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As expected the game on Saturday night was chaotic and the visitors did wear down in the altitude.  What I didn't expect was how well we would take advantage of that.  An eary goal set the sage as Darren Yapi was tripped up in the box by the San Diego keeper.  Some fans (certainly some SD fans but even some Rapids fans) have suggested this was a weak penalty but I don't see it.  If a goalkeeper comes out like that and goes to ground but doesn't get the ball he's going to be called and that's what happened here.  Yapi was knocked off balance after ticking the ball away from the keeper.  Djordje easily finished it for a halftime lead.

Once again though the Rapids fell asleep around halftime.  5 minutes after the break San Diego levelled it.  Maxso gave de la Torre way too much space and he uncorked a shot from the edge of the 18 that went to the upper corner of the far post.  Steffen had no shot to save it.  Maxso quickly made up for his mistake though, getting on a Mihailovic corner kick and heading it back in front of goal where Awaziem knocked it down and Yapi got a foot on it to finish it and retake the lead in only 3 minutes.

7 minutes after that the Rapids had their best looking goal not only of this season but possibly the last couple of seasons.  A quick series of passes from Yapi on the left side, through Djordje, to Rafa, over to Bassett, and then back to Navarro for an off-balance finish left San Diego spinning and down by 2.  Of course this is the Rapids so they can't make it easy.  In the 89th minute Angel found himself with a lot of space at the top of the box and fired a similar shot to de la Torre's, though in this case it was more the lower corner of the far post.  Suddenly a fairly relaxed ending was a very tense 6 minutes of stoppage but Colorado held on for the 3 points.

Credit for this one should go to Chris Armas.  He rolled out a 4-2-2-2 formation and put the wingers on the bench to give Bassett and Djordje more space to work with, and at least against San Diego's possession, play out of the back style it was successful.  We kept San Diego under pressure all night and ran them ragged in the altitude.  While not everyone had great games (Maxso was marking space on both San Diego goals, Rafa set up Cabral with a no pressure shot from the penalty spot and Kevin out it off target) nobody had a really bad game.  As much as I groused about the space San Diego got on both their goals they took two great shots to put them away.

This is an up and down season so far.  We look horrible against 1st place Vancouver and 4th place Portland, but we handle 3rd place San Diego and 2nd place Charlotte fairly easily.  The key going forward is to consistently play at the Charlotte/San Diego level.  No coincidence that the success in those games have come when Mihailovic and Cole have been given the tools to succeed.

Man of the Match: Darren Yapi.  Drew the PK and scored the second, and forced the ball into dangerous positions all night.  MLS named Rafa to their Team of the Matchday and I don't get it.  No offense to NAvarro but Yapi was the better striker on Saturday.

Newcomers In Town

 

Mesa Verde National Park

Expansion side San Diego FC makes its first ever trip to Colorado tomorrow and the Rapids hope to give them a rude welcome.  They're off to a hot start sitting 2nd in the West and 4th overall in the league, led by Chucky Lozano.  The good news is that the Rapids are getting somewhat healthy and we might even see the debut of Ted Ku-DiPietro, but likely only as a late sub.  Kickoff tomorrow is at the normal 7:30pm and there's a gorgeous day in the forecast.

Availability Report:

OUT: M Ali Fadal (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: GK Adam Beaudry (ankle); M Connor Ronan (appendix)

Reggie Cannon is back from his unexplained non-injury absence last week and yes, for the first time Ted KDP is not on the injury report.  Plus Sam Vines is not listed either.

Yes, we're wearing the alternate greens for this one.  No idea why other than, of course, for sales.  As to the expected lineup this is "expected" in the way of "after that mess last week how can Armas not bench Cabral and moved Djordje back to the middle?".  Of course I'm probably wrong and we'll see the same XI we've seen the last couple of weeks, but I hope not.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Mihailovic.  This has the possibility of being chaos ball tomorrow night.  The Rapids are going to press high and go direct when they win the ball, while San Diego is going to look to hit quickly when they break the press.  We could see a lot of end-to-end action and I expect Steffen to be busy but up to the challenge.  That's going to take a lot out of San Diego's legs and by the end of the game I expect them to drag.  But our offensive woes continue and we won't be able to take advantage as both sides cancel out.

Colorado Will Have No Shots On Goal In Canada This Season

Barring an unlikely playoff trip to the Great White North the Rapids game on Saturday was their only cross-border trip of the year.  For the third time in their six road games they were held without a shot on goal in the 2-0 loss.  Its hard to write a whole lot about this one that wasn't said about the St. Louis or LAFC games.

This isn't to discredit what Vancouver did.  They took advantage of two good chances and finished them.  But the Rapids had nothing going in this game.  They're passing was atrocious and any semblance of an attack broke down as soon as we got near their box.  The best chance all game was a 3 on 1 that Atencio managed to foul up by putting his pass behind Cabral.  That's fine, because Cabral was giving us nothing and by no means should he be starting anymore.

I had hope that when Armas made the same subs around the 60th minute as he did against Charlotte that might kick us into gear, but not really.  Moving Bassett back and Djordje into the middle did result in more shots than the first 2/3rds of the game but still no shots on goal.  Really the highlight of this game, if there was one, was Vines getting back on the field for the first time.

Man of the Match: Sam Bassett, for getting his first MLS appearance and having the least to do with the whole mess.

Do We Have To Pay A Tariff For This Match?

North Cascades National Park, just across the border from Vancouver

Colorado faces a big test tomorrow as they take on conference leaders Vancouver on their home turf.  The whitecaps are coming off a mid-week CCC game and have some injuries, but we shouldn't overlook them as they've been on fire to start the season.  4 wins in the first 6 games while also advancing in CONCACAF play.  The good news is that they have a lot of miles in their legs.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7:30 Denver time, an hour earlier than you would expect for a West Coast game.

Also there's one bit of roster news today.  The Rapids signed American youth international winger Bryce Jamison from Orange County SC, then immediately loaned him back to Orange County for the rest of the season.  He's signed though 2027 with team options in 2028 and 2029, so this is a long-term project.

Availability Report:

OUT: D Reggie Cannon (Not injury related), D Jackson Travis (hand), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Connor Ronan (appendix)

The Cannon absence is odd.  Hopefully nothing is wrong in his personal life.  It could also be something with his paperwork given the border crossing, but he was recently playing in England and has been a member of the Nats so you think that all would be sorted.

This is a hopeful lineup but also the lineup that had the great success against Charlotte and Armas has been fairly good about seeing those type of things.  Obviously if he sticks with Cabral and Bassett in the 10 we'll see Mihailovic as the other wing and Larraz in the 8.  Sam Vines is back but I can't see him getting that much time on the turf in BC.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Mihailovic.  I'm hedging my bets here as it really depends on what kind of lineups both teams put out there.  The lineup I laid out above against a rotated Whitecaps lineup can absolutely win this one.  But the lineup with Cabral against Vancouver's best should be happy to get a draw.  Its a bit of a chess game between the managers this week.

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.

In the 60th minute Larraz and Cabral were subbed off and replaced with Fernandez and Calvin Harris.  From that point on Colorado had 15 of their 21 shots and 2.93 of their 3.15 of xG.  For the first 15 minutes after the subs it looked like it was going to be one of those days where Charlotte managed to get in front of every good shot we produced but in the 78th minute Mihaiovic found the net.  A Fernandez cross found Djordje in the middle of the box and DM put the ball far post out of the range of the keeper.  We weren't done yet though as 3 minutes later Navarro was dragged down int he box and Djordje stepper up again to finish the penalty for a 2-0 lead and final score.

Fernandez and Harris certainly impacted the game but the bigger change when they came into the game was the resetting of the midfield.  Bassett dropped back into Larraz's spot as the 8 and Mihailovic shifted into the 10 role.  Not surprising, to me at least, there was an instant impact. Both players were more involved in the game and the ball flowed more smoothly through the midfield.  I don't know why Armas wants to keep forcing the Mihailovic/Cabral winger combo but its clear it doesn't work.  Against Vancouver Larraz and Cabral should start on the bench and Harris and Ferandez should start (or possibly KSB).  Once Ku-DiPietro is healthy I expect him to challenge for one of the spots and then maybe Cabral can get another chance.

One other note, on the PK Malanda was given a yellow for a Denial Of An Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity.  It was a DOGSO and the rules did change a few years ago so most DOGSOs in the box were now yellow cards instead of red cards (the logic being that the PK returns the "obvious" goal scoring opportunity so a red on top of that was harsh).  However the yellow card instead of a red card change had a requirement to it, that it was a yellow card if the DOGSO happened during an attempt to play the ball.  Malanda made no attempt to play the ball, he wasn't even in range to play it, so by the rules that should have been a red card.  However the week before a similar play happened and PRO upheld the giving of only a yellow card which I'm sure was on the mind of the center referee.  For whatever reason yellow seems to be what PRO wants in this scenario.

This weekend the Rapids head north to a white-hot 'Caps team.  it will be a good test of which Rapids are the real ones, the ones we saw against Portland or the ones we saw against Charlotte.

Man of the Match: Djordje Mihailovic.  Obviously.  He was named player of the week by the league.