Sayed Abu Farkhi Signed, More To Come?

Just a quick post to acknowledge that the Sayed Abu Farkhi deal is done.  $6M transfer fee, signed today.  Braidon Nourse reports that he'll be on $800K salary and will have a clause that pays him part of his next transfer fee as an incentive.

I'm going to hold off on what this means for the lineup because Tom Bogert broke news of two more deal almost done today that are expected to get over the line before tomorrow's cut off.  English winger Morgan Whittaker from Middlesbrough and Ghanaian winger Ibrahim Sadiq from AZ Alkmaar are both apparently inbound.  Once the window closes tomorrow night we'll have a wrap-up of all of this and where we sit.

Kings Of The Rockies, Again

 

Colorado didn't let the hubub around Rafa distract them from the goal on Saturday, and led by Navarro himself put FSL to the sword in a 1-0 win and retained the Rocky Mountain Cup on the tiebreaker.  The Rapids made it difficult on themselves because their inability to score continued and they had to make the single goal hold up late, but the job was done.  It probably wasn't as hard as it felt like to the fans given the intensity of the rivalry and the number of times we've had our heart broken in the past.  The final xG was 1.6 to 0.14 and FSL didn't have a shot on target, but for the 20 minutes after we took the lead it certainly felt like the opposition was just a half step from levelling it.

Shout outs go to the whole team, everything stepped it up for this one.  Ironically the "worst" player in the starting lineup based on FotMob ratings turned out to be Rafa but I don't think anyone thinks he played poorly.  Everyone was just on their game.  I have to give particular credit to Minoungou who I've been less than impressed with up to this point.  His final passes and shots were finally finding the right spots.  Sometimes, ball not go in though.

Ojediran was rightfully called out for his excellent play and on another night with less on the line probably would have been MotM.  He's where FSL attacks went to die.  Adam Beaudry was left with almost nothing to do in his emergency start, even his big save on almost the final touch of the game turned out to be unnecessary as the FSL attacker was flagged for offside.  Hell of a save though.  Also the new guy, Maziz, understood the assignment.  After providing the winning assist on the goal kick in front of the travelling fans he turned and gave them a look that said what we were all thinking. 

If I had one complaint it was that playing it out of the back as much as we did with a backup keeper was a bit scary.  There were moments that didn't look as sure as Hansen has made them look.

After the game Rafa was serenaded by C38 and also given a sendoff by his teammates.  Its not official yet but like with the Herrington deal the team knows he's gone.  He clearly was having mixed emotions about leaving, he loves the fans and his teammates, but if the club doesn't want to give him the contract he wants he has to do what's right for him.  I can't blame him, though I do with the FO had waited to the offseason, even for a smaller fee.

The first team was followed up by a 1-0 win by the Unified Team over their Salt Lake counterparts on a final minute banger.  That allowed them to win the Unified Rocky Mountain Cup.  Rapids 2 also won their season series over Real Monarchs which means all three Rapids clubs beat their Utah rivals this season.  Kings (and Queens) of the Mountains indeed.

Man of the Match: Reggie Cannon.  You get the goal that wins the Cup, you get Man of the Match.  Simple.

A Different Kind Of Game Preview, Of Course Its The RMC

As I was getting ready to put this game preview together Tom Bogert broke the news that the Rapids and St. Louis are close on a deal that would send Rafa Navarro to StL for about $12 million.  So close that he followed up that report with the possibility that it gets done before the game tomorrow.  If he's reporting that we're really at the brass tacks stage and the teams are just negotiating about the exact price and timing.  We have to assume Rafa won't be here by the Columbus game next week.

This is a ridiculous move that shows how unserious this club is, and its particularly trash if they agree to make the move before we play the Rocky Mountain Cup decider tomorrow night.  Honestly, Smith should be fired on the spot if he agrees to the deal before 10pm tomorrow night.  Quite simply you can't sell our best player hours before a rivalry match.  You just simply can't.  It shouldn't even be in consideration.

Really, the Rapids can't sell Rafa and be thought as a serious club who wants to win.  Going into this window we were (and are) two games away from our first major trophy in 16 years.  Then we sold our best player in Lucas Herrington.  Now that was a deal they could in no way pass up.  That's understandable.  The Front Office also gets credit for having Loic Williams queued up and ready to step in, and had him here as soon as he was able to so he could start when the season kicked back off.

This isn't the case here.  Farchi is rumored to sign, but isn't done yet.  The clock on his paperwork doesn't even start until that signing, and he can't practice with the team until the paperwork is done.  We are 19 days out from the USOC semifinal.  BEST case scenario Farchi gets his paperwork in time for the semifinal to be the first game he's available, with almost no practice time with the team.  Anyone else (who isn't American) is probably beyond the semifinal now.

So you're putting the team in a huge hole with the hope it pays off down the road.  In other words the same old Rapids.  But in this case it likely costs you a shot at a major trophy, something this team desperately needs.  You can't make this move, but they are clearly going to.  This is not a serious club.

So on to tomorrow's match.  The Rapids must win to retain the Rocky Mountain Cup.  Their only players out are Diop, Steffen, and KDP, all the long-term injuries.  We are in the best shape we've been in in some time, but we may not have Rafa.  Meanwhile FSL has 8 players out or questionable.  All the factors are on our side, but we might blow it up in the next 24 hours.  And we have certainly managed to self-destruct in thise games even when we're favored anyway.

Before this Rafa news I was thinking a 2-1 win but I was hesitant to go out on that limb given our history in the Rocky Mountain Cup.  If Rafa plays that's still possible.  If Rafa is sold before that, or held out due to the deal, then I think a 0-0 draw and a loss of the RMC is a real possibility.

Rapids Lose $500K In GAM And Other Questionable Roster Moves

Late this afternoon Tom Bogert reported, confirmed by Brenden Ploen and Burgundy Wave, that the Rapids are sending Dante Sealy back to Montreal for $1.4M in GAM plus up to $300K more in performance add-ons.  To refresh your memory Sealy was acquired from Montreal in December for $1.9M in GAM plus up to $600K additional in performance add-ons.

I think its safe to say few or none of those add-ons hit given Sealy's lack of perforance in Colorado, but its also not safe to count on any of the new add-ons hitting from his play in Montreal given how he's been playing.  So going with just the base trade amounts the Rapids spent $500K in GAM to rent Sealy for 8 months.  In that time he had 5 assists, 7 shots on target, and played a bit over 1000 minutes.  So essentially we paid about $500 of GAM per minute of play and $100K of GAM per assist.

Crest to Smith and the FO for cutting bait and not throwing good money after bad, but this was a horrible deal.  At the time it seemed like a move for a guy who might be better than average but a lot of money was spent for him.  Even Matt Doyle was questioning the payout.  SO we lost $500K and we burned 1000 minutes on a guy who was not a match for what we were doing.  Meanwhile Yapi is wasting away on the bench.  Yapi's not a winger, but he's still better than what Sealy was giving us.

Speaking of overpaying for talent, the other bit of new was yesterday where the on-again/off-again move for Sayed Abu Farchi appears to be on-again, this time for good, as reported by the same group as had the Sealy news.  Unfortunately, like Sealy, this seems to be an overpay for a winger.  $6M (dollars, not shekels) is the reported price.  Right now Transfermrkt, which is certainly not the end-all and be-all of valuation, lists him at a little over $2M in value.  

He is a 20 year old who's getting his first taste with the Israeli national team and clearly has some potential, but is only play so far has been in the Israeli league.  The league is ranked in the 40s worldwide (MLS is 10-20) and 24th in the UEFA coefficients.  In comparison Scotland is 19th in the coefficients and multiple teams in the SPL have bought USL talent in this window, because MLS talent is out of their price range (or they're not interested in going there unless its Celtic or Rangers).  Remember guys like Sam Nicholson and Connor Ronan are now playing in the SPL and neither of them would (or should) start in MLS.  And the Israeli league is worse than that.

Meanwhile this week Seattle just spent $6M to buy Dejan Joveljić from Kansas City.  Joveljić just turned 27 and scored 18 goals last season for KC, and has 8 for an all-time bad MLS side KC this season.  He has 60 goals in 158 league appearances over 5.5 years.  A clearly proven MLS striker, and he sold for the same price as Colorado is paying for Farchi.

I really hope he's the next Herrington, who takes a step up in league quality and matches it with his play.  I know he's had interest from other European teams.  But I can't look at this ant not think that in the best case scenario this is a move to win in the future, again.  Meanwhile we are literally 2 wins away from our first major trophy in 16 years.  We should be making moves to win now.  Even if this was a big swing for a proven name from outside the league we're down to under 3 weeks before the semi-final, if they're not in the league already (or American), they won't help us beat St. Louis as they likely won't have their paperwork.

There's a lot of talk with the Sealy move that the Rapids will be looking for another winger before the window closes on Wednesday.  The only real name we've heard is 30-year old Brazilian winger Everton, currently playing for Flamengo.  That would certainly be more of a win-now move, but probably not in time to help in the semi.  Also he's a left-sided winger, as is Farchi, so hopefully one of them would be comfortable on the right.

Colorado Embarrassed In San Diego

We're not going to spend much time on this one.  The Rapids laid a huge egg in SAn Diego, which seems typical for them this season.  They get on a small run at home, things start going the right way, then a road trip and bam, everything falls apart.  In this case it WAs Rob Holding who had the worst game from a Rapids defender in many, many years.  Directly or partially responsible for all three goals scored against us, including another mishandled backpass.  That's becoming a serious concern in a system where Wells encourages playing it around the back.

The offense wasn't any better as the manager reverted to his preferred 4-5-1 formation with Sealy and Minoungou on the wings, with predictably bad results.  Sealy was noticeably a hole where attacks went to die.  The Rapids spent $3.9 million in GAM on the two wingers and they've been severely disappointing this season.  They would have been better off spending $4M on a new scoreboard.  There's 9 days left in the transfer window and we need attacking reinforcements.

There's only one thing to do after this, pick ourselves up and win the Rocky Mountain Cup at home on Saturday.  The silver lining is that nobody picked up a yellow card that got them suspended for the match.  But they need to put this game behind them and move on ASAP.

Man of the Match: Nico Hansen.  Not at fault for any of the goals and came up with a couple of saves to keep it from getting worse.