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.

Rapids Finish Biggest Transfer Window Ever

Technically we're still waiting the official announcement on one of these moves but the Rapids are teasing it for tomorrow morning so along with Bogert's reporting we're going to call that official.

First, the the bare bones recap of what the Rapids did in the 2026 summer window.

OUT:

• M Connor Ronan - Aberdeen (free)
• D Ian Murphy - San Diego (2nd round pick plus up to $100K GAM)
• D Lucas Herrington - Hull City ($17M + up to $6M + 15% sell-on)
• M Dante Sealy - Montreal ($1.4M GAM + up tp $300K GAM)
• F Rafa Navarro - St. Louis ($12M + up to $250K + sell-on)

IN:

• D Loic Williams - Granada (unknown fee, $1M-$3M)
• M Youssef Maziz - OH Leuven (free)
• F Sayed Abu Farkhi - Maccabi Tel Aviv ($6M)
• M Ibrahim Sadiq - AZ Alkmaar ($1.16M)
• M Morgan Whittaker - Middlesbrough ($10.7M + up to $3M)

Yeah, that's a lot.  From a pure position standpoint it was almost like for like but we swapped a defender for a midfielder.  From a talent level we probably increased, greatly.

Obviously we've already seen Williams and Maziz, so lets talk about the other trio.

I talked about Farkhi a week ago and my overall feel hasn't changed.  Long-term we'll probably look back and think the forward swap of Rafa for Farkhi helped us or worst case didn't hurt us long term.  St. Louis over paid for Rafa and we may have over paid for Farkhi but given his age that's likely to pan out in our favor.  But short-term I don't like leaving our forward position up to Farkhi (if he gets his visa) or Yapi in two weeks when we face St. Louis in the USOC semifinal.  If our lack off offense leads to us losing that game then Farkhi and the other signings will need to pay off big in 2027 and 27-28.  Farkhi was signed as a U-22 player.

Ibrahim Sadiq is the biggest "mystery" of these signings.  Matt Wells said tonight that he saw him when Spurs played against him in the Conference League as was impressed, thought he could have fit in London.  That said he only took a little over a million to sign and he only signed a 2 year deal, through 27-28.  That doesn't scream "cornerstone" signing.  Sadiq is a 26 year old winger, Ghanaian, and started his career ins Ghana's Right to Dream academy before moving to Denmark and then Sweden, finally ending up in the Netherlands with Alkmaar.  I would expect he would compete with Minoungou for playing time to start.  Sadiq will be on a TAM contract.

The last signing, and the one that isn't yet official, is Morgan Whittaker.  A 25 year old winger currently with Middlesbrough Whittaker has bounced around the Championship, playing for Derby County, Swansea City, going on loan to Lincoln City and Plymouth Argyle while there, moved to Plymouth Argyle, and then Middlesbrough 18 months ago.  The report on him is that he's streaky but when he's on he's one of the best attackers in the division.  His defense is questionable though.  This is somebody Wells has been tracking and pursuing for a while and Matt is all in on him despite those concerns.  I'd expect him to be an immediate starter, replacing Sealy, once his visa is done.  He plays as an inverted winger, as does Sadiq, so I'd expect to see a lot of cutting in to the middle.  He will, obviously, be a Designated Player.

All combined the Rapids generated 29M in cash plus another $1.4M in GAM in this window, and then turned around and spent somewhere between $19-$21M.  Remember, prior to last year's acquisition of Aaronson Colorado had never spent up to $3M on a single player!  If you add in the $8M in 2025 for Mihailovic and the $7.7M for Bombito in 2024, that's almost $50M alone.  That's probably enough to cover every fee the team has paid in its 31 year history.

Take a look at these two rosters.  The first is the opening day lineup in Seattle.  The second is the potential lineup once all the visas are processed.

I can't remember a season that's changed the roster this much by choice.  At this point even if healthy I would start Hansen over Steffen and eight of the other ten positions are pretty locked in on paper.  The only real battles are between Minoungou and Sadiq for the  second winger spot and between Yapi and Farkhi at forward.

Matt Wells had a media availability and it sounded like he has much more input on the roster than we saw during the Chris Armas and Robin Fraser eras.  This clearly shows that.  Many of these moves are players he had identified while at Spurs.  I don't know if its just because we have the money from the Herrington and Rafa deals or its because Kevin Demoff is more involved or if its Wells, but this is a different, more active, Front Office than we've ever seen.  Only time will tell if these were the right moves, but given the conservative, barely spending, strategy of the past really wasn't working I'm happy to see this new tack.

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.