched between two CCC matches was always going to be tricky and with our injury situation doubly so.  There are a couple of concerns though.  First the inability to get any sort of attack is worrisome.  I think neutering Bassett by putting him out wide was a poor choice by Armas.  This team needs to be built around Mihailovic at the 10 and Bassett at the 8, forcing any other lineup just to get other players into the midfield at their preferred positions doesn't make sense.  The other concern is that LAFC scored their one goal off a set piece and the one time St. Louis beat us was off a set piece that an offside saved us on.  On the flip side our two goals have come off of set pieces, so it balances out.

Man of the Match: Zach Steffen.  Easy choice since the shot he saved in the 15th minute had the equivalent xG of a penalty kick and then he made 1-2 more saves during the game to preserve the shutout.

Rapids Start MLS Play Under The Arch

Going to try to feature NPS sites as much as possible this season

CCC was fun but we all know that's a temporary thing.  Time to start the real season with the first league game tomorrow night in St. Louis.  Both teams made their major moves last summer, though St. Louis has had a bit more churn than the Rapids this offseason.  Regardless it should be two teams who are on the more settled end of the spectrum for a first game.  Of course Colorado is coming off the midweek game against LAFC while St. Louis is getting their first competitive minutes.  What's worth more, rest or already have shaken some rust off?  Kickoff tomorrow is at 6:30pm on MLS Season Pass.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Andreas Maxso, D Jackson Travis, D Sam Vines, M Ted Ku-DiPietro, M Connor Ronan, F Darren Yapi

QUESTIONABLE: D Reggie Cannon

That's...not a good way to start the season.  We knew Yapi and KDP were dealing with long-term injuries this preseason, and Vines picked up his knock in Mexico and was always going to be iffy to be ready to start the season.  Ronan apparently got injured on Monday, and Maxso was also injured for the CCC match.  We saw Cannon go down at the end of that game but he's apparently more likely to play than not, based on what I've heard.  Travis' injury is a mystery after coming in when Cannon was injured Tuesday night.

Given all this and the quick turn-around with the CCC I'm not going to predict a lineup.  If Cannon can go we'll see the same back 4 we saw on Tuesday.  If he can't we may roll out the 3-5-2 with somebody like Cabral playing left wing back.  It will also depend on how much faith Armas has in getting a result on LA on Tuesday and how much he wants to save for that.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Navarro.  At full strength I think we win this game but with the injuries and schedule congestion I think we end up being satisfied with the draw.

Keegan Rosenberry Extended 3 Years

Colorado announced today that team captain Keegan Rosenberry has signed a new contract taking him through the 2028 season.  That would be his 10th season as a Rapid and he would be 35 just after that season ends.  Should he play out the contract in Colorado he would have a good chance of passing Pablo Mastroeni for the team record in appearances and possibly starts.  He needs 57 more appearances, or less than 15 per season for the next 4 seasons, and 51 starts.  He needs 3246 minutes to pass Pablo for most in team history, that's 9 full games in each of the next 4 seasons.

I'm more than a little shocked by this move.  I really thought with the signing of Reggie Cannon and the fact that the captain's play has diminished a bit in the last couple of years that the team was getting ready to move on from Keegan.  Instead he's going to settle in and take over Drew Moor's role of wise defensive leader.  I do expect that by the end of the contract he'll likely be a super sub more than a starter.

Rapids Start With A Win, But Is It Enough?

Ok, I think I've finally warmed up enough to write this.  Colorado didn't set its record last night, with official temperature recorded at kickoff as 6 degrees (the record is 3 against both Portland in 2018 and Comunicaciones).  A record that was apparently broken tonight with the report being the temperature was 2 degrees for kickoff between SKC and Miami.  Regardless it was cold.  For the first time at one of the Rapids Snow Clasicos/Frozen Taps games I had to tap out and go into Eighteen36 for 20 minutes.

The biggest surprise in the lineup was seeing both Awaziem and Murphy starting.  Turns out Maxso has a lower body injury.  Vines, as expected, was also held out and Ronan picked up a knock in training on Monday.  So it was a very young bench, even without Atencio who didn't dress for this one.

The first half was ugly soccer and both teams looked like they just wanted to get through the 90 minutes and decide the series in LA.  Unlike my prediction LAFC was actually willing to concede possession and let the Rapids push the play.  That didn't work for either team really though.  I think there were 3 shots on goal the whole half, none were really close to being dangerous.

Luckily the second half was worth watching.  Colorado used their possession advantage to draw a PK with a nice through ball to Cabral that he got tripped up on.  The center ref (who I found out later also had the poor fortune to draw the epically cold World Cup Qualifier in Minneapolis) somehow thought it was a dive and gave Kevin a card, but the AR called him over and sorted it out.  Djordje beat Lloris from the spot and the Rapids had the lead I expected.

Shortly after they they had a chance to double it and somehow could get the ball into an open net.  A combination of the cold causing the ball to bounce oddly and early season rustiness caused them to miss the opportunity as Navarro took the ball off of Fernandez's foot and hit a weak shot that Lloris scrambled back to cover.  Lloris would eventually be beat though from a gorgeous free kick thanks again to Mihailovic.  It could be the goal of the tournament, even in 70 degree weather that wasn't going to be stopped.

At 2-0 the vibes were feeling pretty good but sadly it couldn't last.  Long got behind the defense on a corner and redirected the ball far post past Steffen for the away goal.  Unfortunately after that Reggie Cannon went down with what seemed like a fairly serious injury based on his screaming reaction on the field.  He did manage to walk back to the locker room though and post-match Armas said it wasn't serious so hopefully he's not out long-term.

The other event of note in the second half is that Sam Bassett subbed on, giving us our first look at the Bassett & Bassett midfield.  Its of course hard to judge anything about the play given the conditions last night but it was fun to see.

Going into LA next week with a (as predicted ;) ) 2-1 lead is a better place to be than a draw or a loss, but the away goal does hurt.  A 1-0 loss means LAFC goes through and its not like we score a whole lot there.  Getting just 1 though tips the balance back to Colorado so we need to be hunting that goal and not just settling in to defend the lead.

Man of the Match:  Djordje Mihailovic.  Obviously.

2025 Starts With A Deep-Freeze, Again

 

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.  The 30th season of Rapids soccer starts tomorrow night with the CONCACAF Champions Cup match against LAFC in Commerce City.  A Commerce City that will, once again, be flirting with single-digit temperatures and negative wind-chill temps come kickoff tomorrow night.  The scheduling did us no favors either with kickoff at 8 instead of the normal 7:30 or even 7 due to having enough TV time for the earlier games.

Coincidentally enough KC is going to be dealing with the same artic storm, though in their case with snow, and they got their game postponed 24 hours to Wednesday.  Something that hasn't been offered to the Rapids for tomorrow night, or in 2022, or in 2018 when we dealt with this.  What's the difference?  Oh right, KC's opponent tomorrow is Inter Messi.  Anyway in the end it wouldn't make much difference, Wednesday would only be about 5 degrees warmer.

So, on to the game.  Unfortunately we got no favors in the draw, matching up with LAFC who has been a bit of a bogey team for us.  While we seem to play well enough against them on in Colorado, going to LA is a house of horrors.  So it means we really need to put up a good score tomorrow night.

I expect us to play compressed and make them drive the game at us, then hit them quickly on a counter.  Look for direct passes to Navarro trying to get behind the defense in the transition.  If LAFC gets a league though we'll have to open up and they've been deadly when we do that.

Ted Ku-DiPietro and Darren Yapi are both dealing with injuries and won't be available.  Sam Vines was expected to be ready for this one, but given the cold they may hold him out and not risk things.  Josh Atencio just got to Colorado today, he might be on the bench but he certainly won't start.  Otherwise the full team should be available.  I expect Awaziem to be the only new face we see in the starting XI though, otherwise I think you'll see a similar XI to what we played last season with Larraz getting the start next to Bassett in midfield and probably Calvin Harris as the winger opposite Cabral.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Navarro and Bassett.  LAFC scores between our two goals but the one goal margin and giving up away goal puts us behind the 8-ball going back to LA.

2025 Preview and Predictions

Well we made it through another offseason and its game week!  First we're all going to freeze Tuesday night watching Colorado's 5th appearance in the CCL/CCC, then its off to St. Louis for the league opener on Saturday.

After a rough offseason where many (including me) were openly questioning the plan given that the team hadn't signed anyone other than Sam Bassett after making the trade for defensive cover in Awaziem and Murphy..  Once they moved preseason from Mexico to Florida though the moves started flying.  We added Ali Fadal, Ted Ku-DiPietro, and Josh Atencio, the latter two filling a couple of big areas of need (winger and d-mid).  There's still a bit of a hole when it comes to a backup for Navarro (especially with Yapi injured to start the season) and we might be a bit light in depth in a couple of areas, but it finally feels like the Rapids aren't letting the league run away from them.

That said, I don't know that we're going to see a significant improvement either.  39 games minimum (34 league, 2 CCC, 3 Leagues Cup) from this group is a lot to ask out of our starters, and our backups still feel raw.  Those added competitions are compressed with 4 games in two weeks to start the season and 5 games in 15 days across the Leagues Cup weeks.  We saw what happened last season after using pretty much the first XI through the Leagues Cup, our legs were dead to finish the season.

Its clear the strategy this offseason was to stock up on youth.  We added two U-22s in Ted KDP and Atencio, traded for a smorgasbord of draft picks in this year's and the next two year's drafts, and our one international signing was also a 21 year-old.  At 28 and 25 Awaziem and Murphy were our oldest new faces.  I think the goal by the Front Office was to hold serve this year and be happy to make the playoffs while hopefully avoiding the wild-card game, then see that youth come to fruition in 2026 and 2027. For a club that doesn't have that much support from ownership (though they did cough up cash for KDP) its probably a smart play but in reinforces the point that KSE isn't investing in their team.  Also by trading away half our international slots the focus has turned to young domestic players, but those could be reinforced by internationals once those slots come back next offseason.

There has been talk from Matt Doyle and Tom Bogert that their sources are indicating we'll play a 3-5-2 this season, but the public talk from Armas has reinforced the commitment to the 4-5-1 we used last season.  The preseason games have seemed to reflect that as well.  The 3-5-2 would solve our fullback problem by turning Vines and Cannon into wing-backs, but it forces somebody (likely Cabral) to play more forward than they are really suited for, or relies on Yapi too much.  Its also a formation that doesn't really need a player like Atencio.

Meanwhile the 4-5-1 fits our midfield pieces and we have Navarro as the lone striker, but it does raise the question of how you use Rosenberry, Cannon, Maxso, Awaziem, and Vines. That's 5 starter-level defenders for 4 spots  Maybe the plan/assumption is that between work load, injury, and possibly national team duties it won't be often all 5 are available to start so they'll rotate through positions as needed.

It obvious Navarro will start up top and I think we'll see the Mihailovic-10/Bassett-8 paring most often, with Cabral on one wing.  I give the nod to Ku-DiPietro and Atencio to get the majority of minutes at the other midfield spots, but Larraz, KSB, and both Harris' will push them.  I'm not convinced Fernandez, Ronan, or S. Bassett will see a lot of time.

With that, on to my predictions:

• Its one series and done in the CCC.  Our track record at LAFC is very bad and I don't see that changing this early in the season.
• Likewise the new Leagues Cup format puts us at a disadvantage and we don't progress.  In fact our chances are so unlikely that going into our final game against Cruz Azul in LA Armas pulls the rip cord and uses a heavily rotated roster to save legs for the run-in to the playoffs.
• The Rapids do make the playoffs, but they host the wild-card game (8th overall).  They actually win the wild-card game before bowing out in the next round.
• Sadly they end up in the wild-card because the curse of Sandy bites us again and we lose the Rocky Mountain Cup in the next-to-last regular-season match (I'm half tempted to say we retain it after points & goals are tied, but I've seen this story too many times before).
• At some point, either just before the window closes in May or when the window opens this summer, the Rapids make a move for a short-term backup striker.
• Mihailovic is once again named Player of the Year and makes a run at Valderrama's record of 16 assists in a season
• Navarro is the Golden Boot but will not get to 16 to tie Rubio and Casey.
• Steffen, Mihailovic, and Bassett all get call-ups this year
• This is the last year Yapi really features for this team.  He may still be on the roster in 2026 but as a deep bench option only.
• Atencio will be seen as the sneaky-good acquisition of this offseason, justifying the expense.

Rapids Make A Big Trade And Drop The New Kit

I was going to start off with yesterday's news of the kit drop but something bigger dropped this morning.  The opening act was the Rapids trading another international slot to FSL for A ridiculous $275K of GAM.  On the high end international slots usually go for $200K or a bit more, so FSL must be desperate.  They'll get $225K of it this year and $50K next year.  Colorado has now gotten $725K of GAM and two first round picks from trading 4 international slots next season.

Or I should say that had $725K of GAM because in the main event today they sent $1.3M of GAM plus up to $300K of add-ons to Seattle for Josh Atencio.  The GAM is split recently between 2025 and 2026 and Seattle also retains a20% sell-on clause.  

Atencio is a 23 year old (as of last month) homegrown midfielder who's under contract through 2027 with a 2028 option.  He'll take the Rapids last U-22 spot (due to when the contract was signed) alongside Cole and Ted KDP.  The Sounders were working on converting him from a defensive midfielder to a center back this preseason, given their logjam in midfield and a young Academy player coming up at the position, but he's earned more minutes in midfield then he's been able to get in the Emerald City.

He immediately becomes Colorado's best option at d-mid, a position we've been weak in for a couple of years, and is probably the favorite to grab the starting spot next to Bassett once he settles in, though Ronan and particularly Larraz will push him for minutes.  He also has experience playing with Mihailovic as they were both on the Olympic team last summer.  This is another young American looking to step his game up to the next level to get on the National team radar, like Djordje, Zack, Cole, Sam, and Reggie.  At this point the Rapids are a forward and a center back away from having a team that could have probably qualified for the old Hex in World Cup Qualifying.  :D

With this move you have to figure the team is pretty set for the year.  All 6 "special" positions are filled for the long-term (at least this season) with the three U-22s and Cabral, Mihailovic, and Navarro as the three Designated Players.  Also we're down to 4 international slots and we have 5 international players (Navarro, Awaziem, Ronan, Amadou, and Fadal).  Presumably Amadou or Fadal is destined for Rapids 2 or a loan out, or possibly the two of them will split time moving between R2 and the first-team.  Depending on how players moved up from the Supplemental Roster we might have one senior roster spot left but with no international, U-22, or DP slot I would assume any signing would be more for depth than a big splash.  Though we do have GAM left if we wanted to bring in a player (no idea on if we have cap space though).

Now going back to yesterday's news the team launched the Headwaters Kit:

My first thought is that it looks better than the leaked image but I'm still not fully sold.  I'll have to see it in person.  The Rapids continued their tradition of partnering with a local related charity, in this case making a donation to the Colorado Water Trust. a Boulder-based non-profit dedicated to preserving Colorado's waterways.

Of course the biggest drawback of the new kits is something out of the Rapids' control.  The fact that a customized authentic will now run you $200 after taxes.  A ridiculous number that MLS and Adidas should be ashamed about.  I will continue to pass on the new kits, no matter hoe much I like them, when I can do things like support Football Associations in the Caribbean and South Pacific through Stimulus Athletic and Stingz Sportswear.  The latter in  particular has worked with a number of South Pacific countries to help kick-start their programs by capitalizing on the increased interest in kit collection, having created kits for the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and Kiribati with all profits going back to the FA's to support grassroots soccer in those countries.  And I've gotten all 3, including shipping from the UK, for less than one MLS authentic.

Assorted Bits And Pieces

There hasn't been any major news in the last few days.  The already known deals were made official (Ku-DiPietro bought, international slot sent to Columbus) and there is no serious rumors of other changes.  There have been a couple of things of note though.

First a better version of the kit leak has dropped.  It will be out officially tomorrow but its clearly more green than the initial leak.  I'm still not all that impressed but we'll see how it looks on the field.

The other thing this week is that we got our Leagues Cup schedule.

    Santos Laguna at the Dick on July 31st

    Tijuana at the Dick on August 3rd

    Cruz Azul at Dignity Health Sports Park (Galaxy's stadium) on August 7th

Combined with the league games on either side of these three (at Philly and at Minnesota) the club will play 5 games in 15 days in all 4 time zones.  Last year we rode our starters into the ground in the Leagues Cup and then stumbled to the finish line of the regular season.  Depth will be an issue again this year with this schedule.

One last interesting tidbit thanks to Reddit.   Three new logos trademarked by KSE.

This immediately led to some talk about rebranding either the first team or Rapids 2.  Closer look though shows that the third image is very similar to the badge on our new kit and the first image is the type of logo I could see being used as a jock tag for the 30th anniversary merchandise the team has announced is coming.  That just leaves the second Mile High SC image that could be a rebrand for Rapids 2 but I think is more likely to be a line of merchandise similar to the NBA City uniforms.

Related, today the Rapids launched a new app for iPhone and Android and images similar to the first and third of those trademarked images are used in it.

Tomorrow we'll get the new kit officially and I'll drop pics here either tomorrow night or over the weekend (it is Valentines Day tomorrow after all, plus the start of the Scotties).

Rapids Sign Fadal, New Kit Leaks

An odd Saturday press release from the team as they announced the signing of Ghanaian-born midfielder Ali Fadal from Spanish-side Valencia.  This rumor leaked late in the week but it was hard to evaluate because Fadal has had an up and down career so far.  He was signed by Valencia in 2023 and made his first appearance for them that year, but that's the only appearance he had with the first team.  He suffered an injury that set him back and he's been playing with their B team in the 4th division most recently.  Fadal was considered one of the best youth prospects in Ghana so this is a classic Padraig Smith prospect signing.

He's signed to a two year deal with two years of club options after that.  Braidon Nourse from the Denver Post is reporting we're trading an international slot to the Crew for GAM and their first round draft pick next year (which would give us 4 first round picks).  Combined with this signing that would leave the Rapids with no open international slots, so any further additions would have to be domestic.  At this point though I expect we're largely done for the off/preseason.

The other bit of news today is that FootyHeadlines.com dropped a leak of our new away shirt:

This is obviously not a press release quality image, in fact is probably a FIFA video game image (that's where these things seem to leak).  I expect the actual shirt to be mint green with darker green spots.  Even saying that though this is underwhelming.  I fear its going to look like a light green shirt a painter was wearing while working.  And I've long been of the opinion that you don't mess with the badge unless you have a standard secondary badge or you absolutely nail it (Blackburn currently falls into both these categories).  The Rapids don't have a standard secondary badge they use and this badge is not great IMO.  Plus that Adidas logo looks huge for some reason.

The good news is that MLS kits are grossly overpriced and I see no reason to spend money on this one.

One In, One Out, One Changed

Going in reverse order of the title and going fairly quickly since I'm on the road in our Mexicali office tonight a set of roster updates.

One changed: Kevin Cabral has gotten his green card and will count as a domestic player going forward.

One out: The Rapids and Daniel Chacon have agreed to a mutual separation of his contract.  He has already been linked (I don't think its official yet but it will be) with Alajuelense in his native Costa Rica.  The Chacon signing always felt like a move to sign a guy to make money off of him, not to improve the team.  Which was good because he made 8 appearances with Rapids 2 and none with the first team, while going on loan twice to make 11 appearances each time.  So 30 appearances over 3 years and walks away with no transfer fee paid.  To be fair his injuries derailed the plan for him, but it is another in a long line of international signings with "potential" that didn't pan out.

One in: This isn't official yet, but reported by Tom Bogert this morning and confirmed by everyone from Burgundy Wave, Matt Doyle, and the Denver Post the Rapids are buying homegrown midfielder Ted Ku-DiPietro from DC United.  This is part of the new cash transfer fee system MLS announced last month.  Colorado will buy him for $1.125 million with up to $275,000 in add-ons.

Ku-DiPietro was recently re-signed to a U22 contract so he'll have a low cap hit.  He's also a domestic player who's already familiar with MLS.  He had a strong 2023 season but suffered in 2024 (as did most DC players) and dealt with injury as well.  The thinking is he was misused in DC's system last year but will be a good match for Colorado's system.

If we play the 4-2-3-1 we did last year he will probably slot in at one wing with Cabral on the other side.  If we go with the rumored 3-5-2 he's more likely to be a supersub off the bench to spell Djordje, Bassett, or possibly Cabral up top.

Its nice to see what is, essentially, the Bombito money starting to be spent.  Along with the GAM we sent Cinci. to get Awaziem and Murphy that's essentially 3 players brought in with that sale, and we've only spent about a third of the initial fee.  Its also our first significant attacking signing since bringing in Djordje (unless you're going to count bringing in Navarro on a permanent deal last summer).

Leagues Cup, No Open Cup For Rapids In 2025

US Soccer. and MLS announced the plans for the Leagues Cup and the U.S. Open Cup today (as well as confirming all 3 Canadian teams will play in the Canadian Championship as normal).  In order to avoid too much load on any team MLS made the decision that each team would only play in at most two additional competitions per season in 2025 and 2026 including the CONCACAF Champions Cup.  They also announced how those competitions would be determined.

Obviously the top competition is the CCC and any team who qualifies for it will play in it.  That includes the Rapids in 2025.

For the Leagues Cup the top 9 teams in each conference will qualify.  The Rapids finished 7th last year so will play in the 2025 Leagues Cup.  Since Vancouver qualified for the CCC and are the defending Canadian Champions they will not take their place in the 2025 Leagues Cup and will be replaced by San Diego.

16 American MLS teams will qualify for the Open Cup.  Any team not who doesn't qualify for CCC or Leagues Cup automatically qualify for the Open Cup.  Any additional spots (7 this year) will go in order of the prior year's Supporters Shield standings, excluding any CCC teams.

So every team gets at least one competitions and this year two-thirds of the league get two.

MLS Next Pro ('2' teams) will also be in the Open Cup with 11 spots.  These will go to the two independent teams (not associated with a MLS club) and nine of the twelve teams who's first teams are not in the Open Cup themselves.  San Diego doesn't have a '2' team yet so they won't be represented at all in the USOC.  The other two teams not included were decided by the 2024 MLS Next Pro standings.  Atlanta was third to bottom in the East but the two teams below them (NE and NSH) have their first teams in the competition so they're not in the USOC.  Last place in the West last year was...Rapids 2.  So Colorado won't be represented in the Open Cup by either the first or 2 team.

Also as part of this news the USSF announced all the teams in the Open Cup.  Colorado will be represented by Harpos FC (USASA), Flatirons FC (USL-2) and the Switchbacks (USLC).  Harpos and Flatirons will enter in the First Round where they're each guaranteed a matchup against a fully professions USL-1 or USL-C team.  The winners of the first round will face off in the second round, and those winners will face the remaining USL-C teams including league champions Colorado Springs in the Third Round.

We're still waiting to hear the competition format of the Leagues Cup for 2025 and 2026, but we know the league won't be taking a break for it this year, the games will happen mid-week between league games.  It does appear that MLS has cleared a 10 day spot at the end of July/beginning of August to allow a couple of games to be played, the last weekend of July all the games are Fri/Sat and the first weekend of August there are no league games.

Finally, Some News.

Sorry I've been quiet here but nothing's been going on.  We traded an international slot for some GAM and got Toronto's 1st round pick next year so they could hire Neil Emblen and Jase Kim but otherwise even the couple of rumors that popped up have been pretty weak.

Two preseason matches ended in a 2-2 draw (goals from Josh Copeland and Sam Bassett, with Cole setting up his younger brother) and a 1-1 draw (goal by Rafa).  too soon to really draw any lineup conclusions from those.

Today though we got a bit of news.  Both Abe Rodriguez and John Berner have left camp in Mexico now that Steffen and Beaudry are back from their various National Team duties.  We'll see if they show up in Rapids 2 camp or not (which I just found out from Burgundy Wave is in Orlando).  Also Josh Copeland, Charlie Harper and Matthew Senanou have also left camp to join back up with Rapids 2.

That leaves Academy players Zack Campagnolo (GK) and Noah Strellnauer (M) in camp along with Rapids 2 players Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen (GK), Anderson Rosa (D)< and Sydney Wathuta (F).  No other unsigned players are currently in camp and Kevin Cabral has not arrived yet from working on his green card.

First game is 3 weeks from Wednesday when we host LAFC in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Off To Mexico With Some Old And New Faces

Colorado left for preseason camp in Mexico today and gave all of us a roster to work with while they're there.  There are three names not on the roster for good reason.  Zack Steffen is at the Nats camp and Adam Beaudry is at the U-20 camp (the teams trained together today).  Kevin Cabral is back in France finalizing his green card and will join the team when that's done and he no longer takes up an international slot.  Other than that all the expected names were on the plane.

They were joined by some old and new names, some under new contracts and some trying to earn a contract.

GOALKEEPERS: John Berner (Trialist), Zack Campagnolo (Rapids Academy), Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen (Rapids 2), Abraham Rodriguez (Trialist)  

DEFENDERS: Chidozie Awaziem, Reggie Cannon, Daniel Chacón, Michael Edwards, Nate Jones, Andreas Maxsø, Ian Murphy, Anderson Rosa (Rapids 2), Keegan Rosenberry, Matthew Senanou, Jackson Travis, Sam Vines  

MIDFIELDERS: Daouda Amadou, Cole Bassett, Sam Bassett, Josh Copeland (Rapids 2), Omir Fernandez, Wayne Frederick, Oliver Larraz, Djordje Mihailovic, Connor Ronan, Noah Strellnauer (Rapids Academy) 

FORWARDS: Alex Harris, Calvin Harris, Rafael Navarro, Kimani Stewart-Baynes, Darren Yapi 

Michael Edwards signed a new deal for 2025 yesterday with an option for 2026.  Rosa was a 2024 SuperDraft pick who went back to college for a year and has now signed a deal with Rapids 2, while Copeland signed with R2 coming out of this year's draft.  Alex Harris was our top pick in this year's draft and was already signed to a Generation Adidas deal prior to being picked.

We've got a couple of former keepers trying to catch on as the third keeper while Steffen and Beaudry are away.  Rodriguez is back after spending last year with Toronto 2 and John Berner makes his return have 7 seasons.  In between he played for Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Saint Louis, Memphis, Huntsville, ant Atlanta 2.

Guys like Campagnolo, Defreitas-Hansen, Rosa, Copeland, and Strellnauer are on the trip to get experience, something the Rapids regularly do with their young Academy and R2 players.  Senanou was our second highest pick in the first round this year and is hoping to make the team.

Nate Jones is on the trip but Tom Bogert is reporting that a deal has been worked out for him to be loaned to the Las Vegas Lights for the season once the USL team gets started for the year.

Awaziem, Cannon, and Murphy, all defenders, are the only experienced additions to the team since roughly this time last season.  While defense was the weaker side of the ball in 2024 adding two central defenders (after selling one in Bombito) and a versatile defender in Cannon is barely enough to trad water.  Its not enough to get better.  We appear to be betting everything that a highly-rated homegrown (S. Bassett), a Generation Adidas player (A. Harris), and a whole bunch of young guys will find some rookie magic.

The Badge, The Players, The Fans Deserve Better. Still.

In September of 2023 Centennial 38 staged the protest above and released a statement about it.  I reviewed the statement and KSE's response in March of 2024 and my conclusion at that point was:

To answer the question I asked in the title of the piece, no, we haven't gotten better yet.  While we have some shiny new pieces on the field (that haven't yet changed any results), the rest of the organization is still far behind even a midlevel Major League Soccer team. This isn't an org that can expect to compete year in and year out, which is the bar Padraig Smith has stated on multiple occasions.

Now 10 months later has anything changed?

C38 wanted, above anything else, more investment from KSE.  Both in terms of $$ but also in terms of interest.  I noted in March that we had invested heavily in the roster during the 2023-24 offseason.  Of course since then we haven't.  We did bring Navarro in on a transfer but beyond that its been free agent signings (Cannon), draftees, and trades.  None of which cost KSE anything.

But I hear you saying, we did invest in Navarro, Mihailovic, Vines, and Steffen.  Yes, we did.  And that counted for something last year.  But since we did that we sold Moise Bombito for $7.7m, which escalators up to $10.7m.  Meanwhile we reportedly spent $3.5m on Rafa, $3m on Djordje, nothing on Steffen, and an unknown amount on Vines.  And there's been no other significant transfer fee paid since the protest.  So somewhere between $6.5 and $7.5m total (there's no way we spent over $1m on Vines, and we probably spent less).

In other words KSE didn't invest, they just pre-spent the transfer fee they were going to get from Bombito (a player they got for free in the draft) and at this point they're at least $1M in the black on player movements in the last 15 months.

Moving beyond the roster another area of focus was the facilities.  This weekend the Denver Post launched a series of articles about the stadium situation of Denver's teams.  Their article about the Dick was not kind.  Nor should it have been.  We have seen no notable investment in the stadium.  The scoreboard is still a joke, the lack of game day features are still lacking, and even the rollout of the new food options last season seemed to end before the play did (by the last game of the season none of the new food options were available anymore).

There were some rumors flying at the end of the season that some sort of construction project was going to start at the Dick this offseason.  There was a report that Phish will not be back for Labor Day (now confirmed) due to the stadium not being available for a construction project (not confirmed).  Paired with the season-ticket holders lot going away which is on the north end and it seemed to suggest that something was going to be going on at that end of the field.  Yet nothing happened.  Now I've heard multiple reports that something was planned, but KSE has since cancelled it and there will be no renovations.  I know the Front Office is working with the supporters to do what they can around the stadium, but that's a far cry from the full court press the stadium needs.

KSE itself (above Padraig Smith) seems to have continued to ignore the Rapids.  We had a couple of big, yet uninformed, statements from the new President of Team and Media Operations when he took the role in March but since then I haven't heard anything of note about the Rapids from anyone at KSE who doesn't work in Commerce City.

Going back to KSE's response to the C38 statement:

On the field, we are focused on returning the team to the level of competitiveness we expect and have seen in recent years

Well, to be fair, we're back to being a one-and-done playoff team so I guess that's an improvement?  Yes, great Leagues Cup run they should get credit for.  The next step is to become a team that can be dangerous in the playoffs though.

Over the next few months, we will be finalizing the master plan for our exciting Victory Crossing Project. When this is ready in early 2024, we will be hosting several open forums with supporters and members of the community to gather feedback on our plans for the club, stadium and entire project.

That was written in September of 2023.  Its January of 2025 and no plans have been shared with supporters.  So needless to say they badly missed their "early 2024" date.  Dave Wegner, speaking for C38 in the Post article above (and also a personal friend, just to be transparent) confirms we've seen nothing from KSE.

So KSE has shown no new investment in the 15 months since the article.  They haven't met their own stated deadlines for planning.  If rumors are to be believed they in fact cancelled plans to invest in the facilities.  And their well received investment in the team last offseason turned out to just be an advance on their upcoming transfer fee windfall.  So to answer the question I asked in the opening, in the last 10 months has anything changed?  Yes.  Its gotten worse.

The Badge, The Players, The Fans Deserve Better

What's Better Than One Bassett? Two Bassetts!

Yesterday the Rapids made official what seemed to be obviously coming, they signed Sam Bassett to a homegrown deal.  For anyone who isn't in the loop Sam is Cole's younger brother and has playing at DU the last few years.  He was a Hermann Trophy (NCAA best men's soccer player) finalist and Top Drawer Soccer's player of the year this season.

Sam got a one year deal with 3 option years.  Its a bit of an odd contract but Nate Jones who was the highest of our draft picks last year got a similar contract.  I wonder if this gives the players more flexibility to renegotiate should they kill it early in their career or something.

I don't think we'll see Sam immediately impact the first team.  He can play both central mid and on the wing and if he's going to make an immediate impact it will likely be on the wing.  Between Mihailovic, Larraz, Ronan, and older brother Cole there's not many minutes to be had in central midfield.  More likely he'll get some time off the bench and some starts with Rapids 2 in 2025.

Oh and to avoid confusion going forward Cole will be Bassett and Sam will be S. Bassett when I discuss them.  I'm reminded of when the Mariners signed Ken Griffey Senior and Dad and son were debating which one got to be "Griffey" and which one had to add the "Sr./Jr." suffix to their jersey.  Junior's point was he was in Seattle first so he got to be Griffey, Senior's point was that he had been in the league longer so he had seniority.  Junior won.

One other transaction this week, the Rapids sent a 2025 international slot to Miami for $175K in GAM.  As the Rapids only have 5-6 internationals (depending on if Chacon actually joins the roster or gets loaned out again) this still leaves them room to sign at least one international before hitting the limit.