You Get A Callup! And You Get A Callup! And You Get A Callup!

The U.S. announced its Gold Cup roster today and there was a surprise leader (tied) for the team with the most callups, the Colorado Rapids.  Along with Atlanta both teams had 3 people on the roster.  Jonathan Lewis, Kellyn Acosta, and Sam Vines will all be wearing the red, white, and blue in July.  They are expected to depart after the Independence Day game on Sunday.  Apparently because he was part of the Nations League squad the Galaxy arranged with the Nats to keep Sebastian Lletget through the midweek game on Wednesday, I'm crossing my fingers that the Rapids get the same consideration for Kellyn Acosta's time on the Nations League squad.

This is great news for the trio of players, and it reflects well on the Rapids.  But its going to make for a rough month for the club.  Acosta doesn't have a great backup in midfield, and he's the primary backup for Sam Vines.  So we're going to play 4-5 games without the trio, depending on how far the U.S. gets (I'm assuming they at least get out of the group stage).  In response to this the team has recalled Jeremy Kelly from his loan to Phoenix today, which will give us a bit more depth at outside back.

If I had to guess I bet we see some combination of Kelly, Beitashour (if he can get healthy) and maybe even a recalled Seb Anderson filling in for Vines.  We even saw Galvan play there for a few minutes against Cinci.  For Acosta (and remember, we're already missing Namli) its likely Bassett drops back more and we see Shinyashiki or Benezet playing above Bassett and Warner.  If we want to be more defensive we leave Bassett forward and see Warner or Larraz behind him.  We'll miss Lewis' energy off the bench but we do have some cover there, the biggest beneficiary will likely be Galvan.

If there's any good news, its that those 4-5 games aren't a murder's row of opponents.  Minnesota at home, where there's a chance we'll still have Acosta, SJ and Dallas at home, both teams look pretty bad, and then FSL and Austin on the road.  I hate going to Sandy without this trio, that makes that game even harder despite FSL looking awful.  Austin should be a game we can get a result in, but I said that when they came here for the home opener.  Then a week after the Gold Cup final, when everyone should be back and rested, we get SKC at home.