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.