Messi'ed

Well, that's a day we'll not forget for a while.  The second largest crowd in league history and the largest to ever watch a soccer game in the state of Colorado saw the Rapids outplay Inter Miami for most of the game but make just enough mistakes to leave them in a spot where the GOAT could do GOAT things and steal the three points.

Random Thoughts:

• First, on the "event" if the game.  When this was announced I ripped into the Rapids for the decision to move the game.  The Rapids gave an interview to the Denver Business Journal last week which revealed that it was the league that really forced the move as part of the "bid" to land this game.  I have many thoughts about what was revealed in that article, few of them good, but considering we have 5 games in the next 12 days its going to be a while before I get back to them.  But I owed it to the FO to make that point clear.
• That said, I'm glad we don't play at Empower regularly.  It didn't help that the Nuggets and Rockies were both in town, but getting to and from the stadium is a much bigger pain from the north than the Dick is.  RTD only running the G Line every half hour is annoying.  Also being in the back row of the lower bowl felt further away than the concourse at the Dick.
• All in all I'm sure the league got what they wanted out of this game and it was a big feather on the Rapids FO cap, but I'd be quite happy if we never did it again.  We've built a home and our own supporter culture out in Commerce City.  That's where we should be.
• Onto the game itself.  The Rapids insist on playing it out of the back and they're good enough to do that against the bad and average teams in the league.  But not against the good teams.  The 4 teams we've beaten are all outside the playoffs.  3 of the 4 teams we've lost to are playoff teams that we gave goals to from poor play out of the back (the 4th, TFC, is a playoff team but that game goes into its own special category).
• On the first goal on Saturday Atencio took a heavy touch on a hot pass from Steffen in the box and was left with no choice but to go in on the attacker.  Live I thought it was a PK, on replay it was lighter than I thought, but you can't put the ref (or VAR) in a position to make that call.  Messi, of course, finished the PK.
• The second goal, right before half, is unforgiveable.  You're taking a throw-in in the attacking half with 20 seconds left in stoppage time.  There is no way that should turn into an opposing goal.  Instead Atencio plays not one but two back passes, Aaronson gets muscled off the ball, and somehow Thompson, Holding, and Steffen are beat by a single Miami attacker to the ball.  Complete breakdown because of being so devoted to playing it out of the back.  Miami had 2 shots on target in the half and went into the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
• Full credit to Wells and whatever he said at half because the home side came out flying and equalized in a 4 minute window around the 60th minute.  First Navarro got his 6th goal and league-leading 10th goal contribution of the season with a nice solo run right up the middle where he broke a defender's ankles.
• Then Yapi followed it up with almost his first touch of the game by taking down a great long-ball from Herrington and slotting it home.
• At that point it felt like we had momentum and might find a winner.  But in the 79th minute Messi did Messi things.  A turnover in midfield broke him free down our left side.  Despite being closed down fairly well and having multiple defenders to shoot through the GOAT's left foot found a way to put it in the upper corner.  There's maybe one other player (Son) in the league who makes that shot, and even that's questionable.  You tip your hat and move on.
• It was obvious the big crowd and the opposition made a number of the Rapids nervous in this one.  They settled down as it went on but passes weren't as clean as they have been, etc.
• The decision to take Aaronson out down a goal at home was a choice.  He didn't have a great game so I understand it, but when you're biggest ever signing is being pulled in the biggest match since he's arrived its not a great sign.
• Ojediran is having a quality, quiet, season.  I rarely notice him but I also rarely notice us having any problems in that area.  Though having him take out Messi in this one would have been worth the red.
• Steffen might have been able to clear that second goal but other than that there's nothing he could have done in this one.
• Atencio had a bad game.  I don't know who you put in midfield with Ojediran, Aarons, and Fredrick at this point but I don't think its him.
• Now the schedule gets hard.  Road trips to LAFC and a rested Vancouver, then 3 of the 5 after that on the road as well before the World Cup break.  We're only going to have played 6 of the 15 games before the break at home.  Just staying in contact should be the goal.

Man Of The Match: Rafa Navarro.  The goal was class and exactly what was needed coming out of the locker room.

The New Kids Are OK

The Rapids haven't posed an updated pic yet

So that whole thing from my game preview about Kosi Thompson not being ready to start?  Yeah, clearly I know nothing.  Thompson started, scored in the first 4 minutes, picked up another goal, and led the Rapids to a 6-2 win of Houston.  Needless to say I didn't see that coming.  The Matt Wells experience is never boring.

Random Thoughts:

• The interesting thing about this match is that the stats are really even.  Same number of shots on target, same number of big chances, almost equal possession and almost equal xG.  The difference is that the Rapids took better shots with their chances.
• Second chance goals were big in this one.  Both of Thompson's goals were from following the play for example.  With the amount of chances the Rapids are creating under Wells being the second man in can pay off at times.
• I'm not sure we really figured out the lineup at any point in this one.  Multiple players like Ojediran and Fredrick dropped back at times to fill the hole in the back line.  A really nice coaching job by Wells.
• Navarro's first goal is about as clean a goal as I've seen from a Rapids striker in years.  Again, as the second man in, it was a very deft flick of his boot that slammed the boal home.  Just a pleasure to watch.
• Josh Atencio was named MOTM at the game, and he had a nice game, but he was maybe third on my lists of MOTM.
• (And just to clarify, Centennial 38 awards their Man of the Match oar but its the Rapids who pick the MOTM, not C38)
• Thompson, Sealy, Fredrick, Atencio, Navarro, Minoungou, and unofficially Cobb (own goal on Houston) were all on the score sheet.  Thompson, Navarro, and Fredrick all showed up multiple times.
• Minoungou was delayed returning from Burkina Faso and had only trained with the team for one day, but man did he show some dribbling skills.  He almost scored on his first run.
• Fredrick got a lock of flack last season, and I questioned how much time he's been getting under Wells, but he is balling out.  Maybe the pressing system is what was needed to unlock him.

Since its late I am not going to have time to do a separate Open Cup preview.  Nor will I be able to go to the game because of business travel on Wednesday.   And because of that travel any recap will probably be limited.  Its Union Omaha at home.  A team that just beat a MLS team by 4 goals and who have outscored 3 MLS teams at home by 12-3 should not be losing to Union Omaha regardless of who we start, short of running out a bunch of Rapids 2 players.  This should be a win for the Rapids and advancement to the next round to face SKC away or the Switchbacks at home.

Man of the Match: Kosi Thompson.  Had 2 goals, including what turned out to be the game-winner.  Easy call.  It turns out that despite only announcing his visa on Wednesday he had actually ben training for a few days prior to that so he was more integrated in the system than I thought.  A first impression like this is going to make it hard for Travis or Cannon to get the right back spot back!

Well Done Houston

I realize Houston is the opposition tomorrow but as I sit here writing this while watching Artemis' return to our planet I have to give Mission Control in Houston credit for a great job over the last 10 days.  Teenaged me once dreamed of being in that room (I was never going to make it as an astronaut so Flight Director was my goal) and while I have no regrets about my life or choices it will never get old watching NASA do things like this (unlike Elon).

Anyway, on to tomorrow night's game where the Rapids are finally home for the first time in more than a month.  Of course they're without a number of players but better to deal with that in the friendly confines of the Dick.  Meanwhile one player that would certainly be starting tomorrow is he were still with us will be on the other side as Sam Vines makes his return to Colorado.  Kickoff tomorrow is the normal 7:30pm.

Player Availability:

OUT: D Reggie Cannon (ankle), D Miguel Navarro (red card), D Jackson Travis (red card), M Ted Ku-DiPietro (shoulder), M Connor Ronan (leg)

The Rapids announced today that Ted Ku-DiPietro underwent shoulder surgery this week and will be reevaluated in 5 months (so late September).  Essentially his season is over barring an unexpected rapid recovery.  Spending $1.125M on a guy who was recovering from shoulder surgery and who will have 12 starts and a little over 1200 minutes total late into his second season with the club is not looking like a winning move.

Obviously the big issue though is our lack of fullbacks.  We have five on the roster and three are unavailable.  The only other two are Keegan Rosenberry and Kosi Thompson, who got his visa on Wednesday and is available.  For a team like last year's Rapids under Armas I could see Thompson being thrown into the starting lineup tomorrow.  For Matt Wells' system though?  Thompson has had maybe 3 days of practice with the team (he couldn't even train with the club before he got his visa) and the system requires a lot of playing out of the back.  Plus the amount of pressing that needs to happen at altitude.  I can't see Thompson as anything more than a possible late sub.

With only one fullback really available, an unknown use of Minoungou, and an Open Cup match next week before the 30th Anniversary/Messi match I'm not going to try to predict a lineup for this one.  We could see a winger pushed back to play defense, a 3 center back setup, or something really unexpected.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Navarro and Yapi.  Even with our lack of fullbacks I think we're a better team than Houston, and we're at home.  Houston has played one less game then us, due to their game at New England being delayed due to weather, but even with that their offense only has 8 goals, and 6 of them came in the two games they did play in March (against an average Dallas and a bad Portland side).  This is actually their first game outside Texas this season.  It won't be easy but the Rapids pull out the 3 points to remain perfect at home.

Colorado Rapids Forever

Today the Rapids announced the results of the 'fan activation' from the offseason where they were considering rebranding the club.  The overwhelming response (90%+) from the fans they talked to was don't change the name, don't change the colors, but updating the badge and other branding is fine.

So that's what they announced they're going to do.  We will still be the Colorado Rapids.  We still still be the burgundy boys.  We will have a new badge.  Nourse at the Post and Pollard at Burgundy Wave did get confirmation that "keeping the colors" might include slightly changing the shades of burgundy and blue but the fundamental colors will remain the same.

This is fine from my POV.  I'm not particularly attached to the logo, it was always the fallout of the botched Arsenal Colorado rebrand in 2007.  The important thing is that the Rapids will stay the Rapids and after having three different color schemes in their history they won't add a fourth (mostly).  Most clubs in the last 10 years have revised their badge due to the needs of a technological age where scaling the badge down to use on social media means complex designs get muddled.

The important thing here is really that for once they actually listened to the fans.  When I discussed this in January I really teed off on the Front Office, saying that either this decision had already been made or this would all go away and not be discussed again.  Instead they split the difference and decided, correctly, major changes would be a mistake but refreshing the identity had value.  In my defense the FO has a long history of talk without action but I welcome this change.

It sounds like due to timing with the schedule switch any sort of new badge and image probably won't be ready when the 27-28 first winter season launches, so we're looking at two years out before we see the results of this.

In other news that actually dropped last week but I was unable to get to, the Rapids have the details of their first Open Cup match of the season.  Its next Tuesday, April 14th, at 7:30pm at the Dick.  The opponent is USL Championship side Union Omaha.  The winner gets the winner of the SKC-Colorado Springs happening just down I-25 that same night.  If Colorado Springs wins then (assuming the Rapids win) then the battle of Colorado would be at the Dick.  If SKC wins and the Rapids do the all-MLS I-70 battle would take place in KC.  (If you're wondering the same things apply if Omaha wins, they'd host the Switchbacks but go to KC).  Sadly I probably won't be able to attend this one as I have to be on a flight the next morning.

#MLSAfterDawn

You can't call a game that started at 1:30pm local, 11:30am in the road team's market a #MLSAfterDark special, but this game delivered what you would expect from that tag in spades.  Unfortunately at the end the Rapids were left holding the short end of a 3-2 scoreline trying to figure out where it all went wrong.  And in about 20 minutes of the second half it went very wrong.

Random Thoughts:

• Uh, where to start?  I guess with one of the two obvious storylines so lets go with the officiating.  It was a mess.  It was clear from minute to minute nobody knew what was a foul or yellow card.  I'm not even sure the ref know what his level was.  The lightest of touches (Ojediran) would be carded while full body slams (on Navarro) weren't even a foul.
• That said, I have no problem with the two straight red cards.  Some refs would have just given a yellow for Travis' stomp and the VAR wouldn't have overruled, but Jackson came in aggressively, late, and got the ankle.  Its hard to complain about that being a red.  Likewise the foul on Fredrick was a DOGSO red.
• The first yellow to Navarro was self-inflicted.  At that point the ref had already given two reds, a yellow, and things were chaotic.  Don't give him an excuse to give another yellow by booting the ball away, even if it was lightly and probably not something that would be carded by other refs.
• Navarro second yellow was a joke, especially with what the ref was letting go at other times on the field.   There was barely contact, nothing that rose to the level of a foul.  I agree that if there was a foul there it would have to be a card for disrupting the attack, but there was no foul there.
• In the end though, the officiating didn't cost us the game.  Zack Steffen did.  Most of the time you can't really blame a keeper for a loss, but this is one of those times.
• Getting beat near post like he did on the first goal is unforgiveable, but that wasn't the worst of his mistakes.  His inability to play the back pass from Rosenberry and giving up the own goal is an all-time howler.  I think it surpasses Jared Watts for the worst own goal in team history.
• Some people want to blame Keegan for the back pass too, and it was "hotter" than you would probably like, but a keeper has to be able to play that ball, even on frame like it was.
• As you would expect some fans are calling for Steffen to be benched for Hansen.  I think that's a mistake.  Hansen made his own set of bad choices in NYC and needs a bit more seasoning.  I do think whatever benefit of the doubt Steffen had is lost now though.  Another bad game like this and you have to bench him.
• Moving on to everything else, there was a lot to like in the attitude the team displayed being down a man (the first time).  They didn't try to turtle and bunker and kept playing their game come hell or high water.  Once the red card on Toronto equalized things the Rapids actually had some good play. A great free kick from Aaronson and Keegan's annual long-range goal.
• Right before the second red card though I started to wonder why the Rapids looked like they were playing a man down when it was 10v10.  Something had switched in their mentality and they could never flip that switch back the rest of the game.  Instead they were desperately trying to hold onto the lead, then the draw, and got nothing.
• I hope Wells learned a lesson about subbing in two center backs right before a defensive corner kick.  I'm sure the chaos of having 4 CB's on the field and everyone figuring out their roles played into Sargent's winner.
• I felt bad for Manyoma, who got in in the 74th just before Navarro's second yellow only to come off in the 84th after Wells decided to insert those two center backs.
• On the plus side, Herrington kept it from being 4 or 5 to 2 with some big saves.  I don't see how he's here after the World Cup if he makes the Aussie roster (as he should).
• Going into next week's game Travis and Navarro are suspended for their red cards.  Thompson will likely be ineligible while waiting on his visa.  Cannon will probably still be unavailable to start due to his injury.  That leaves the team with exactly 1 right back, Rosenberry, and 0 left backs.  Might we see something like a 3-6-1 with some wingers playing wing-back?  Pushing a winger back to left-back?  Oh, and Sam Vines will be watching from the other bench.
• The good news about this mess is that there was nothing systemic wrong.  It was a combination of a bad ref, a horrible game from Steffen, and a little bad luck.  Just dump it in the trash and move on.

Man of the Match: Rafael Navarro.  For not getting on the score sheet he had a hell of a match and with a different ref likely draws a penalty or a free kick or two in dangerous positions.