Fraser Starts Off On Right Foot

A surprising result out of New Jersey on Saturday as a stiff-enough defense and Jon Lewis' shooting gave the Rapids an unexpected 2-0 win over one of the better teams in the league.  The Rapids apparently are getting a second new coach bounce this season.  The night was only marred by DirecTV dropping Altitude just at kickoff instead of the expected 7 hours later.

Random Musings:

• At halftime Fraser shifted from the 5-3-2 we started in back to the 4-5-1 the team has been using most of the year.  This was in response to the control RBNY showed over the match late in the first half.  It worked.  RBNy had 12 shots in the first half, only 7 in the second.  Meanwhile Colorado went from 5 shots in the first half to 7 in the second.  Its been a long time since we've seen a coach make a significant in-game adjustment like that, and it was only Fraser's first game.
• Also I'm not suggesting the 5-3-2 we started in was a mistake.  Given our depleted personnel a formation switch was not that shocking.  We "won" the half 1-0 and it was working, but it was also leaving RBNY in control.  I was a little surprised they didn't score before half.
• Quite honestly that could have been a 3-2 or 4-3 win with some of the looks both teams got.
• Late in the second half Cole Bassett had a great chance to put the game away (before Lewis' second) and Badji'ed it.  One on one with the keeper with some time to place his shot and he didn't even make Robles sweat much.
• That wasn't even the worst miss.  A few minutes later the combined Colorado attackers had Robles beat with the ball behind him, and couldn't get a shot off.  I really thought not capitalizing on one of those two opportunities was going to cost us 2 points.
• Sam Vines had a hell of a tackle in front of our net at one point.  I wasn't sure about our plan to rely on him all season but at this point I'm feeling fairly confident going into 2020.
• Tim Howard didn't have to do much in his final game in his hometown but he had one big save late to keep the shutout going.
• Rubio picked up his 5th yellow, which means we won't see him for a couple of weeks.  He's going to miss the Seattle and LA games while with the Chilean National Team, then will serve his suspension the following game.
• Robin Fraser already has more points in 2019 than Anthony Hudson.

Man of the Match: Jonathan Lewis, obviously.