Next Man Up?

Rocky Mountain National Park

St. Louis is in town for the second half of our season home-and-home matchup tomorrow night.  We might be facing our first weather delay of the season as wind, rain, and hail are potentially in the forecast for the Denver metro area on Saturday.  Yep, its that time of year.  The bigger issue is our list of absences is going to require some bench players to step up big tomorrow, especially with a second game in Portland on Wednesday.  Kickoff tomorrow is, hopefully, at 7:30pm.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK Zack Steffen (oblique), Chidozie Awaziem (non-injury), M Cole Bassett (ankle), M Ali Fadal (knee), F Rafael Navarro (ankle)

That's...very not good.  Arguably 4 of our best 5 players are missing.  No word as to what the non-injury issue is with Awaziem, hopefully everything is ok.  The silver lining is that he's one yellow from suspension so we know he won't be suspended for Wednesday's game if he's back.  Otherwise a lot of long-lasting injuries in Steffen, Fadal, and Navarro.  You have to wonder if the team needs more investment in their training and fitness staff and facilities.

As much as possible I think Armas will stick with what worked against FSL.  I think/hope he'll start Ted KDP.  The offense was noticeably better against FSL when he subbed in and he should start tomorrow.  The outside backs are a bit of a guess, it may come down to fitness and what kind of rotation the manager wants to use against Portland.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Mihailovic and Cannon.  St. Louis is not a good team and their manager's seat is blistering hot.  I think even with the missing players the Rapids have enough to take the 3 points at home and quite possibly force a coaching change for City.  It would be disappointing to get anything less than a draw, even with our availability issues.