First Scrimmage Tomorrow and Welcome Back Mezquida

Tomorrow (Saturday) we get our first chance to look at the Rapids, though not a real chance to look at any new Rapids.  Their first game in the Desert Showcase against SKC is tomorrow at 4pm and will be available on the Rapids website.  It will be geolocked to Altitudes broadcast region however, so if you live outside the mountain states, good luck.  This is a stupid policy that most MLS teams instutied a few years ago and needs to go away.  Three of the four preseasons matches will be streamed this way, next Saturday's in Tucson match will be streamed and geolocked to Altitude, and then the closed-door match with Orlando on the 11th will be streamed by Orlando and geolocked to Central Florida.  The Rapids also have a closed-door match on the 1st but that will not be streamed.

Of course we don't know who we're going to see tomorrow, because the Rapids have gone radio silent since they entered preseason.  The amount of information the team gives out has always been somewhat random, some years being more open than others, but this is the quietest I've ever seen it.  We don't even have a preseason roster of who's in camp.  Fans and media, particularly Joseph Samuelson, have done a good job piecing things together from the few photos that are out there.  What we know is that two of our big "new" signings will not be part of the team tomorrow.  Bryan Acosta is with the Honduran National Team and for some reason Max has yet to leave Brazil, based on his social media posts.  Presumably Keita is in camp though nobody has confirmed that.  Both our draft picks will be available as they've been seen in training photos.

Of course there's still a large hole at #9, since we still haven't made the signing we're all waiting for.  I'll have more about this next week, but we're approaching too little too late time on that signing when it comes to the CCL, which knocks a hole into the way the team has been talking about taking it more seriously this year.

On a brighter note, Colorado announced they re-signed Nicholas Mezquida today.  Its a one year deal with a second team option year and the deal is structured so that Mezquida will be added to the supplemental roster and thus won't count against the cap.  There's also an unofficial report that Mezquida has received his green card and won't count as an international, something I was told last year would be likely by now.  Assuming that's true being able to re-sign him as a supplemental domestic player makes this a no brainer.  He's reportedly great in the locker room and has the right skills to be a solid sub off the bench.  Last year's $300K+ against the cap was a bit much for an international sub, but two big changes makes him a valuable retention going into a year where we'll need depth.

I'll be back later this weekend with a recap of tomorrow's friendly.