Catching Up On The News

Sorry for the lack of updates.  Since late February I've been unemployed and job hunting.  Good news is that last week I accepted a new position as QA Manager of the SketchUp desktop team so things should start getting back to normal as we come into the season.

For now, we've got a lot of news to catch up on.  Here we go, in no particular order.

• The USSF has once again revised the 2021 U.S. Open Cup due to COVID.  Now the competition will start with the Round of 16 with 8 MLS teams.  The top 8 teams on PPG on May 2nd will qualify.  This will be after the first 3 games of the season, except Columbus, FSL, and the Rapids will have only played two (thus why they're using PPG).  So if the Rapids can beat Dallas and Austin to start the season they should qualify to play in this year's competition (I suppose its possible that 9 teams could go 2-0-0/3-0-0 but it seems unlikely)
• The Rapids loaned Abe Rodriguez, Michael Edwards, Matt Hundley, Seb Anderson, and Philip Mayaka to the Colorado Springs for 2021.  The first four of those all make total sense.  There have been a few eyebrows raised for Mayaka, considered the consensus number 1 pick in the draft, being loaned out.  I'm pretty sure this has more to do with the Rapids internationals slots than him.  Mayaka requires an international slot and with him the Rapids have 8 international players and only 6 slots.  I know they are working on green cards for some of their longer-term internationals.  My bet is that they expect to get those green cards during the season for at least two players.  At which point they'll bring Mayaka back to Commerce City and send somebody like Yapi to the Springs.  Until them Mayaka will get more playing time than he probably would in MLS.
• As I'm sure many readers are aware, the U-23s lost to Honduras in Olympic Qualifying on Sunday, which means the U.S. fails to qualify for the 2021 Tokyo Games.  Lewis and Vines both started the game and both had off games.  For Lewis the tournament showed why people think he should be a starter in MLS...and why he hasn't yet locked down a starting spot.  Vines had arguably the best tournament of anyone despite his meh game on Sunday and is seen by many as the field player most likely to have an impact going forward.
• The Rapids continued their perfect preseason on Saturday, beating New Mexico united 1-0 on a Shinyashiki goal.  They've won every game so far, outscoring their opponents 6-0.  The lineup for this one:

Yarbrough

Rosenberry - Abubakar - Wilson - Beitashour

Price - Bassett

Namli - Mezquida - Barrios

Shinyashiki

After full subs in the 70th minute  (Trusty entered for Wilson at half)

Irwin

Beitashour - Moor - Trusty - Wilkerson

Warner - Toure

Bassett - Larraz - Benezet

Yapi

• Colorado dropped its Class 5 kit on Friday.  A mint green with darker green highlights.  I appreciate the Rapids doing something other than a white kit for the road/alternate kit, and I think this looks better than either flag kit they did.  Still, its not for me.  I don't particularly like the color mint green.  So while I'll pass on picking it up, kudos to the Front Office for the job they did on this (minus naming it Class 5 after climbing route and not Class VI after rapids).