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).