MVP And Season Summary

Ok, now that we've had a couple of weeks to decompress from the season we have to ask the question.  Was it successful?

I think you have to say it was.  Yeah, it ended on a sour note with the team in a tailspin but in March if somebody had told you we'd win the Rocky Mountain Cup, finish 3rd in the Leagues Cup, claim a CCC spot, and clinch a playoff spot with 6 weeks to play you'd take that every time.

That's not to say there isn't room for improvement.  When we lost we lost bad far too often.  And the reason we crashed and burned late was a lack of depth forcing us to play our top guys way too many minutes this season.

The main thing we need to work on though is our defense.  We actually gave up 6 more goals this season than we did last season.  No team that made it past the play-in round gave up more goals than we did.  The reason we were successful this year was scoring a full goal a game more than we did in 2023.  Whatever Armas' defensive strategy is, it doesn't work.  

Early in the season the manager gave an interview to one of the blogs (Burgundy Wave?) where he mentioned his tactical belief that that outside edges of the penalty box were the key areas where goals were created.  On the offense he seems to have created something that works, as we scored the second most goals in a season in our history (1998, 64 goals in only 32 games).  However defensively it appears the instructions to the outside backs were to pinch in and defend that space in the box.  But that let oppositions wingers stand off and whip crosses into the box without pressure which killed us.

Negatives aside though, having the best offensive season in our "modern" MLS history is a huge step forward.  There are plenty of positives to build on going into 2025.  We've got a good spine of Navarro, Maihailovic, Bassett, Larraz, Maxso, and if he can be more consistent, Steffen to build around.  More on the specifics of what we need in a later post but this is a team that should expect to make the playoffs again in 2025, and hopefully this time win a series.

Now on to the MVP of the season.

That's right, I'm going with Cole Bassett as the MVP.  I know that Mihailovic had the best offensive season in terms of goal contributions in team history.  If you want to name him the MVP I will not argue with that.  To me though what allowed Mihailovic to do what he did was having Bassett sitting in behind him.  We saw that when Cole was out to finish the season that the offense dried up.  Navarro had 1 goal and Mihailovic had 1 assist in the 6 games Bassett missed to finish the season.

This was a year that Cole could have mailed in after the disappointment of missing out on the Olympic Team (especially after he was told he was on the team and then had his spot taken away).  He put a lot into the making the team in the first half of the season and he could have let the mistake made by the coaching staff (IMO) send him into a spiral.  Instead he put all the frustration into the team and led them to the Rocky Mountain Cup (scoring the winning PK) and drove the team on their Leagues Cup run.

Bassett was in the talk for the leagues best XI and guys like Doyle and Bogert had him, if not in their first team, in their honorable mentions.  In a league with midfielder like Puig and Acosta and of course the GOAT to stand out like that is impressive.  Again, I won't argue against Mihailovic but I think Bassett was the most valuable player for the Rapids this season.

Season Ends With A Whimper

Sadly surprising nobody the Rapids were swept out of the playoffs Friday night by a 4-1 score line that isn't really a fair reflection of the game.  Really the teams were fairly even until LA was able to take advantage of a Rapids side desperately pushing for a late equalizer to score twice in second half stoppage time.

Before that a freak early goal is all the separated the teams.  In the very definition of #ThatsSoRapids a Steffen clearance from the edge of the box in the 8th minute went off an LA attacker and rebounded into the empty goal to give them an early lead.  Colorado clawed back into it with their first playoff goal in 8 years by of all people, Oli Larraz.  The last time the Rapids had scored a goal in the post season it was 33 year old Kevin Doyle doing it when, as a fellow C38 member pointed out, Larraz couldn't even drive yet.  LA would take the lead back right before half on a perfectly placed shot despite being defended well and Steffen having the goal well covered.

In then end this team ran out of gas after the Leagues Cup.  Combined with the Cole Bassett injury (something he unnecessarily apologized for on Twitter/X this weekend) and Mihailovic fighting through a bad ankle injury just to play in Game 2 there wasn't enough in the tank to get past a very good Galaxy side.  Its disappointing to see the team end a good season on a 6 game losing streak (and 7 of their last 8) and shows why the quiet summer window was a missed opportunity, but we shouldn't let that overshadow things like the 3rd place in Leagues Cup, winning the Rocky Mountain Cup, and just bouncing back from our worst season ever to be in the mix for a top 4 finish in the West into late September.

We'll get into the normal end of season coverage this week then a bit of a break as I have to go to Las Vegas for work next week.  The first real big date coming up is December 10th when the draw for next season's CONCACAF Champions Cup will be held and we'll find out our opponent for the games in February.  We'll get roster updates before that probably, and we have an expansion draft coming up as well.

Man Of The Match: Oliver Larraz.  Score a playoff goal, get MOTM.

Rapids Season Likely Finishes Tomorrow Night

I hate to start off so negative but all signs point to the Rapids being swept out of the playoffs tomorrow night.  The injury report isn't particularly hopeful and we haven't played well in two months.  Still, that's why they play the games.  Worst case we get one more chance to support the Burgundy Boys at home this season and hopefully we get our first playoff goal in 8 years.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7:30pm and C38 will be doing one last-full tailgate to finish off the season.

(If you're wondering the Rapids could host another game if they faced Vancouver in the Western Conference final or Atlanta, NYCFC, or RBY in MLS Cup.  All of that is VERY unlikely though.)

Player Availability:

OUT: D Michael Edwards (back)

QUESTIONABLE: M Cole Bassett (quad), M Djordje Mihailovic (ankle)

Bassett was not on the injury report for Game 1 so he's essentially been downgraded this week, while Mihailovic has been upgraded from Out to Questionable.  Reports from training have been that Djordje has been training with the full team and could start while Cole has still be training on his own on the side and might be available off the bench.  In reality he hasn't played in 5 games so there's no way we could expect much more than 20-30 minutes out of him at best.

I think DM gets the start and Bassett will likely be on the bench, but we won't see him unless we need a goal.  Otherwise the rest of the starters are fairly straight-forward.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Mihailovic.  Things are just too stacked against us to expect anything other than a loss.  We'll keep it much closer than we did in LA, but in the end LA has better talent and will have it all on the field, unlike us.  Plus they've had our number this season.

J2-League Soccer!

As mentioned last week the weekend of the Austin game I was in Japan and I attended JEF United Chiba's J2-League home match against Ventforet Kofu.  I figured some people would appreciate a recap.

JEF United Chiba, as you can guess from the name, is based in Chiba. Chiba Prefecture.  They play at Fukuda Denshi Arena, which is about a 10 minute walk from Soga Station.  From there its a 45 minute train ride over the full length of JR East's Keiyo Line into central Tokyo.

One of the reasons I chose this game to go to is that of the games being played in the Tokyo area that weekend it was one of the most easily accessible.  Tokyo's transit system is possibly the most complex in the world and while the trains are navigable without a real understanding of Japanese the bus system is infamously not.  Most of the other games that weekend required a transfer by bus to get within reasonable walking distance.

JEF United Chiba was founded as Furukawa Electric SC when professional soccer was started in Japan after WWII and was one of the original 8 members of the Japan Soccer League in 1965 and were the only team never to be relegated from the JSL.  In 1992 they merged with the JR East Railway company team and through a series of name changes ended up with JEF (combining initials from JR East and Furukawa Electric) United Chiba.  JEF was relegated for the first time in its history in 2009 and has played in the J2 league since then, having failed to win the promotion playoff multiple times.

Not surprising since JR East is a half-owner of the team Soga Station is decked out in JEF colors and logos:

(Those were actually taken on my way back to the station after the game)

There's also some nice tilework inside the station

There's no "tailgating" culture that I could see in Japan.  In JEF's case the pregame is held on a large plaza outside the stadium with entertainment and food arranged by the team.  A number of vendors are set up and for this game the entertainment included some comedians from a Japanese reality TV show and a group of flutists who also danced, among other things.  I didn't spend that much time outside the stadium before going in.  I walked over to the team store (the club HQ with the main store is across the street from the stadium) and was going to get some food but decided that I would try my luck in the stadium rather than deal with the long line at the food truck outside.

The team's trophy cabinet in the team HQ

Some shots from around the stadium

No metal detectors here, just a quick bag check and I was in.  First thing I did was to scope out the food options in my area of the stadium.  There were many and they were cheap.  J-League scran has the reputation it does for a reason.

I ended up going with the chicken curry and naan option.  1000 yen, which with the current exchange rate is about $7.50.  The odd thing was that there was nowhere really to eat it so I took it to my seat and had to balance it on my lap.  Thus the less than stunning picture:

Its hard to tell but that naan bread was dinner plate sized and it was a good amount of chicken curry in that bowl.  A steal at $7.50.  I did see at half that there were some narrow counters set up along the railings of the exterior concourse I could have used as a table but it was too late by then.

Now, on to the actual soccer.  JEF is once again fighting for a promotion playoff spot while Kofu is settled solidly in midtable.  So there was much more on the line for the home team.  The area was fairly full for this match, it seats just under 20K (so a little bigger than the Dick).  Its the more traditional two-level bowl and my seat was right above the tunnel.  The price was 5500 yen, or about $35-$40 depending on exchange rate:

And a panorama shortly before kickoff:

The JEF supporters were in full force behind the north goal and a large contingent of Kofu fans made the 3 our train ride to set up behind the South goal:

I'll say this, I've never heard a louder crowd at any soccer match as I did here.  Both sets of fans were chanting in unison throughout the game in a way that would put even the Timbers Army and their "P T F C" chant to shame.  There was a point about the 66th minute where both supporters groups happened to stop their chanting at the same time and my ears were ringing in the sudden (relative) silence.

The first half of the game was a pretty meh scoreless draw, and the first part of the second half looked like the game was going to continue that way:

My halftime selfie

In the 67th minute Kofu would break through.  A good header was parried by the JEF keeper but would fall to Kofu's Brazilian winger/striker Adailton who easily put away the rebound.  This was, perhaps, the worst thing Kofu could of done.  Up until that point it seemed like both teams were going to muddle through to a 0-0 draw but giving up a goal seems to have pissed JEF off.  Between the 70th and 86th minute the home side would put the ball in the back of the net 4 times.  Now the first and the third would be ruled off due to offside but that meant 2 of them still counted.

The first, in the 76th minute, was after a good spell of possession by Chiba.  A wormburner shot from well outside the box by a JEF midfielder was chipped up and over the Kofu keeper by Yokoyama.  It went off the underside of the bar and over the line to level the score.  The second, in the 86th minute, came from a nice cross floated to the back post by KEF's star striker Hiiro Komori.  Hiiro is in the running for the league golden boot but played setup man on this one.  Tanaka was waiting unmarked at the far post and took a one-time volley into the upper corner to put JEF into the lead.

With that win and a win last weekend JEF United Chiba is sitting in 4th with 2 games to play.  The top 2 are automatically promoted and then next 4 go into a promotion playoff.  While JEF could mathematically catch Nagasaki in 3rd its a 6 point gap so its highly unlikely.  Meanwhile 5th and 6th place are tied on points with JEF and 7th place is only 1 point behind.  That means there are 4 teams within1 point of the final 3 spots.  Its going to go down to the wire.  Luckily JEF has twice the goal differential of the other teams.

One final note, from the time I got on the train out to Chiba to the time I got back to Tokyo I only saw one Westerner.  He happened to be sitting right next to me at the match.  He showed up just after kickoff and was professionally dressed (slacks, polo, business style bag).  He immediately pulled out a pad and started making notes and tracking players.  He didn't say anything to me and my first read on him was Italian, or at least Mediterranean.  Later in the game he reached into his bag and pulled out an iPad and i was able to see that the language was set to Italian so apparently my read was correct.  He left in stoppage time.  So if you see a Japanese player heading to a team in Italy, this game could be the reason.

Pitiful

In his pre-game interview on MLS Season Pass Chris Armas said that they felt if they got 2 goals they could win the match.  It wouldn't have been close to enough given that we lost 5-0.  Oh, and the team managed a combined 1 shot, not even on target, so I have no idea how Armas thought we were going to score 2 goals on Saturday night.

I understand we were down arguably 3 of our best 4 players this season (Mihailovic, Basset, and Bombito, leaving only Navarro).  I know this was our 42nd competitive game this season and Maxso, Steffen, Rosenberry and Navarro have all played over a full season's worth of minutes already, with Larraz and Ronan getting close.  I understand that we're the 7th seed and LA is much better than us, especially at home.

None of that excuses giving up 5 goals, our worst ever playoff loss (and one off our worst ever loss) and only answering with a measly shot.  Its like the team didn't even bother to get on the plane to LA.  Heck, if we had done that it would have only been a 3-0 official forfeit.  This has happened far too often this season (6 times we've lost by 4 or more, most since 2014) and it would be nice to see some spine and fight from the team instead of completely giving up in these games.

The good news, if there is any, is that aggregate score doesn't matter.  We wipe the slate clean and if we win the next two we advance.  No, I don't really expect that to happen but there's at least a shot.  Even if we lose Friday night and our season ends we at least have a chance to go out playing better than that.  At the very least lets at least get our first playoff goal since 2016.