Reinforcements Are Trickling In Just In Time

The Rapids got good news today in their prep for tomorrow night's match against Montreal, Morgan Whittaker has his visa.  No news on Farkhi, who they were hoping for today, and Sadiq is still expected to be a bit longer, but this is the first (and biggest) step as Colorado can now put the biggest signing in their history on the field.  Burgundy Wave thinks he'll start but that might be a stretch given he's had at most one session with the team.  I do expect him to come off the bench though.  Meanwhile the opposition is a truly awful formerly-known-as-Impact side that would bein a race for the Wooden Spoon if SKC weren't having a historically bad year.  Kickoff tomorrow at the Dick is 7:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Zach Steffen (shoulder), M Ali Fadal (head), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Youssef Maziz (leg), F Mamadou Billo Diop (knee)

SUSPENDED: D Reggie Cannon

As feared when he came off the field in Austin, Maziz's injury was serious enough that he'll miss at least this game.  Hopefully that's all it is.  Also Kosi Thompson is one yellow card from suspension.

I'm assuming we're going to see some rotation and resting players for the semi-final on Wednesday.  Given the thin roster though this seems to be the best we'll be able to do, and Wells may not even go that far.  If Whittaker does start it would be in place of Phillip I assume.

Prediction: 2-0 win, goals by Aaronson and Thompson.  Montreal has a pretty similar offense to ours, which is to say below average, but a truly horrible defense, second-worst in the league.  The Rapids keep the home shutout streak going into the semifinal and this one actually feels like a comfortable win.

Rapids Break Road Woes

I'm going to be honest up front, I only had one eye on the Austin - Colorado game last night as most of my focus was on Patriots - Seahawks.  But I did watch it and did see a Rapids side who looked better on the road than they have since May, but still couldn't finish.

The first half was largely the Rapids controlling play and creating chances.  They scored first when a cross was centered to Yapi unmarked in the middle of the box.  He should have one-timed it but instead he tried to chest it down and by the time he took his second touch the Austin defense had clamped down on him.  However their clearance went right to Aaronson who did one-time it and a worm-burner of a shot went off the left post and in for the early lead.  Side note, seeing the Austin defender raise his hand for offside when he was standing between Yapi and the goal was fairly funny.  Maziz and Phillip also had shots on target int he half but generally they were at the keeper.

The second half tilted back to Austin.  They had the majority of play and opportunities in this half but Aaronson had a great look at goal with a curving shot that a laid out Stuver just managed to palm around the post.  Right after that the home team came down the field and managed to pull the Rapids defense out of position leaving Torres unmarked at the top of the box for a cross.  He put a looping header over Hansen to level the score.  Colorado overloaded their right side of the defense with both Cannon and Holding marking the same player (maybe Cannon was supposed to push out even wider to the wing?) and Navarro not moving over to the open space in the center.  After the goal both teams seemed to accept the draw in the last 10 minutes.

Once again our lack of attacking depth was a problem.  Minoungou and Harris were our only options on the bench and that's just not enough for this team.  Wells said there's some chance Farkhi and/or Whittaker could have their visas in time for Saturday's game and we really need them.  Hopefully that means the odds of having them in time for the USOC game next week is high.

Speaking of, Reggie Cannon got a yellow card last night when means he's suspended for Saturday's game due to yellow card accumulation.  That should make him well-rested for the semi-final.  Atencio had to come on for an injured Maziz in the first half.  Youssef walked out under his own power but was shaking his head like he knew something was wrong.  Not great.  Meanwhile Atencio picked up his 9th yellow card of the season, tied for 2nd in the league but Josh has played 500 minutes less than Segovia (9) and Durkin (10);.  Time to dial it back.

Also, Rafa had 2 goals in his first start for St. Louis last night, which is one more goal than the Rapids have scored since they traded him...

Man of the Match: Paxton Aaronson.  Apparently Matt Wells challenged him after the Columbus game to step up and be more involved and he responded last night with the best to chances the Rapids had.

Road Warriors Go Again

Honestly, this is my focus tomorrow night. Sorry Rapids.

The Rapids have a quick turn around from their Ohio trip to head down to Texas.  Austin is on the schedule and that schedule is getting tight.  Specifically this is when Matt Wells is going to have to start making some decisions about which games matter more over the next week and a half.  We've got Austin tomorrow night and then three games in a week at the Dick, the middle of which is the USOC semi-final.  Anyone that plays tomorrow night could have a week off to be fully rested for St. Louis in that one, but that means leaving Montreal on Saturday with a bare-bones lineup.  Or he could mix and match some starters on both games.  Add to that the possibility of Whittaker or Farkhi getting their visas and being available (Sadiq seems like a long-shot).  Kickoff tomorrow is at 6:30pm.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Zach Steffen (shoulder), M Ali Fadal (head), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), F Mamadou Billo Diop (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: GK Nico Hansen (leg)

I'm going to guess that Hansen doesn't make this trip to give him more rest and then if he's able he gets Montreal to get back into the flow before the USOC match.

Outside of that I'm not actually going to predict a lineup for this one.  Coming off the 3-0 mess on Saturday, the balancing of the roster against the USOC match, and the unknowns about the visas means nothing would surprise me tomorrow outside of the keeper position.

Prediction: 1-0 loss.  Until they actually prove it on the road I can't predict anything but a loss.  Austin is a bad team, as bad as Columbus with even a worse defense, but this Rapids team has no mental toughness and once things start going sideways they don't stop.

Another Garbage Road Game

Ugh, I really thought this would be the game where we got something figured out on the road but nope, we looked worse than we did in San Diego.  I'm not going to spend much of any time analyzing this one, its just garbage from start to finish.  Two things about the game I do want to mention though.

• The corner kick that led to the first Columbus goal appeared to be offside, so much so the color commentator kept harping on it during the game.  It wasn't.  It was almost the textbook definition of passive offside, which is not to be called in the current offside interpretation.  Calling offside is not just about the position of the player, that player must actively be involved in play too.  The cross that Holding intercepted and flubbed out for a corner wasn't close enough to any Columbus player to be played by them, nor was Holding close enough to any Crew attacker to be interfered with.  Thus the offside players were passively offside and the flag should not have gone up (and didn't).
  
  If you want to argue that's a stupid way to interpret the rule and it penalizes defenders playing it safe, I'd agree with you.  But that's the rule as FIFA and the IFAB want it enforced right now.
  
  
• Our subs in this game were Kosi Thompson, Reggie Cannon, Alex Harris, Donovan Phillip, and Keegan Rosenberry.  Three right-backs and two rookie midfielder when down a goal.  That shows you how thin this roster is while we wait for visas.  I said it last week that this was a hell of a transfer window from the Rapids, but you have to wonder of the FO could have gotten one or two of the deals done before the final day so that this team isn't so weakened for the next week or two.  If we lose the USOC semi or miss the playoffs by a few points it puts pressure on the signings to really deliver in the sprint season and the 27-28 season to make up for what the moves cost us this season.

That's it for the game.  Now lets talk about the season.  Burgundy Wave made some good points today on Burgundy Sky that should be repeated here.  The Rapids have one draw this season, the 0-0 at LAFC.  They have 10 wins.  In every one of them they scored the first goal.  They have 12 losses.  In 10 of them they gave up the first goal, then you had the game in Toronto where they scored first but had two red cards and lost, and then you have the Sandy curse where we scored first and loss, as we always seem to do in Utah.

Essentially the Rapids are a team that wins when they score first unless something unusual happens and lose when they concede first.  The last time we won a league game after giving up the first goal was over two years ago, our trip to Dallas on August 31st, 2024 where we won 3-2 on a stoppage time winner from Yapi after giving up a goal in the first 10 minutes.  That's not a great streak to be on.

Wells needs to get us mentally locked in on the road and when we go down a goal.  That's the challenge for the rest of the season now.

Man of the Match: Miguel Navarro.  Unlike the rest of the team he kept fighting after going down.

Potential USOC Final Preview

The Rapids enter their post-Rafa era with a trip to Colunbus tonight.  Both teams are still alive in the Open Cup and if they both win their semis the Crew would host a rematch of tonight's tilt in the final.  That said based on current form both teams might be considered the underdog in their semi.  The road has not been a great place for the Rapids but nothing has been good for the home side, can we figure out how to get our first win away from home since May?  Kickoff is at 5:30/

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Nico Hansen (leg), GK Zach Steffen (shoulder), M Ali Fadal (head), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Hamzat Ojediran (yellow card suspension), F Mamadou Billo Diop (knee)

Along with this none of the trio we signed this week are available as they're waiting on their visas.  So a thin squad heading to B1G country.

Assuming no other availability surprises the only question seems to be the winger opposite Minoungou.  Yapi has already been confirmed to be getting a shot up top so our options are players like Harris, KSB, or pushing one of our center players wide like Fredrick.  I went with Harris but that's a guess.

Prediction: 0-0 draw.  Both these teams have offenses that are struggling but Colorado has a top-tier defense while Columbus is in the bottom quarter of goals allowed.  I just don't see where the goal is going to come from for the Rapids but if there is a winner I could see the Rapids getting a smash and grab 3 points.