Roster Review/Preview

Game Week!  Game Week!  Yes, after an extra long offseason its time to start playing meaningful games again!  Over the next couple of days we'll get a roster review in (you're reading it now), a season preview, and my annual predictions.

Before we get to that though, one news item of note.  The Rapids announced today that fans will be allowed into the Dick for games at about 45% capacity.  If you have season tickets through C38 (like me) they've got everyone covered.  We'll all be socially distanced in our own groups of 2-4 people, but we'll be there.  I'm passing on the home opener as I'll only be 4 days post second vaccine shot but after that I plan to be in 117 every game I can.  If you have your tickets through the Rapids you'll be able to contact them starting Thursday to get your options figured out.

Now, on with the roster review/preview.  The Rapids only lost 5 players from the 2020 roster, and the only two that actually played in 2020 were released/traded during the season (Kamara and Nicholson).  Combined they had 11 appearances for a total of 696 minutes.  Along with those two Deklan Wynne, Niki Jackson, and Abdul Rwatubaye were released at the end of the season not having made a 2020 appearance.

Added in the offseason were one experienced player (Barrios), one draftee (Mayaka), and four homegrown players, two from the Academy (Larraz, Yapi) and two by trade (Toure, Edwards).

So essentially we're entering 2021 with the same roster we entered 2020 with.  Barrios alone should make up for the minutes and stats Kamara and Nicholson contributed (Kamara had 3 goals and an assist, Nicholson didn't make the scoresheet).  The Rapids are counting on their extremely young roster to improve year over year in order to improve their results.  Generally I don't favor that strategy, especially given where Colorado is trying to get to (something more than just barely making the playoffs) but I think in this instance, with COVID making international acquisitions difficult and playing havoc with budgets, it was probably the pragmatic thing to do.  The only player who didn't spend 2020 in the U.S. that the Rapids acquired was HG Michael Edwards who has spent the last couple of years in Germany with Wolfsburg, but as an American its a lot easier for him to come home than trying to get a new international signing through the extra COVID protocols.

So here's our "2-deeps", to steal a football term:

GK: William Yarbrough, Clint Irwin - I think its clear that Yarbrough will continue to be the starter based on playing time in preseason, but Irwin is a very capable backup.

RB: Keegan Rosenberry, Kortne Ford(?) - Rosenberry has been very reliable at RB but its odd the Rapids loaned out both Seb Anderson and Jeremy Kelly, the natural backups for Keegan.  I know they can recall them at any time but we have no real depth at RB without them.  Ford would be the most likely to step in I think, but Beitashour and Moor could both fill in in a pinch

CB: Lalas Abubakar, Auston Trusty/Danny Wilson, Drew Moor - Abubakar is the clear #1 at CB, but his partner is still a bit up in the air.  Trusty and Wilson seem like 2A and 2B.  Moor is currently the #4 but maybe Ford can work his way back into the rotation.  While I'm not worried about any of our top 4, none of them stand out.  Lalas, when he's on his game, can be one of the better CB's in the league but he's still inconsistent.  Everyone else is MLS quality but nothing more yet.

LB: Sam Vines, Steven Beitashour - Sam Vines was ironman last year, playing every minute of every game until the playoff match, and then we started Acosta despite signing Beitashour to be Vines' backup.  We seem to have learned our lesson as Beiatshour has been getting plenty of time in preseason in order to be ready to step in if needed.  The failure of the Olympic team has a silver liming as Vines won't miss a chunk of the season at the Olympics, but he may still be called up given the busy schedule the full National Team has this year with the Nations League, Gold Cup, and World Cup Qualifying.  Beitashour will be fine as a spot backup but if Vines were to pick up a long-term injury we could have a problem.

DM: Jack Price, Collen Warner - Captain Jack is the  closest thing we have to a destroyer on this squad (more on that later this week) and he will probably serve some suspensions this season for card accumulation.  Warner will be a capable spot backup.

Holding Mid: Kellyn Acosta/Cole Bassett - I expect these two to trade off starts most of the season.  Both are fringe National Team players and should be able to handle the role.  Going to be hard for our young midfielders like Mayaka to push them out for playing time.

Attacking Mid: Younes Namli, Nicolas Mezquida - We need a big season from our only DP, Namli.  He showed flashes last year and was arguably our second most important player, but he needs to step up and be the clear MVP if the Rapids are going to content for MLS Cup.  Mezquida will be a good super-sub off the bench  but I don't expect to see him start in Namli's place very often.

RW: Michael Barrios, Braian Galvan - Barrios is the question mark this season.  He seemed to be critical to the Dallas attack but then fell out of favor in big D.  Can he return to that form in Colorado?  If so he could be a big improvement for the Rapids and another threat in the attack.  Galvan is young, and cocky, but has some great skills on the ball.  Clearly another super-sub option on the bench.

LW: Nicholas Benezet/Jonathan Lewis - Really this position is a question mark.  Either of these guys, or Andre Shinyashiki, could start opening day.  If its the latter we may see Shinyashiki play more centrally as a second forward off Rubio's shoulder while the other two are clear wingers.  If we stick with a winger then I expect Benezet to start as Lewis still hasn't grabbed that role yet.

S: Diego Rubio, Andre Shinyashiki - We are thin up front and neither of these guys are likely to set the league on fire.  Rubio may have double digit goals in him, but he's not scoring 15+.  ~12 should be enough though if the rest of the team chips in at a rate they did last year.  This position will be a false 9, drawing defenders and delivering the ball to attackers cutting in from all around him.  If defenders decide to worry about the other threats and back off of Rubio he's going to make them pay.  But if the other attackers can't deliver and the defense puts the clamps on our one forward we're in a world of hurt.  Shinyashiki doesn't bring that much different to the role than Rubio does, but the drop off between them isn't that big either which is good for depth.

Bench: Michael Edwards, Oliver Larraz, Yaya Toure, Will Vint, Darren Yapi - A bunch of young guys with no professional experience.  Once we get past our first and second XI its a mystery to what we have.  But its better that its in the third XI and not further up than that.

So that's the roster as we hit Opening Day.  Lots of competition between the first and second team, but not a lot of stars standing out.  MLSsoccer.com's preview of the top 5 players at each position in the league didn't include a single Rapid anywhere.  Which,, outside of Vines, is probably fair.  But I would bet that if you did the worst 5 starters at each position in the league there would be no Rapids either.  This roster is built to be young and to be greater than the sum of its parts.  We'll see if it works.