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.

Rapids Go For 4 In A Row In Sunny San Diego

Colorado is looking for a clean sweep of the three game week tomorrow night as they go into San Diego as potentially the favorite in the match.  The home side is .500 since the break with a draw sandwiched between a win and a loss on either side.  The first of those losses came in Commerce City as we came out of the World Cup break.  Meanwhile the Rapids have only lost once in those games, though it was the only road game of the group.  Kick off is at 8:#0pm and 'Celo will be on the Spanish call if you get tired of whichever English announcer who doesn't know the Rapids Apple TV throws on the game.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Zach Steffen (shoulder), D Miguel Navarro (concussion), D Jackson Travis (ankle), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Kimani Stewart-Baynes (lower leg), F Mamadou Billo Diop (knee)

The only change is the addition of Miguel Navarro in concussion protocol after taking an elbow to the head Wednesday night.  With Travis also out its likely Kosi Thompson will be pressed into service at left back.

Also Rafael Navarro, Hamzat Ojediran, and Kosi Thompson are all one yellow card from suspension.  Picking one up tomorrow night would leave them missing the Rocky Mountain Cup decider next weekend.  If it were up to me I'd sit Rafa tomorrow but my guess is that Wells won't see it the same way (plus he's already played 180 minutes this week).

Wells seems to prefer Atencio over Ojediran, and Hamzat came off hobbled on Wednesday.  Plus with the yellow card threat I don't think he starts.  I have no idea on the wingers, those are just guesses.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Navarro.  San Diego has a better offense but a worse defense, and they're at home.  With as many minutes as we've put on our legs I don't see us maintaining the shutout streak.  We are a better team than them though and we hold out for the point.

Rapids Continue Home Dominance

 

Colorado controlled the game last night and once again did enough to get the three points and the shutout.  LAFC rolled out a rotated lineup, either because they were cocky or because they just needed to get some guys some rest but either way it did not work.  The first half was largely controlled by the home side, especially after the first 10 minutes, and LAFC could only put one shot on goal, from 20+ yards out.

Meanwhile on the other end of the field the burgundy boys were finding their chances.  The Rapids had four shots on goal in the first half, plus a penalty kick (more on that later).  It took a little help to break through though as a free kick from Maziz was redirected and handcuffed the LAFC keeper.  Officially it went down as an own goal but I thought the shot was on target before the redirection.  Late in the half the Rapids earned a PK and Rafa stepped up to move into 2nd place )tied) on the Rapids all-time scoring list...and was stoned by the 22 year old in his first ever MLS start.  Nto great.

The second half was a little more balanced with LAFC trying to find an equalizer but getting stuffed at every attempt.  Finally LAFC gave in and put Son and Bouanga in and the Rapids played the last 10-15 on the book foot just trying to survive.  The good news is that despite the step up in skill LAFC did not have a step up in ideas.  They were dangerous but never really got close to breaking through, with only one shot on target and that was from 20+ yards too.  The team held out and got the three points.

A great win over a good team and it continued our home winning and shutout streak, both to 4 games.  We still haven't given up a goal with 11 on the field since the World Cup break (the only one being when we were down a man in St. Louis).  On the down side we've still only scored one goal from the run of play when playing against 11 men since the break (PK, free kick last night, and two against shorthanded KC).  But a win is a win and that's 4 out of 5 moving us up to 8th on PPG.  If the playoffs started today we'd host Portland.

Random Thoughts:

• Maziz has only played about ~75 minutes but so far so small sample size and all that but he looks like he belongs.  Could this be three good international signings in a row? (Herrington, Williams, Maziz)
• Also I was hard on Cannon earlier this season but the last two games he's "eaten his Wheaties" as the Pope of Commerce City put it.  With the good play by Miguel Navarrro on the other side we might have a settled back line.
• Nico Hansen has ensured that Steffen won't play in burgundy again, barring a late-season comeback to cover for Nico being injured.
• Rafa needs to be done with PKs.  He's too inconsistent.
• The team got worse putting Sealy and Minoungou in.  I know the goal was a two winger formation, but we don't have the players for it.
• Maziz has also made Aaronson better, again in small minutes.  It allows him to play his more natural defensive 8.
• Yapi and Thompson join Rafa and Ojediran in being on yellow card watch going into the game on Saturday.  Picking up a card in Saturday means they'll be suspended for the Rocky Mountain Cup.
• Miguel Navarro took an elbow to the head forcing him to be subbed due to concussion concerns late.  Lets hope that's not a long-term injury.
• By the end of the game we were playing a 6-man back line.  Whatever it takes.

Man of the Match: Hamzet Ojediran.  He was a beast in midfield snuffing everything out and feeding Paxten and Maziz.  Then late in the game he sacrificed his ankle to block a shot, got up, hobbled over to make the play, cleared the ball, then went back down in a heap and was subbed off.  Wells suggested that the oinjury wasn't too bad, but gving him the weekend off might be a good thing.

Rapids Start a SoCal Doubleheader

California dreaming for Colorado as tomorrow night LAFC comes to Commerce City before the Rapids head out to the coast to play San Diego on Saturday.  The home game is definitely the tougher of the two, 4th overall in the West on PPG but they've struggled a little bit recently with only one regulation win in the last five games (two shootout wins in the Leagues Cup though),  Colorado's hasn't allowed a goal while at full strength since the break but only scored one goal from the run of play against a full strength side.  So both teams are looking to get on a bit of a roll.  Kickoff is at 7:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Zach Steffen (shoulder), D Jackson Travis (ankle), M Josh Atencio (yellow card accumulation), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Kimani Stewart-Baynes (lower leg), F Mamadou Billo Diop (knee)

No surprises there.  Both Ojediran and Rafa are one card from suspension as well.  If they pick up a card tomorrow they sit for the trip to San Diego.  If they pick up a card in California...they sit for the Rocky Mountain Cup.  I'm just saying, I'm not going to hate it if either of them get yellows tomorrow.

Its always hard to figure out how Wells is going to rotate the team on a 3-game week.  With Atencio suspended I assume Ojediran will start and I'm guessing Maziz will.  Otherwise I'm mainly guessing here.

Prediction: 1-0 loss.  Actually a scoreless draw is a possibility here.  LAFC has only one win in eight tries at the Dick, and that was in 2018.  But they are a better team than us and I'm not yet convinced we can score against better teams.  I think LAFC finds a way to get the 3 points.