After a rough offseason where many (including me) were openly questioning the plan given that the team hadn't signed anyone other than Sam Bassett after making the trade for defensive cover in Awaziem and Murphy.. Once they moved preseason from Mexico to Florida though the moves started flying. We added Ali Fadal, Ted Ku-DiPietro, and Josh Atencio, the latter two filling a couple of big areas of need (winger and d-mid). There's still a bit of a hole when it comes to a backup for Navarro (especially with Yapi injured to start the season) and we might be a bit light in depth in a couple of areas, but it finally feels like the Rapids aren't letting the league run away from them.
That said, I don't know that we're going to see a significant improvement either. 39 games minimum (34 league, 2 CCC, 3 Leagues Cup) from this group is a lot to ask out of our starters, and our backups still feel raw. Those added competitions are compressed with 4 games in two weeks to start the season and 5 games in 15 days across the Leagues Cup weeks. We saw what happened last season after using pretty much the first XI through the Leagues Cup, our legs were dead to finish the season.
Its clear the strategy this offseason was to stock up on youth. We added two U-22s in Ted KDP and Atencio, traded for a smorgasbord of draft picks in this year's and the next two year's drafts, and our one international signing was also a 21 year-old. At 28 and 25 Awaziem and Murphy were our oldest new faces. I think the goal by the Front Office was to hold serve this year and be happy to make the playoffs while hopefully avoiding the wild-card game, then see that youth come to fruition in 2026 and 2027. For a club that doesn't have that much support from ownership (though they did cough up cash for KDP) its probably a smart play but in reinforces the point that KSE isn't investing in their team. Also by trading away half our international slots the focus has turned to young domestic players, but those could be reinforced by internationals once those slots come back next offseason.
There has been talk from Matt Doyle and Tom Bogert that their sources are indicating we'll play a 3-5-2 this season, but the public talk from Armas has reinforced the commitment to the 4-5-1 we used last season. The preseason games have seemed to reflect that as well. The 3-5-2 would solve our fullback problem by turning Vines and Cannon into wing-backs, but it forces somebody (likely Cabral) to play more forward than they are really suited for, or relies on Yapi too much. Its also a formation that doesn't really need a player like Atencio.
Meanwhile the 4-5-1 fits our midfield pieces and we have Navarro as the lone striker, but it does raise the question of how you use Rosenberry, Cannon, Maxso, Awaziem, and Vines. That's 5 starter-level defenders for 4 spots Maybe the plan/assumption is that between work load, injury, and possibly national team duties it won't be often all 5 are available to start so they'll rotate through positions as needed.
It obvious Navarro will start up top and I think we'll see the Mihailovic-10/Bassett-8 paring most often, with Cabral on one wing. I give the nod to Ku-DiPietro and Atencio to get the majority of minutes at the other midfield spots, but Larraz, KSB, and both Harris' will push them. I'm not convinced Fernandez, Ronan, or S. Bassett will see a lot of time.
With that, on to my predictions:
- Its one series and done in the CCC. Our track record at LAFC is very bad and I don't see that changing this early in the season.
- Likewise the new Leagues Cup format puts us at a disadvantage and we don't progress. In fact our chances are so unlikely that going into our final game against Cruz Azul in LA Armas pulls the rip cord and uses a heavily rotated roster to save legs for the run-in to the playoffs.
- The Rapids do make the playoffs, but they host the wild-card game (8th overall). They actually win the wild-card game before bowing out in the next round.
- Sadly they end up in the wild-card because the curse of Sandy bites us again and we lose the Rocky Mountain Cup in the next-to-last regular-season match (I'm half tempted to say we retain it after points & goals are tied, but I've seen this story too many times before).
- At some point, either just before the window closes in May or when the window opens this summer, the Rapids make a move for a short-term backup striker.
- Mihailovic is once again named Player of the Year and makes a run at Valderrama's record of 16 assists in a season
- Navarro is the Golden Boot but will not get to 16 to tie Rubio and Casey.
- Steffen, Mihailovic, and Bassett all get call-ups this year
- This is the last year Yapi really features for this team. He may still be on the roster in 2026 but as a deep bench option only.
- Atencio will be seen as the sneaky-good acquisition of this offseason, justifying the expense.
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