Rapids Left Wondering How They Didn't Lose, And How They Didn't Win

So, that was a game.  Lots of quality play from both sides up until the finishing.  Both teams had gimme chances to win the game in the last few minutes, and both teams flubbed them.  A 1-1 draw is probably a fair result even though the stats heavily favored KC throughout the game.

Random Thoughts:

• I got a good laugh at the KC keeper wanting an offside on Lewis' goal.  The goal came from his original shot being blocked and rebounding back to him.  You can't be offside on your own shot.
• BTW, that was the only shot on goal the Rapids had all night.  Not good.
• Lots of Rapids fans complaining about the foul that se up KC's goal.  Yeah, the KC attacker made a meal of it, but it was a foul.
• I also saw some fans complaining about Yarbrough on the free kick.  What?  2010 Tim Howard wasn't stopping that.  Yarbrough set the wall well, covered the far post, and Russell hit a beautiful free kick to score.  Yarbrough didn't need to make a dice at it just to "look good" because he wasn't getting there.  Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team and say, "well done".
• Abubakar getting a yellow card in the 24th minute for time wasting is a thing that happened.  Not a thing you see very often though.
• Likewise it looked like Esteves got a yellow card seconds into his MLS debut but it was actually Trusty getting it for time wasting for kicking the ball away.
• Somehow Danny Wilson was the only one of our back line not to get a yellow card on Saturday.
• Cole Bassett was...not good.  He gave the ball away multiple times and the less said about the gift-wrapped chance to steal 3 points he put off the bar the better.  If you want to know why we're not getting big bids for him, the last couple of games is why.  Hopefully that miss is the mental wakeup call he needs and doesn't crush him the way the PK miss Dillon Powers had in Salt Lake did.
• Ok, one note on that miss, great setup pass from Barrios.
• With the draw and Seattle's loss to Portland last night the Rapids are 0.01 PPG behind Seattle for first place in the West
• The Bodmer Line is down to 0.43 pts/game.  We need two wins the rest of the way to make it to the line.
• Next up, San Jose in the Bay Area on Saturday while Phish commences its annual takeover of the Dick for the holiday weekend.

Man of the Match: Auston Trusty.  Not only for the goal line save late to preserve the draw, but for solid defensive play all night while facing a ton of pressure.  He's the heavy leader for Defensive Player of the Year IMO.

Another Top Of The Table Clash

Clash of the Titans!

How often do the Rapids get to say "another" top of the table clash about themselves?  This time its off to KC to play Sporting tomorrow night.  SKC is 2nd on points, 3rd in PPG while the Rapids are 3rd on points and 2nd in PPG.  This is the last look we'll get a KC this season (besides a possible playoff matchup) so it would be good to pull out a win.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7pm and good luck on TV.

Injury Report:

OUT: M Younes Namli

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: M Jack Price, F Diego Rubio

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: D Danny Wilson, M Collen Warner

Its going to be kind of important for Price to not pick up a yellow card tomorrow.  Next week's game against San Jose will be during the international window, and Acosta and Kaye were called up by their national teams.  So we can't really afford to lose Price as well for that match.

Everyone is rested and healthy (other than Namli) and we have a full week of rest after this match so there's no reason not to expect the full starting XI in this one.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Rubio.  These teams have equal defenses while SKC has a better offense than Colorado.  They will have a couple of players missing, and a couple of players who had to travel to LA for the All-Star Game this week.  I think that will even things out, along with Fraser getting this team to play better almost every game.

Rough Night For Me, Good Night For Colorado

This is going to be a very different game review.  As I was preparing to head out to the Dick for the match Saturday night our elderly cat collapsed with breathing issues.  Less than 2 hours later he had crossed the rainbow bridge.  I was actually home before the match started and paid fairly good attention to the first half on TV, but after halftime I lost my focus.  So I can't really speak well to the match overall.  I've got a few comments but that's it for this week.

• First and foremost, as Fraser and number of the players have said, good teams find a way to win games when they play poorly.  The Rapids did that on Saturday night.  They were arguably the second best team on the field for all but 15 minutes, but they were the best team on the scoreboard
• Essentially Fraser out-coached FSL.  His subs made the difference and Salt Lake was slow to adjust.  By the time they did, we had the lead
• With the win the RMC is tied on points and FSL is up 4-2 on goals.  That means the Rapids must win in Sandy in October to win the Cup.  A FSL win or a draw means the Cup stays on that side of the mountains for 2022.  The margin of victory in the game doesn't matter, either way
• Some FSL fans are saying we got "lucky" because of VAR.  Sorry, both of those were the right call, no luck needed
• Bassett did not look good out on the left.  We knew that once Acosta got back Fraser would have a difficult decision on who had to make way for him.  Saturday he made the wrong choice.  Bassett doesn't have a role in this starting XI right now
• Galvan does however.  I think he's the clear choice to start on the wing opposite Bassett
• The Rapids finish the night third in the league in PPG, and second in the West behind Seattle
• We're now in the All-Star break where, despite being the third best team, the Rapids have no All-Stars.  That's good as that lets them rest for their trip to KC next week
• The Bodmer Line is down to 0.47 pts/game

Man of the Match: There's only one choice for me.  My Man in Black (one of his many nicknames), Kipsy.  He dealt with me yelling at the TV through 11.5 Rapids seasons.  You'll be missed old man.

Lets Do This!

 

For any uncultured heathens who don't recognize that image, its Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams in the 1992 cult hit Army of Darkness.  Tomorrow, we are Ash and his medieval army standing against the Deadites from Salt Lake.  In short FSL?  Come get some!  Kickoff tomorrow night is at 7pm.  (Sorry, I'm in a weird mood tonight)  

The Rocky Mountain Cup standings currently sit at 3 points and 3 goals for the Deadites, 0 of either for the forces of good.  The Cup is decided on points though, not goals, so two 1-0 wins and we win the Cup.  If its a win and a draw though then it goes to goals.  A tie in goals means the current holders of the Cup (aka us) retains it.  So a loss tomorrow and we lose the Cup.  A draw and we have to go to Sandy in October and win by 3.  A win by 1 or 2 tomorrow we have to go to Sandy and win by any amount.  A win by 3 or more means we only have to draw in Sandy.

Injury Report:

OUT: M Younes Namli

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: M Jack Price, F Diego Rubio

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: D Danny Wilson, M Collen Warner

We have got confirmation from the Rapids that Acosta is available tomorrow, so with the exception of Namli Fraser has his full roster to pick from.  Likewise Ramirez is the only player not available for FSL, so you've got two almost full-strength teams going at it.

Based on who started on Tuesday and who rested I feel fairly confident about our front 3.  I think the middle 3 are fairly obvious as well, though if Acosta is rusty we would see Bassett start in his place again.  The back for are pretty standard, though if Esteves is ready to start we could see him, but I have my doubts that Fraser wants to make that change in this game without him having even made the 18 yet.

Prediction: 2-0 win, goals by Rubio and Barrios.  FSL actually has a slightly better attack than us and a slightly worse defense.  They've just picked bad places to break down this season which is why they're so far behind us in the standings.  That said, they had one less day of rest than us and are travelling, while we have the home advantage and the confidence from last year's comeback.  I think we make an effort to level the series but don't quite make it, meaning we have to go to Sandy and win in October.

Rapids Show They Aren't The Same Old Rapids In LA

Lets be honest.  Two games in a row on the road in 72 hours, the second against the Galaxy?  Most seasons Rapids fans would hope two win one of the two and be thrilled to get 4 points total.  Not these Rapids.  Colorado showed up in LA, put out half their starting lineup, and went toe to toe with the Galaxy into the second half.  Then Fraser subbed on a couple of starters and successfully went for a win.  This was a statement game for the team, not because this team wasn't good before this, but because it showed that we're not going to circle the wagons in "tough" games, we think we can beat anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Random Thoughts:

• Lets talk about the officiating.  It sucked.  Petrescu and his VAR had a rough night.  Lucky for them it didn't change the outcome of the match.  The Rapids got their first goal from a PK that VAR had to send down, and they could have had two more before the midpoint of the first half.  Fraser got so upset by the missed calls that he got a yellow barely 20 minutes into the match.
• Of course Colorado got those PK shouts because they came out and took the match to the Galaxy.  Lewis speed was letting him get behind defenders early and they had no recourse but to knock him down.  After about 20 minutes LA got their legs under them but by then they were down a goal.
• The Galaxy's goal was a great shot after some chaos in the box.  Hard to pin on any one person, sometimes they just go the other team's way.
• After halftime the game tilted more towards the Galaxy, at least in the form of possession and chances.  At no point after the PK though did the Galaxy ever lead the Rapids in expected goals.
• Yarbrough had to come up with a save of the week in the 50th minute, stoning a Galaxy header from inside the 6, huge play.
• Once again the Rapids scored off a Price corner kick.  Captain Jack, Set Piece Pirate.
• I don't know what deity Bassett has pissed off, but that's 3 posts/bars in two games.  Hopefully he breaks this curse against FSL.
• The Rapids were less than smart with the ball late.  Early in stoppage Rubio was fouled near midfield and immediately got up and took a quick kick to try to catch LA napping.  Except his kick went right to a LA defender.  Then a minute or so later Bassett got into the box and took a low percentage shot that he was lucky to get a corner out of.  You're up 2-1 in stoppage time, hold the ball and kill the clock.
• Good news, Acosta will be available for the Rocky Mountain Cup match on Saturday.
• Kort Ford won't be there though, as he was loaned out to San Antonio today for the rest of the season (with the Rapids having recall rights).  He'll be able to team up with Axel Sjoberg who's now playing there.
• The Bodmer Line is now at a low 0.625 pts/game.
• In 2016 we were at 34 points after 18 games.  In 2021 we're at 34 points after 18 games.  In 2016 we won our 19th game.
• As mentioned a couple of times, that 19th game this year is our home Rocky Mountain Cup match.  We're down 3 points and 3 goals after the first match.  A win gets us level meaning a win in Sandy in October wins the Cup.  Winning by 3 or more means a draw in October gets us the Cup.

Man of the Match: Jonathon Lewis.  Put into a new position from kickoff he was dangerous and drew a PK, then scored a banger from the spot.  He should have had a second PK if the CR and VAR didn't want to give two PKs in less than 20 minutes via VAR.  Good to see him get a game like that in.

Battle Of Top Teams In LA-LA Land

When was the last time we could claim that a Rapids game was a battle  of top teams?  With Colorado in 4th on PPG and the Galaxy in 3rd, just .01 PPG ahead, you can claim it tomorrow night.  As mentioned yesterday the team flew straight to Southern California so they've gotten their jet lag out of them already.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 8:30pm wherever you can find it on TV.

Injury Report:

OUT: M Younes Namli

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: F Diego Rubio

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: M Jack Price

As mentioned yesterday Rubio and Price flip-flopped positions on the Disciplinary Report.  Acosta is not officially listed but I'm willing to bet that if he hadn't been cleared from his positive COVID test on Saturday he won't be cleared 3 days later.  Hopefully we'll have him back for the RMC match on Saturday.  He can use the rest after his big Gold Cup.

I'm guessing one of our three primary center backs will get some rest tomorrow, I picked Wilson as the oldest and the one coming back from injury but it could be any of the three.  Likewise I expect rotation in midfield with Kaye getting the rest, but it could be Price.  Rubio's return from injury on Saturday has me thinking he'll get a break as to not overdue it and be ready for Saturday.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Barrios.  The Galaxy have a slightly better offense but a much worse defense than us.  Both teams are facing big rivalry games this weekend and will likely be rotating players.  I think neither side is going to want to overextend themselves midweek and will play conservatively, eventually settling for splitting the points.

Rapids End Frist Half Of The Season On A Winning Note

Its a tight turnaround for the Rapids and the ones who blog about them.  Its also the midpoint of the season with 17 games played and 17 to go.  So I'm going to do a combined game review and state of the Rapids at mid-season tonight before my game preview for the Galaxy game on Tuesday tomorrow night.

First of all, the match.  The Rapids beat a bad team, but they did it in convincing fashion.  Houston had a lot of the play but never felt like they were likely to win, and once Colorado retook the lead (and certainly after they doubled their advantage) it felt like the Rapids were going to win.  This wasn't a great defensive performance, against a better team its likely it would take less than a PK to score against us.  Offensively though we took (most of) our chances and left town with a 3-1 win,

Most of our shots, because apparently the post insulted Bassett's mother or something.  Cole put two great shots off the same post in the second half.  Finishing those would have made it a blowout.  BTW, Galvan is looking sneaky good.  For a guy we don't talk much about he's actually got the best G/90 average on the team.  A hat-tip to Jack Price for getting through his 5th straight game without a card, which means he gets one knocked off his total for good behavior taking him off the "one form suspension" list.  On the flip side Rubio got his 4th so he's now on that list.

So the PK that ended the half was a stone cold penalty.  The only question around it was when it was called.  Even before the PK was called I was raising an eyebrow at how long the ref had let Houston go beyond 3 minutes to finish their attack.  However a ref friend reminded me how stoppage time works.  The number shown is the minimum amount of time that will be played.  That's because they just throw up a whole number of minutes, not minutes and seconds.  If the ref felt that 3 minutes and 30 seconds were wasted during the half, the ref would say a minimum of 3 minutes would be played and then play 3 minutes and 30 seconds.  Technically he could want to play 5 minutes and only show 3, but that would get him marked down on his assessment.  As long as they haven't played 4 minutes anything between 3 and 4 is a valid place to end the half.  The PK was called somewhere around 3:50.  So I think its borderline but justifiable.  Thank god for VAR correctly calling the PK on Yarbrough off for offside.

BTW after the game the Rapids flew straight to LA for Tuesday's game.  That makes sense but with the league's current COVID protocol's prioritizing travelling on game day I wasn't sure they would do that.

On to the season review, right now we're in 4th place on PPG (if Seattle doesn't beat Portland we'll move up to 3rd), which is a touch higher than I predicted we'll end the season.  I did say we'd push 4th place all season before settling for 5th, but I didn't expect there to be quite such a gap between us and 5th.  Right now Minnesota in 5th (joined by Portland if they win) is closer to 10th placed Dallas on PPG than they are to us in 4th.  That's a nice little cushion to have.

A cushion we could very well need.  Over the first half of the season we averaged a game every 7 days.  Over the second half that average will drop to every 4.8 days.  Also in the first half we had 6 games against teams currently in a playoff position, we went 2-2-2 in those games.  In the second half of the season we'll have 11 games against teams currently in a playoff position.  If we match our performance from the first half with the new playoff/non-playoff spit we'd end up just around 1.7 PPG.  Good enough for 4th right now but not better than that (and would just about tie our all-time best season of 2016).

In short we're going to have harder games coming faster than we did in the first half.  We play every weekend from here to the end of the season, and we mix 5 mid-week games in there as well.  The real tough stretch is the last two weeks of October where we go Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday-Wednesday-Sunday, with the last two games of that stretch being in Boston and Houston.  

Barrios is my MVP for the first half.  5 goals and 4 assists puts him on pace for an combined 18 goals and assists for the season.  The last Rapid to do that was Conor Casey's 13 goals & 6 assists in 2010.  The other good news is that we did most of this without Namli, and we haven't seen Acosta in a month and a half.  Despite that its been the rare game we haven't been in until the finish (Austin, @SKC, @FSL).  Our goals against is second best in the league (with the caveat that most teams have played 1-2 more games than us), and of the 17, 9 of them were given up in the 3 games I mentioned.  Our offense is right in the middle of the pack (but again, caveat) which isn't bad for a team without a single player who's the big threat.

It will still be a challenge to keep 4th place with our remaining schedule, but we've set ourselves up well to challenge for a home playoff game.  If we can pull it off, we're a danger to anyone in the playoffs.

Man of the Match: William Yarbrough.  Had some big saves to keep us in the match while things were still a bit up in the air early in the second half.

Big Week Starts In Houston

The Rapids start another 3 games in a week stretch tomorrow with another trip to Texas, this time Houston, to take on the Dynamo.  That will be followed on Tuesday night with a trip out to the coast to meet the Galaxy, and then finish with the Rocky Mountain Cup showdown back home on Saturday.  Its a tough stretch where each game gets bigger and bigger as you go.  For tomorrow night kickoff is at 6:30pm MT and no, the TV situation hasn't changed.

Injury Report:

OUT: M Younes Namli

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: M Jack Price

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: F Diego Rubio

This is where I would usually put in my best guess at a starting XI but honestly, I have no idea.  You've got a team starting 3 games with a hot and humid game on the road.  We will, presumably, get Acosta back for the first time since he left for the gold Cup.  Lucas Esteves is available for selection.  Wilson and Rubio are apparently healthy.  Oh, and there's only 72 hours off until our next match also on the road.  Fraser could decide to roll out more of a B team thinking that Houston is the "easiest" of the 3 games this week, though the Dynamo is undefeated at home.  or he could focus on the points in front of him and go at Houston with full force, which would likely mean more rotation against the Galaxy, who we're neck and neck with for 3rd place.  As much as I, and many other fans, want to see the most focus put on the FSL match next weekend in reality that might be the best place to heavily rotate the squad as its at home, but FSL is no pushover as we saw last month.

In the end my gut tells me we'll likely see a "tuned" lineup where we get some starters like Trusty and Acosta but also some guys with less minutes so far this season like a Lewis or maybe a Beitashour.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by Kaye.  Colorado is a better team than Houston, there's no doubt of that.  I think the frustration from not getting the job done last week is going to carry into this match and have the team coming in hungry.  It will be a slow game in the heat but Kaye will get his first as a Rapid and the Rapids will contain Houston's offense for the 3 points.

Sam Vines Possible First appearance For Antwerp On ESPN+ Tomorrow

Quick heads up, tomorrow's Royal Antwerp game is on ESPN+ at 12:40pm MT tomorrow.  Earlier this week in his pre-match press conference the Antwerp manager said that Antwerp's new players, including Sam Vines, would be available for selection.  Its a good chance we can see his first appearance with his new team tomorrow.

First Home Shutout Since 2018 Costs Us First Place

The Rapids played a better game against KC that almost any team this year.  We held them without a shot on goal and had an expected goals of almost 3.  The only problem is that none of our shots went in (legally).  Our first shutout at the Dick since October of 2018 in a scoreless draw is both a good result against a good team and a disappointment of leaving 2 points on the field.  With the Galaxy's draw on Sunday a win would have put us at the top of the West on PPG.  As it is we're actually 4th, but the top 4 teams are all within 0.14 PPG.  The gap between us and Minnesota in 5th is 0.22 PPG.

Random Thoughts:

• There will be some talking heads who discount this result because KC was playing a "heavily rotated" lineup, but it wasn't that much of a rotation.  3 significant starters were missing.
• Also if we're going to talk about missing starters, the Rapids were without Acosta, Rubio, and a defender (either Wilson or Esteves depending on which back 4 you prefer).
• Wilson and Rubio were both coming back from injury so I'm not shocked they didn't start.  Acosta was a surprise but apparently it was for "health and safety protocols", which almost certainly means he had close contact with somebody who tested positive for COVID-19.  Hopefully it was just precautionary and he'll be back for Houston.
• Really solid night from Rosenberry.  He was shutting everything down and making life miserable for KC.  I almost gave him my MOTM nod.
• Galvan has never met a cross he didn't think he could hit.  He was attacking the left side all night.  We need to use him more (and teach him that sometimes passing it back instead of forcing it is the right move).
• Good to see Lewis get some time as soon as he got back, but he had chances and didn't finish.  There's a rumor that Spanish Second Division side Lugo is interested in him and if the offer is good enough it might be time to move on.
• Waving off Abubakar's goal at the end of the game was the right call.  It was away from the play but Kaye cleared out a SKC defender right in front of the official.  That's a clear foul.
• This team would be a Cup favorite at this point if we had signed a #9 instead of Benezet.  That's really all that's missing.
• We now have 4 of the next 5 on the road, and the one home game is our Rocky Mountain cup match.  I think a fair target is to win that RMC match and pick up 6 points in the 4 road games.  That will put us in great shape for the home stretch.
• One notable former-Rapid picture today, Sam Vines officially signed for Royal Antwerp:

Man of the Match: Mark-Anthony Kaye.  Yes, he had the mistimed foul but otherwise he looked very good for somebody integrating with a new team for the first time.  I'm expecting big things going forward.

First Place Could Be On The Line Tomorrow Night

If the Galaxy doesn't win on Sunday then the winner in Commerce City tomorrow night will end the weekend on top of the West in PPG.  Last time Colorado faced SKC was before our 10-day break leading into the 4th of July and we lost 3-1 in KC.  We're a different looking team now, and KC will be coming here off a midweek game.  The Rapids may have the edge in this one.  Kickoff is at 7pm tomorrow and a heads up, I70 us going to be closed Westbound through town this weekend for construction.  TV is what it is.

Injury Report:

OUT: M Younes Namli

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: M Jack Price

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: F Diego Rubio

Hard to know exactly what we're going to get tomorrow with so many new players and returning players.  I'm guessing we're going to want to get Kaye into the mix immediately, and I think that makes Bassett the odd man out.  If Wilson isn't 100% we could see Trusty slide back to CB and Acosta take the LB spot, which would give Bassett an opening.  Its too early to see Esteves.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Barrios.  I'm not convinced we're SKC good yet, though the possibility is there.  SKC scores almost 2 goals a game, but we have a better defense than them.  I think we match up well enough to force an even game, with an even result.

Welcome Lucas Esteves!

As expected the Rapids announced the loan deal to bring Brazilian LB Lucas Esteves to the Rapids today.  The loan is for essentially one year, expiring at the end of June next year, and the Rapids have an option to buy him in the deal.  I expect that the rest of this season will essentially be a trial for him and we'd buy him on the offseason and get him on a contract that syncs up with the MLS season.

Esteves came up through the Palmieras youth system and has made 27 appearances with the first team since 2019.  He was also invited to Brazil's national team camp before the Copa America but has not yet been capped.  He won't be available tomorrow but I would hope it won't take long to get his visa sorted out.

Also today the Rapids loaned Ollie Larraz to the San Diego Loyal for the rest of the season.  I'm a little surprised by the move as Larraz has gotten a few appearances this season.  But this could be a case of having two players leave (Vines, Benezet) and adding three (Kaye, Badji, Esteves) and needing a free roster spot.  Also with the addition of Kaye the number of available minutes in midfield for somebody like Larraz is going to drop.  I'm excited for him to get some time under Loyal manager Landon Donovan though.  I gave LD a lot of crap during his career, some unfairly so during his break for his mental health, but since he took over as the manager of the Loyal he's been nothing but great.  Larraz could learn a lot from him.

Busy Final Transfer Window Day includes Goodbye To Vines

The Secondary Transfer Window closes in 2 hours, after which the only way a team can add players is if they're already out of contract.  The Rapids made two moves today and probably a third that won't be announced until tomorrow.  The big move was the one we had all been expecting, Sam Vines has been sold to Royal Antwerp in Belgium.  Technically he was still taking his medical and it could fall apart but a guy coming off playing in the Gold Cup final isn't going to fail his medical.  Royal Antwerp fans and media spent the day treating the signing as significant on social media, posting of Vines and his girlfriend Jess arriving at the airport, announcing the signing, and posting an image of him photoshopped into an Antwerp kit.  Its good to see a homegrown Rapid get this kind of publicity for going to Europe.

its unlikely Sam will play but this weeks Antwerp match will be live on ESPN+ at 5:30am Sunday morning.  Also if you're interested in a Sam Vines Antwerp kit they are available on the team website.  The kit is 80 Euros, with another 15 Euros to get a name and number on the back.  As of this afternoon Sam Vines was not available in the player selection when ordering one, but I assume he'll show up there eventually.

The Rapids, understandably, spent the day hyping the move.  Lots of social media posts showing his journey from a 13 year old Academy signing to today, an interview with him, and some shots of him saying goodbye to his teammates on Tuesday.

The team did not reveal any details of the transfer, but the rumor was $2 million dollars plus incentives and a sell-on clause.  There was a good article from Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium about the transfer.  In it they mention that his contract with the Rapids included a clause that let him move to Europe.  That sounds suspiciously to me like a release clause for European teams.  For those unfamiliar, its not unusual for a young player who's signing with a non-top club to have a release clause in the contract that will let him transfer if certain requirements are met regardless of what his current team wants.  Most often that's a "minimum fee" release clause, which means that as long as a team offers a transfer fee of at least the listed amount the player's current club has to accept the offer.  There can also be clauses like "if a team in a European continental competition makes a minimum offer" and such.  I'm thinking that when Sam signed a new contract a couple of years ago, knowing he wanted to go to Europe, he got a clause included and that explains why the rumored $2M fee is lower than what we're seeing from other MLS transfers this window.  If that's all that was needed to trigger the clause, that's all that would be offered.

Regardless, its huge for Sam and the Rapids.  Vines is going to a team that he'll be expected to win the starting job, and they'll be playing in the playoffs for the Europa League in two weeks.  The Rapids now have shown to their Academy kids how there's a path from the Academy to the first team to the National Team and then to Europe.  They also got a nice transfer fee and, should Vines play as well as we expect, some credibility with the next set of teams looking to buy our guys that we develop players well.

The other bit of official news today is that we traded Nicolas Benezet to the Sounders for $50K of GAM, with another $50K of GAM possible if he hits certain performance benchmarks.  Reports are that we kept part (probably most) of his salary on our books but that's fine.  We moved on from a player that wasn't working out and we freed up an international slot.  That's important because of the move that I expect will get done before the window closes but not announced until tomorrow.  There were multiple reports that Brazilian left back Lucas Esteves was in Colorado today to take his physical and finalize his loan deal from Palmeiras.  He will probably need some time to get his visa and acclimate to altitude, so I wouldn't expect to see him in the 18 for a couple of weeks, but he'll be a good option to try to fill the Vines-shaped hole at LB as we get into the second half of the season.

Rapids Bounce Back Big

This doesn't seem like a big win on the surface.  A top 4-5 team in the league beats the expansion team 1-0.  But when you dig deeper you see how much this means to the Rapids.  They bounced back from a poor performance at their rival.  They beat a team that handled them easily earlier this season.  And, most importantly, they did it missing half their starting lineup.  The 3 points keeps Colorado in the top tier of the table and finishes a July with a record of 3-2-1, which any of us would have taken going into this month missing Gold Cup players.  The only negative is that the one loss was the one game out of the six we did not want to lose.

Random Thoughts:

• Good bounce back game from Yarbrough after a couple of shaky games last week
• Its really hard to see, but it was Shinyashiki who got the goal, nutmegging the keeper, and not an own goal.  Good persistence from Andre.  Have to wonder if Badji's arrival has him pushing harder.
• Speaking of Badji, he was part of a very thin, very young, bench.  But the kids showed up and kept Austin off the board.
• That's largely because Austin is the gang that can't shoot straight.  They had far too many good chances for my liking but could only put 2 on target.
• Austin was whining to the ref from midway through the fist half to the end of the game.  It was...tiring to watch.
• We're almost halfway through the season and Barrios is looking like one of the best moves made by any team in the offseason.  Dallas has to be tired of losing good players (Barrios, Acosta, Moor, etc.) and playoff games to the Rapids.
• Warner put in a solid game.  That's exactly why we have him on the roster.  We need 3-4 of those games a season from him.
• You think Captain Jack liked Acosta's free kick assist in the Gold Cup final?  Learned from the master he did.
• Big shout out to all 3 of our Nats players for winning the Gold Cup.  Acosta was probably MOTM last night and Vines played about half the 120 minutes.  Lewis didn't feature as much but he got some time.
• Interesting decision to play Beitashour and Galvan as wingbacks.  his seems to be a trend as Pulisic was used as wingback in Chelsea's friendly this weekend.  It worked better than it did against KAFC and SKC, but Austin still had a lot of chances.
• The Bodmer Line is now at 0.895 pts/game.
• Next, SKC at home.  Last time we faced them it wasn't pretty, but it was on short rest.  Now, back at almost full strength this weekend and at home?  Might be a possibility of taking 3 points.

Man of the Match: Lalas Abubakar.  Real strong game from Lalas on Saturday.  He was everywhere shutting down Austin attacks.  Good to see him getting his groove back.