Newcomers In Town

 

Mesa Verde National Park

Expansion side San Diego FC makes its first ever trip to Colorado tomorrow and the Rapids hope to give them a rude welcome.  They're off to a hot start sitting 2nd in the West and 4th overall in the league, led by Chucky Lozano.  The good news is that the Rapids are getting somewhat healthy and we might even see the debut of Ted Ku-DiPietro, but likely only as a late sub.  Kickoff tomorrow is at the normal 7:30pm and there's a gorgeous day in the forecast.

Availability Report:

OUT: M Ali Fadal (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: GK Adam Beaudry (ankle); M Connor Ronan (appendix)

Reggie Cannon is back from his unexplained non-injury absence last week and yes, for the first time Ted KDP is not on the injury report.  Plus Sam Vines is not listed either.

Yes, we're wearing the alternate greens for this one.  No idea why other than, of course, for sales.  As to the expected lineup this is "expected" in the way of "after that mess last week how can Armas not bench Cabral and moved Djordje back to the middle?".  Of course I'm probably wrong and we'll see the same XI we've seen the last couple of weeks, but I hope not.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Mihailovic.  This has the possibility of being chaos ball tomorrow night.  The Rapids are going to press high and go direct when they win the ball, while San Diego is going to look to hit quickly when they break the press.  We could see a lot of end-to-end action and I expect Steffen to be busy but up to the challenge.  That's going to take a lot out of San Diego's legs and by the end of the game I expect them to drag.  But our offensive woes continue and we won't be able to take advantage as both sides cancel out.