Rough Couple Of Weeks For PRO

I decided to give this recap another day to see if anything came out yesterday after that officiating on Saturday (and to calm down a bit more).  It was a bad day for PRO and arguably cost the Rapids 2 points.

At halftime I was concerned we were seeing more of the same from the Rapids.  They had the majority of the play, couldn't turn it into shots on goal, and then gave up ANOTHER goal in the 5 minutes before the break.  To the home side's credit they came out of the locker room and took the game to Seattle, putting up 3 shots on goal in the half and tying the game on a cheeky little free kick from Mihailovic.

But what this game will be remembered for is one or two very questionable calls from center ref Alexis Da Silva.  In the 47th minute Jackson Travis came in hot and took the legs out from under  Kossa-Rienzi after he had gotten rid of the ball.  Another ref, another scenario, another night and Travis is picking up a yellow there with very little to complain about.  Given that he had picked up a yellow in the first half it was very possible the Rapids could have played the whole second half down a man.

That wasn't the worst call in my (biased) opinion though.  In the 86th minute Navarro went up and got his head on a cross to put the Rapids in the lead, only for it to be immediately waved off for a foul.  While Navarro's hands were on the defender's back the replays make it clear there was absolutely no force in his arms and the defender took a dive to get bailed out, which he did.  Even then though, you could argue that we had one bad judgement go our way and one go against us.  Da Silva's final mistake though was when he called the foul he didn't let the play finish.  He blew the whistle before the headed ball crossed the goal line.  So even if VAR had wanted to step in and correct the call they couldn't.  What's the point of having VAR if the officials eliminate its use through their actions?

Outside of the two calls the takeaway is that the team looked good and the 4-2-2-2 continues to succeed more than the 4-2-31 did.  Its only papering over the issues though.  Its now 3 games in a roq where we've given up a goal near the end of at least one of the halves.  9 of 16 total goals give up that way.  Also Cole Bassett is still pressing too hard and its causing him to make more mistakes.  I almost want to sit him for a game or two to let him get his head straightened out but I'm not sure who could replace him.  Maxso is still looking like he's not fully focused at time.

Its not all bad though.  Nico Hansen looked good in his debut in net.  I wanted to give him the MOTM for only giving up the 1 goal he could do nothing about but in reality the defense in front of him kept him from being very busy (only one save).  Yapi is still not quite on the same page as Djordje and Rafa but he's creating good chances.  Its great to see up starting 4 homegrowns (Travis, Larraz, Bassett, Yapi).  Now we need to focus on consistency.

Man of the Match: Djordje Mihailovic.  He's playing at a MVP level right now.  The decision to go under the wall (which he seemed to tip Cole to right before he did it) worked perfectly and left the Sounders looking stupid.  Legitimately the best signing the team has had in maybe a decade.

Keeper Debut Tomorrow Night

 Glacier National Park, Montana - My favorite park and Seattle was the closest team to use it with

My hometown Sounders are in Commerce City tomorrow night.  The story though is with the home team as with Zack Steffen serving his red card suspension and Adam Beaudry out with an ankle injury Nico Hansen is expected to get his first professional first team start of his career (he did start for Atherton Collieries A.F.C, a non-league team in England).  The last time a 3rd keeper started for the Rapids in a meaningful league match?  Joe Nasco.  (Abe Rodriguez started the last game of 2023, but by that point we had lost the RMC and clinched our worst season ever, so hard to call that game meaningful).  Game time tomorrow is the traditional 7:30pm

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Adam Beaudry (ankle), GK Zack Steffen (suspension), D Sam Vines (groin), M Ali Fadal (knee)

Sammy being out again is rough.  His injury history is getting very concerning.

This is largely "if it isn't significantly broken, don't fix it".  The 4-2-2-2 has been more successful than our prior 4-3-3 though its not perfect, but I expect Armas to stick with what's generally been working.  Maybe Ted KDP gets the start over Yapi but otherwise this is the lineup I expect.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Mihailovic.  The only other time Steffen didn't start we got blown out, at home.  I think the adjustments since them mean we're not going to get blown out but I do think the rookie keeper combined with our shaky defense means a loss is likely.  Djordje continues his hot streak though.

Red Card?

So something was missed by the broadcast on Saturday night and the official game notes on MLSsoccer.com.  After the Dynamo equalizer Zack Steffen was shown yelling at somebody.  Turns out he was yelling at the referee and got a yellow card for dissent.  Two minutes later when the game ended he was still hot and apparently went off on the ref again, and got another yellow card for his efforts.  Two yellows make a red and about 30 seconds after the final whistle you can see a red card come out on the broadcast but its not clear for who.

So the Rapids will be without Steffen against Seattle on Saturday.  I now the 8 minutes of stoppage time was ridiculous but there's no excuse for Zack to hurt the team like that.  He needs to be smarter than that.  With Beaudry battling an ankle injury and missing the last two games we may be down to our two Rapids 2 keepers.

Also poor form from MLS Season Pass on Apple.  They've been calling some games remotely and the fact that the English broadcasters and the graphics department didn't pick up on any of the three cards (2 yellows and a red) is a good indicator that nobody was on site in Houston.  Apparently the Spanish broadcasters did see the red at the end of the game but couldn't tell who it was being given to.  And how does MLS not even know about it in the game report and still hasn't updated it even after confirmation has been made that it happened?

Rapids Run Out Of Game 90 Seconds Too Early

The Rapids had a strong showing in Houston, created a lot of chances, and then called game in the 96th minute.  Unfortunately there were 8 minutes of stoppage time and Houston scored in the 97 minute to steal a point.  A disappointing 2 points dropped.

Colorado had 13 goals and a 2.8 xG in this game.  Once again the 4-2-2-2 is giving Mihailovic the space to operate and got good support from Navarro.  Unfortunately a couple of mental lapses meant we couldn't take the full 3 points.  Right before half a Dynamo cross came in from the Rapids left.  With 6 defenders in the box against 4 Houston attackers Bassi was still unmarked and made an easy finish.

The burgundy and blue came out of the locker room determined to get back in the game and they did.  In the 56th minute Navarro was tripped in the box on a ball that was not in a dangerous position.  Djordje took full advantage of the gift to level the score from the spot.  Then in the 77th minute Rafa got his own goal.  Pressure from Cabral forced a turnover in the Dynamo defense.  Navarro played a 1-2 with Mihailovic, split the defense, and finished for a lead.

Sadly it wouldn't hold up.  After a ridiculous 8 minutes of stoppage were show the Dynamo had an attack going in the 96th minute.  Larraz managed to clear it out to the midline where Bassett received it.  Unfortunately he was easily knocked off the ball as soon as he got it, allowing the Dynamo to recycle the attack.  McGlynn got the ball in the middle of the field and Cabral was slow (honestly, laxy) in closing him down.  That gave him space to cross to the far post where Rosenberry was unable to keep Escobar from heading it back across goal.  Maxso was in position to clear it but set his feet and waited for the ball to come to him and Lingr flashed in front of him heading the ball to the base of the far post to steal a point.

Both goals in this game came in the last 5 minutes + stoppage time of the halves.  Adding those two to the total the Rapids have given up 15 goals in all competitions this season.  8 of them have been given up in the last 5 minutes + stoppage of halves.  I don't know why we're falling apart late but its an issue the coaching staff should be fixing.  In this game the final goal was scored against 3 players who acted like they were out of gas, despite one being subbed on in the second half (Cabral, Cole and Maxso being the other two).

As good as the team played we still only had 3 shots on goal.  Scoring 2 goals on 3 shots is pretty efficient, which I like, but we should have put this game away way before stoppage time.  The xG and other advance stats show we're getting into good positions, we just can't turn them into quality shots.  Bassett had two great chances early in the game, one he flubbed and the other he didn't out on target.  Navarro had a breakaway where he chipped the keeper, only to put it over the bar.  Our shooting has to be better.

Overall as well as we played a couple of big names had poor games.  As mentioned Bassett struggled to impact the game when given chances.  He's been inconsistent this season and needs to find his feet.  Maye if we stay in the 4-2-2-2 for a while he'll have that chance.  Maxso was at sea on both Houston goals and he's really been no more than an average MLS defender this year.  Given his salary and his original arrival as a DP I'd expect more than that from him.  There were rumors of interest in him from a Middle Eastern team in the offseason.  If that interest is still there I don't think moving him and letting Murphy have a shot is a horrible idea, assuming we turn around and sign some more CB depth.

On to Seattle back at the Dick next week.  It would be nice to put a third good performance in a row out there.  While its obviously not ideal to have dropped the two points a road point is never a bad thing and we're keeping up with the rest of the conference due to a lot of draws this week.  If we can keep up this pace we'll be in good shape at the end of the season.

Man of the Match: Rafa Navarro.  Drew the PK, scored the second goal, and as mentioned he had a number of dangerous passes.  Stats show Mihailovic was our most dangerous player but that's due to taking the PK.  Without that Navarro was the leader.

Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas

The Rapids are escaping the winter storm and heading to Houston for tomorrow night's match.  The Dynamo are off to a rough start this season with only one win in the first 8 games and a -6 goal differential.  They are also having a bit of an injury crisis so this is about as good of a time to head to Space City as we could get.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 6:30pm on MLS Season Pass.

Availability Report:

OUT: Adam Beaudry (anhle0, M Ali Fadal (knee)

That's about as clean a report as we can get.  Barring a injury or red card to Steffen Beaudry was never going to play in this game and Fadal is too far down the depth chart to factor into this one anyway.  Obviously this afternoon's trade of Fernandez changes our winger depth a bit though.

Given the success against San Diego I expect Armas to stick with the same formation and largely the same lineup.  Also with Ted KDP just coming back this would give him another week to get to 90 minute (or close) readiness.  I'm not sure which of the three outside backs won't start, I just picked Vines as the one with less preseason time.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Mihailovic and Cannon.  Houston's attack has been a struggle but bot team's defenses have been fairly similar.  I don't think either side gets a shutout but Colorado is the better team and will get the three points.

Fernandez Traded To Portland

This afternoon Tom Bogert broke the story that Omir Fernandez was being traded to Portland, later confirmed by the Rapids in a press release.  The return was $200K in GAM plus up to another $50K in GAM based on performance this season.

This is a bit surprising only in that in our lack of successful wingers Fernandez seemed to be one of the ones that could help from time to time.  The reality though is that in his season+ here he never really locked down a starting spot or was regularly successful off the bench.  To be fair, none of our wingers have managed to mesh well with the Rafa/Djordje/Bassett core, other than the hot streak Cabral got on last season.  So from an immediate impact the biggest issue is that its one less body in the rotation but I don't think we lose a whole lot.  $200K is a bit low for a 26 year old semi-starter in this league, but again he's on his third team in MLS and hasn't been consistently productive.

The bigger question is what this does to our lineup going forward.  We're down to just 5 real wingers.  Cabral, Kimani Stewart-Baynes, Calvin Harris, and Ted Ku-DiPietro (Alex Harris, Cole, or Djordje could play wing as well).  If we stick with our 4-5-1/4-3-3 two of those guys would have to start every game.  KDP seems like an easy choice but after that it gets questionable.  Could this mean a further shift to the 4-2-2-2- we saw against San Diego last week?  If so, where does KDP, who was a big offseason signing, fit in?  Push him or Mihailovic up front with Rafa?  Thanks to Burgundy Wave we know this now gives us about $450K in GAM.  Is there another move coming before the window closes on Wednesday?

Welcome To Altitude New Guys

As expected the game on Saturday night was chaotic and the visitors did wear down in the altitude.  What I didn't expect was how well we would take advantage of that.  An eary goal set the sage as Darren Yapi was tripped up in the box by the San Diego keeper.  Some fans (certainly some SD fans but even some Rapids fans) have suggested this was a weak penalty but I don't see it.  If a goalkeeper comes out like that and goes to ground but doesn't get the ball he's going to be called and that's what happened here.  Yapi was knocked off balance after ticking the ball away from the keeper.  Djordje easily finished it for a halftime lead.

Once again though the Rapids fell asleep around halftime.  5 minutes after the break San Diego levelled it.  Maxso gave de la Torre way too much space and he uncorked a shot from the edge of the 18 that went to the upper corner of the far post.  Steffen had no shot to save it.  Maxso quickly made up for his mistake though, getting on a Mihailovic corner kick and heading it back in front of goal where Awaziem knocked it down and Yapi got a foot on it to finish it and retake the lead in only 3 minutes.

7 minutes after that the Rapids had their best looking goal not only of this season but possibly the last couple of seasons.  A quick series of passes from Yapi on the left side, through Djordje, to Rafa, over to Bassett, and then back to Navarro for an off-balance finish left San Diego spinning and down by 2.  Of course this is the Rapids so they can't make it easy.  In the 89th minute Angel found himself with a lot of space at the top of the box and fired a similar shot to de la Torre's, though in this case it was more the lower corner of the far post.  Suddenly a fairly relaxed ending was a very tense 6 minutes of stoppage but Colorado held on for the 3 points.

Credit for this one should go to Chris Armas.  He rolled out a 4-2-2-2 formation and put the wingers on the bench to give Bassett and Djordje more space to work with, and at least against San Diego's possession, play out of the back style it was successful.  We kept San Diego under pressure all night and ran them ragged in the altitude.  While not everyone had great games (Maxso was marking space on both San Diego goals, Rafa set up Cabral with a no pressure shot from the penalty spot and Kevin out it off target) nobody had a really bad game.  As much as I groused about the space San Diego got on both their goals they took two great shots to put them away.

This is an up and down season so far.  We look horrible against 1st place Vancouver and 4th place Portland, but we handle 3rd place San Diego and 2nd place Charlotte fairly easily.  The key going forward is to consistently play at the Charlotte/San Diego level.  No coincidence that the success in those games have come when Mihailovic and Cole have been given the tools to succeed.

Man of the Match: Darren Yapi.  Drew the PK and scored the second, and forced the ball into dangerous positions all night.  MLS named Rafa to their Team of the Matchday and I don't get it.  No offense to NAvarro but Yapi was the better striker on Saturday.

Newcomers In Town

 

Mesa Verde National Park

Expansion side San Diego FC makes its first ever trip to Colorado tomorrow and the Rapids hope to give them a rude welcome.  They're off to a hot start sitting 2nd in the West and 4th overall in the league, led by Chucky Lozano.  The good news is that the Rapids are getting somewhat healthy and we might even see the debut of Ted Ku-DiPietro, but likely only as a late sub.  Kickoff tomorrow is at the normal 7:30pm and there's a gorgeous day in the forecast.

Availability Report:

OUT: M Ali Fadal (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: GK Adam Beaudry (ankle); M Connor Ronan (appendix)

Reggie Cannon is back from his unexplained non-injury absence last week and yes, for the first time Ted KDP is not on the injury report.  Plus Sam Vines is not listed either.

Yes, we're wearing the alternate greens for this one.  No idea why other than, of course, for sales.  As to the expected lineup this is "expected" in the way of "after that mess last week how can Armas not bench Cabral and moved Djordje back to the middle?".  Of course I'm probably wrong and we'll see the same XI we've seen the last couple of weeks, but I hope not.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Mihailovic.  This has the possibility of being chaos ball tomorrow night.  The Rapids are going to press high and go direct when they win the ball, while San Diego is going to look to hit quickly when they break the press.  We could see a lot of end-to-end action and I expect Steffen to be busy but up to the challenge.  That's going to take a lot out of San Diego's legs and by the end of the game I expect them to drag.  But our offensive woes continue and we won't be able to take advantage as both sides cancel out.

Colorado Will Have No Shots On Goal In Canada This Season

Barring an unlikely playoff trip to the Great White North the Rapids game on Saturday was their only cross-border trip of the year.  For the third time in their six road games they were held without a shot on goal in the 2-0 loss.  Its hard to write a whole lot about this one that wasn't said about the St. Louis or LAFC games.

This isn't to discredit what Vancouver did.  They took advantage of two good chances and finished them.  But the Rapids had nothing going in this game.  They're passing was atrocious and any semblance of an attack broke down as soon as we got near their box.  The best chance all game was a 3 on 1 that Atencio managed to foul up by putting his pass behind Cabral.  That's fine, because Cabral was giving us nothing and by no means should he be starting anymore.

I had hope that when Armas made the same subs around the 60th minute as he did against Charlotte that might kick us into gear, but not really.  Moving Bassett back and Djordje into the middle did result in more shots than the first 2/3rds of the game but still no shots on goal.  Really the highlight of this game, if there was one, was Vines getting back on the field for the first time.

Man of the Match: Sam Bassett, for getting his first MLS appearance and having the least to do with the whole mess.

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.