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.
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
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.
Friday, March 28, 2025
The Dog Days Of Spring?
Monday, March 24, 2025
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.
Friday, March 21, 2025
Rapids Try To Go Five For Five
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.
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
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.