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.