Opening Night!

The last major event at Lumen.  Go Hawks!!!

Its taken us a while to get here, and we're in Seattle without a couple of faces we would have expected to be there, but its time to get the last summer season underway.  OF course we have to stat in one of our cursed places, Seattle's Lumen Field.  But perhaps the stunning 3 goal comeback last season has broken that curse.  Regardless kickoff tomorrow is at 7:15pm on both Apple TV and FS1.  The official Rapids watch party is at DNVR, C38 is having their kickoff event at the Celtic as is tradition.

Also a reminder that MLS Season Pass on Apple is no longer a thing.  MLS is now folded into Apple TV so a subscription gets you the Rapids, F1, Ted Lasso, and my personal favorite, Slow Horses.

Availability Report:

OUT: Ali Fadal (abdomen)

I'm sure its just coincidence that our only injury is an international player when we have seven internationals and six international spots...

Going out on a bit of a limb here as with a new season and a new coach its always tough to predict what a lineup will look like.  The three biggest guesses are who the third midfielder will be alongside Ojediran and Aaronson and who else will be on the back line with Cannon and Holding.

For center back I went with Cobb due to his experience but if its murphy or Herrington I won't be too shocked.  I would have had Vines as the starter at  left back giving Navarro a bit more time to integrate but tonight's news blew that out of the water so I'm going to go with the newest signing assuming we have his paperwork.  Otherwise it will be Travis.  Last but not least the Atencio/Ronan question in midfield.  Wells mentioned about pulling out some surprises and I think this is the place it happens, with Ronan playing the forward midfield/10 spot with Aaronson behind him.

Prediction: 3-2 loss, goals by Navarro and Yapi.  A high scoring game like this seems like a stretch but Wells' style appears to be up-tempo, high pressing, and attacking the goal.  Meanwhile the Sounders have a number of center back injuries and I don't yet trust our back line.  Those are all ingredients for a high-scoring game.  In the end though Seattle has more talent than us and are at home, so they get the win.