Herrington And Other Internationals

I've been trying to write this post all week but the Rapids keep making solid moves I need to talk about first.  Good problem to have.  Another good thing to have is Lucas Herrington who has been the biggest surprise of the season so far in my opinion.  I did not rate a guy coming over from the A-League as a solid starter but Herrington has arguably been our best (and certainly our most consistent) player over the first 5 games.

And I'm not the only one who has noticed.  Last week a rumor broke that he's being eyed by Everton and West Ham.  Now these type of rumors are always going around so take them with a large grain of salt but that's some notable interest for an 18 year old who has only 5 starts outside his home league.

He was also noticed by the Australian national team and got his first start and cap in their 1-0 win over Cameroon today (early this morning Denver time).  Not only that but he was named man of the match by fans.  You have to think he's got a decent chance to make the World Cup squad at this point, especially if he gets the start and plays well against Curacao on Tuesday.

So a hot start, possible World Cup play, and rumored interest from the Premier League.  I think the Loic Williams signing is partially in preparation for Herrington to leave sooner rather than later.  I don't think its impossible to see him sold in the summer window, and if he's still here for the sprint season next spring we should count ourselves lucky.

This weekend is a busy international break for a number of other Rapids:

• Donovan Phillip got the start as the lone striker for St. Lucia.  He scored the only goal for the Piton in a 6-1 loss to Azerbaijan in Sumgayit
• As mentioned yesterday new winger Georgi Minoungou is in Ouagadougou as his Burkina Faso side hosts Guinea-Bissau in a friendly tomorrow
• Darren Yapi scored the first goal in the USA U-21's 2-0 win over Japan in a friendly in South Korea.  I can't find anything about this game other than the score and goal scorers, but Noah Cobb is also with the team.  The two Rapids will face South Korea as well before returning to Colorado.
• Bryce Jaimson is in camp with the U.S. u-20s in Argentina.  The squad faced the Argentina U-20s in a friendly today and won 3-0, but based on the picture posted of the starting XI Jaimson didn't start and he's not listed as a goal scorer.  Again, that's all I can find on the match.  They will play another match against Independiente's reserves on Tuesday.

Last, but hardly least, there's one more Colorado connection in international play today.  Right now, Friday night in Denver but Saturday in the Marshall Islands, this is happening:

The Ratak Cup is the Marshall Islands' futsal tournament that they are using to build the sport in the islands.  Because of the lack of space and the ease of using already existing basketball courts many small Oceania countries focus on futsal over 11-a-side football to grow the sport.  Earlier this week the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation put out a call asking for sponsors for the tournament.  There was enough interest amongst Centennial 38 members that we decided to sponsor the tournament and actually raised more than double the amount they were looking for.

This is the second iteration of the tournament, expanding from 4 teams in 2024 to 6 teams i 2026 as they kickstart their new futsal league.  The club names are great:

• Real Majuro
• Vasco de Laura
• Clube de Rairok Flamengo
• Ajeltake Arsenal
• Boca Lagoon
• Rita Plate

Majuro, Laura, Rairok, and Ajeltake are communities in the Marshall Islands while Rita is the nickname given by G.I.'s to the now-former naval base on the island.

3 players who played in the 2024 tournament represented the Marshall Islands in their first ever national team games as part of the Outrigger Challenge Cup held last August in Arkansas (Springdale, Arkansas has the largest population of Marshallese outside the islands) and the hope is this year's tournament will be an opportunity for more players to raise their game and play for the full national team in the future.

Even though the tournament is wrapping up just as I post this we're still raising money to help the federation and will be sending them an additional donation of whatever we raise over the next couple of days.  If you want to help out you can donate through C38's website here.

Transfer Window Ends; Judgement: Curiously Competent!

The transfer window closed at some point this evening so its possible a late move may still leak out but I think its safe to say this final move being reported by Niko Moreno and confirmed by Tom Bogert and the Denver Post is the final move for the Rapids.  Colorado is sending $2M in GAM to the Sounders for winger Georgi Minoungou.

Minoungou is 23 years old, 24 in July.  He was born in Ivory Coast but represents Burkina Faso at the senior national team level (he played for the Ivory Coast U-20s before making the switch).  He's currently away with the Burkina Fason national team as this deal is made.  He started his professional career at Czech side MFK Vyskov in 2021 but was loaned to the Tacoma Defiance (Seattle Sounders 2) for the 2022 season and has been in Seattle ever since, moving up to the first team in 2024 and making 21 appearances for my hometown club in 2025.

The reason for the move is that the Sounders are stacked at winger and Georgi is probably 7th in the pecking order if everyone is healthy.  He's still quite raw in many areas but he has one of the best dribbles in the league and no fear about going at any defender.  He's also been pointed out for having an obvious joy for the game and willingness to play both offense and defense.

This is a good, possibly great, move for the Rapids.  It fills an obvious need as I think Minoungou becomes a heavy favorite to start opposite Yapi on the wings and he has a very friendly contract ($104K in 2025) that goes through the 2028-29 season.  $2M is a lot to pay but we need the official announcement (presumably tomorrow) to see how that's split up over time and if there's any performance metrics on it.

As I mentioned yesterday Matt Wells challenged us 2 months ago, after the Bassett trade, to wait until the end of the window to judge the team.  At the time that sounded just like Padraig Smith in 2022 when he traded MAK to open the window and then promised more moves to come, only to sign one player on short-term loan the rest of the way.  Especially when coming into this final week the only move had been to sign Miguel Navarro on loan (and buy out Vines).  It was also a concern that they said "end of the transfer window" when there was 5 games before that and we have a track record of wasting time with signings.

This week though the Rapids put together three solid moves in area of need.  A center back this summer that could fill in if Herrington is sold (Williams), a right back for depth (Thompson), and now a potential starting winger (Minoungou).  All young players that maybe weren't deals but also don't look like dramatic overpays.  This doesn't make the team a MLS Cup favorite but it does put us in position to build on our solid start.  Despite the concerns about not having the deals done before the season started Wells got us off to a 3-0-2 start so it didn't hurt us too much.  Not something I'd generally recommend though.

This wasn't a perfect window of course.  The Sealy move isn't looking strong considering how much we paid and it hurts to see Bassett playing for a different MLS team.  On the flip side Herrington is a top-tier find for this team and Ojediran is the destroyer we've been looking for.  Overall a stronger window than many of us predicted and one that was generally better than average for this team.

Defense Inbound

With the transfer window closing tomorrow the Rapids made a move for the summer window today and are hinting at another move tomorrow, which sources have already revealed.

First the Rapids made the rumored acquisition of Loïc Williams official today.  Williams is a 24 year old Spanish central defender currently playing with Granada CG in the Spanish second division.  His father is DR Congolese so he would be eligible for them as well.  Williams is in his 5th year as a pro having played for Girona B (3rd division), Atletico Paso (4th division), Tenerife (2nd division), and Granada.  He's been a pretty regular starter the last two seasons for Granada and his career grown is that of a player on his way up.

Williams will join the Rapids in the summer window after the end of the Liga 2 season.  His contract is through the 2029-30 season with an club option for the 2030-31 season.  He will, obviously, take an international slot.  Transfermrkt values him at a million Euros and sources told Burgundy Wave this would be a TAM deal, but no details were officially released.

This move is a good sign that at least one of Herrington or holding is on their way out by the time the sprint season starts.  Holding will be out of contract after this season and there's interest in Herrington (more on that later this week).  I would be surprised if he came in and hit the ground running like the later but he appears to be solid depth for this season.

Later today Tom Bogert reported, and BW confirmed, the Rapids have made a deal with Toronto to bring in Canadian RB Kosi Thompson for $200K of GAM, with another $200K of GAM in performance goals.  Thompson is 23 years old and came through the TFC academy so he won't require an international slot as a homegrown player.  The reviews on Thompson from Toronto fans are mixed with the best being that he's a MLS spot starter and could grow into something a bit more.  It sounds like efforts to use him at center back were particularly disastrous.

This is clearly a depth move and may indicate Cannon's injury is worse than first thought.  Regardless its not a good look for Travis after stating last week at right back.  This is likely the move the Rapids are teasing for 10am tomorrow.  The window closes tomorrow afternoon/evening and 2 months ago when Bassett was sold Matt Wells challenged the fans and media to judge the club at the end of the window.  We'll do that tomorrow.

New Attitude Rapids Smash SporKCs

I don't yet know how good our talent is compared to the rest of the league, but I do like our new attitude.  Colorado went into KC and not only won, but won convincingly.  Now Sporting is not a good team this year, and the win should be taken in context, but this is a match that in past seasons the Rapids would have fumbled away points in, ore barely held on for a 2-1 win.  Instead they put KC to the sword and poured it on to ensure the 3 points.

Random Thoughts:

• I was surprised hwen Fredrick got the start again based on his play last week.  Then he went and scored what turned out to be the winning goal  My bad, nice job Wayne.
• Speaking of, SKC's Pulskamp was livid about the goal and was sure he was fouled.  A long VAR check showed....he wasn't even touched.  I have no idea why VAR didn't see that in 5 seconds.
• That back heel on the first Rapids goal by Navarro was pretty.  That was a wonderfully worked goal by the whole team.
• The SKC goal was some poor defense by Jackson Travis and poor keeping by Steffen.  Travis got sucked way too far upfield and inside, leaving the right wing wide open and KC came right through that hole.  Then Steffen got beat near post which is a no-no for a keeper.
• The Rapids struck right back with the Fredrick goal off a Sealy corner, with its on keeping blunder.  This is another example of the attitude change, past Rapids teams would have moped their way into the halftime break at 1-1 instead of aggressively attacking.
• After half it was all Colorado.  KC had one good look they hit right at Steffen at the hour mark and everything else was burgundy.
• Miguel Navarro set up Rafa Navarro on the third goal, even if he didn't get an official assist.
• Holding dodged a second yellow right before he was subbed off, but given that the first yellow was weak sending him for the second would have been harsh.
• In an otherwise strong night Navarro right after that should have picked up a second yellow and was very lucky he didn't.  I think he's a better start than Travis but he can't make that mistake again.
• Colorado applied the coup de grace with pressure leading to a quick turnover and a through ball to Navarro that he crossed to Aaronson for the strike.  Good, aggressive, play late in a a game that you're winning.  A great attitude to see.
• Colorado is now beating the teams they should (Portland and SKC), being competitive (ish) against teams that they aren't expected to beat (Seattle, NTCFC0, and taking advantage of mistakes when better teams make them (Galaxy).  That may not be a "win MLS Cup" combo but it is a "make the playoffs and be a tough out" combo, which is better than I expected going into the season.
• Sealy is lucky he got the assist from the corner on the second goal because otherwise he was the black mark on the night.  We're still struggling to find the other winger across from Yapi.
• Colorado goes into the break in a good position, right on the "win at home, draw on the road" point total of 9.  Coming out they've got a trip to Toronto and then finally back at home against Houston before the 30th anniversary Inter Messi match.

Man of the Match: Paxten Aaronson.  The week after I complained we should put a BOLO out on him he gets two goals and an assist.  Navarro had a great match too but Aaronson had his best day in burgundy (or green) so far and its what we need from him.

Quick SKC Preview

Ok, this is going to be quick and dirty.  The shingles vaccine has knocked me out for about 24 hours.

Steffen is back, presumably will start.  Ronan and Cannon are not available.

SKC is not a good team.  They're averaging 1 goal a game, in the form of two games where they've scored twice and two games where they've been shut out.  They got their first win last week in LA against the Galaxy.

If Wells' system is going to work this is a game you have to get a result from.  Combined with next week's game in Toronto you want at least 2 points and really you want 4.

1-1 draw, goal by Yapi.  I'm not yet willing to predict a win on the road for this group, but it wouldn't surprise me.  You can't call this a must win in game 5, but a loss here would be fairly disastrous for the goals this season.  I think we get a draw at least though.

Play The Rocky Mountain Cup In Laramie

 

Today Major League Soccer announced the details of the 'sprint season' being played in the spring of 2027 as the league transitions to the fall-to-spring schedule starting in the fall of 2027.  The basics are:

• 14 games against the 14 other teams in your conference, 7 home, 7 away
• Regular season played February-April
• 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs
• Playoffs are single-game knockouts played inside your conference in May
• MLS Cup between the Western and Eastern Conference playoff winners
• MLS Cup winner and 4 other teams qualify for 2028 CONCACAF Champions Cup
• All 16 playoff teams qualify for 2028 Leagues Cup

When I saw the sprint season was going to be 14 games I was pretty sure it was all going to be intra-conference.  What this means though is that the sprint season Rocky Mountain Cup is going to be decide on one game, and either the Rapids or FSL will have home field advantage for that game.

Unless they don't.

I immediately joked when the announcement came out that they should play that game at Ralph Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction.  Its almost exactly midway between KKK Slogan field in Sandy and the Dick in Commerce City.  It currently hosts NCAA DII football for the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks.  The reality is though it probably doesn't meet stadium requirements for the league or the union, it only seats 8000, and its probably not equipped for a full broadcast on Apple.  Its a funny idea but for any number of reasons its not realistic.

But then I thought a little more about it and realized there is a stadium that could host a MLS match as a "neutral site".  War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming, home of the Wyoming Cowboys.  As a G5 school I'm sure the facilities are good enough to pass muster with the league and union for a one off game, and their football games are regularly broadcast from there as part of the Mountain West Conference so I'm sure it could handle an Apple broadcast.

Yeah, this sounds a little silly at first, but this whole 'sprint season' is a little silly.  Why not try something different during it?  Make it an event.  Has the state of Wyoming ever hosted a top-level professional competitive match in a team sport?  Certainly they've never hosted a competitive soccer match.  Work with the league to promote this as reaching out to new fans, not to mention the whole college population of the University of Wyoming.  Baseball has had success with their single game Field of Dreams and Little League games each season, this could be a (non-repeating) version of that.

Plus, imagine playing the Rocky Mountain Cup at the highest stadium in the country.  Its a perfect match.  Yes, its closer for Rapids fans (a little over 2 hours from Commerce City versus a little under 6 from Sandy) but not so far that I would expect Salt Lake fans not to make the trip.  One team would be giving up a home game, but if they do it right you can split the revenue equally and minimize that hit, or maybe even favor whomever is losing the home game.  Give supporters groups from both sides their regular seats behind each goal and make a true production out of it.

Will this happen?  Probably not.  Neither owner seems like somebody who would push this and I'm not sure the league would be all that excited, but if the fans get behind it and make it something they need to consider we might see something happen.

Rapids Struggle In Small Spaces

A rough night in New York on Saturday for the burgundy boys.  As I feared playing on the small Yankee Stadium pitch did not suit their game and the Pigeons made them pay.  It wasn't all bad as there was a nice run of play starting shortly before half and continuing for most of the second, but when it mattered the most NYCFC finished and Colorado didn't.  The final score of 3-1 was a accurate representation.

Random Thoughts:

• Saturday morning the Rapids announced signing Rapids 2 player and 1st round raft pick Mamadou Billo Diop to a first-team contract.  If you remember on draft week the league was approached by another team with a loophole in the rules to make Billo Diop draft-eligible despite already being signed to R2, which meant the Rapids had to draft their own player.  He got 8 minutes plus stoppage on Saturday
• The Rapids also called up De Coteau from R2.  The fact that we needed a same-day signing and a callup with only three players unavailable shows how thin this roster is
• A rough play from Holding led to the first goal.  In an attempt to play it out of the back he sent a pass up that was easily intercepted, putting the defense on its heels.  Holding tried to make up for it but he left Hansen stranded.  Credit to Nico for making the first save but there was nobody there to clear the rebound.  Wayne Fredrick was doing a lot of ball watching during this.
• The second goal was two bad individual plays.  Jackson Travis committed an unnecessary foul at the side of the box.  That would have been something we could deal with but on the ensuing free kick Manyoma broke from the wall just as it was taken and the ball went right through the space he vacated to beat Hansen near post.  Its not great for a keeper to get beat near post, but I understand Hansen thinking his wall would actually, you know, wall.
• It was looking pretty frim as we rolled into halftime but a nice setup from Navarro got Yapi free on goal and he finished far post for only a one goal deficit at the break.  While the Rapids had been looking better in the final 15 it was still against the run of play.
• The early part of the second half was strongly in the Rapids favor, but they couldn't do anything with their play.  In the 30 minutes after the break they only recorded 3 shots, none on net.
• The final goal was a break that Holding misread, giving ground and not changing off with Herrington to cover Magno making a run, leaving him with an uncontested shot at goal
• Can somebody put out a BOLO on Paxten Aaronson?  For the club record signing at more than twice the amount of the last record he has...2 assists and 1 goal in 10 starts.  And he's invisible for long stretches of matches.  I recognize he's making good runs and progressing the ball, at times, but we need more from somebody we're that heavily invested in.
• Fredrick got the start over Atencio and it wasn't good.  We're still struggling to find the third in the midfield with Ojediran and Paxten.
• Likewise its time to give Navarro a chance over Travis
• Post match Wells talked a lot about being in good places and making the wrong decisions, but combined with other quotes its starting to feel like he doesn't have a good read on this league yet, both the talent of his own squad as well as the ones he's playing.  Nothing to panic about yet but I think there's still some learning for him to do
• To end on a positive note, despite the scoreline this was a better performance than our trip to Seattle.  And both Seattle and NYCFC are likely to be top teams this year.  Our next two games on the road need to be large improvements given the opposition will be likely some of the worst teams this season (SKC and Toronto).

Man of the Match: Darren Yapi.  Yeah, going with the goal-scorer is the easy way out, but it was either him or Navarro (who had the only other shot on target in the match).  So the goal was a tiebreaker.

One Last Trip To the Old Ballpark

The next time the Rapids travel to NYC (as opposed to New Jersey) the new NYCFC stadium in Queens will be open, barring a Cup run for the Rapids in the next 18 months.  That means tomorrow is the last trip to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium for the Burgundy Boys.  NYCFC is off to a hot start, but every one of their games has finished with them playing up a man (to be fair, two of our three have as well).  Kickoff tomorrow is at 5:30pm an hour after the Summit's inaugural game kicks off.  C38 is having a watch party for both games at The Owl Saloon.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Zach Steffen (shoulder), D Reggie Cannon (ankle), M Connor Ronan (leg)

Matt Wells said today that Cannon has had an injection on his Achilles but doesn't need surgery, however he's going to be out at least this game and the next one.  That gets us to the international break and they expect to have him back after that.  Ronan is week to week and Steffen is day to day.

Keegan is the  obvious replacement for the injured Cannon, otherwise I'm not expecting any changes.  Yapi earned the start with his play last week and everyone else seems to have locked into a starting job.  The only question mark might be if Navarro moves in for Travis at left back.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Yapi.  I'm tempted to predict a draw here based on our play the last couple of weeks, but on the road is a different beat than the friendly confines of the Dick, as we saw in Seattle.  Add to that the tight dimensions in Yankee Stadium and I think that's too much to overcome.  I do think we finish with all 11 men on the field though.

Glory - Colorado Rapids

 

A little over a year ago Dave Wegner, Grand Poobah of C38, reached out to me for some help on a project the Front Office was working on.  The Rapids had reached out to Glory Studio after seeing their work on their San Diego Loyal edition a couple of years earlier.  Glory went to work on putting together a edition on the Colorado Rapids to celebrate the club's 30th season and they wanted to not only talk to the club but also the supporters. Dave thought I could help with some of the history of both the club and the fans.

After a couple of early-morning conferences (Glory is UK based) they arranged a week to come out and see everything.  That was the week of the Charlotte game last March.  They joined up with the C38 crew at the Celtic, took the buses out to the Dick, enjoyed the tailgate, and got some pics in and around the stadium before, during, and after the game.  They spent the rest of the week interviewing people associated with the club, both past and present, and getting more pics around the area.

Then, silence.  Originally we had been told the target was to release last summer.  When I didn't hear anything I assumed the project had been cancelled.  Instead it turns out they held it until the kickoff of our 30th anniversary season and they were available at the opening game.

This is a great look at the history of the club.  Its 268 pages of pictures, stories, and memories, covering everything from the inaugural game up through the ups and downs of the Chris Armas years.  It hits all the obvious highlights like MLS Cup 2010 and winning the West in 2021, but it also covers things that are important to us as Rapids fans, like the Rocky Mountain Cup and the Unified Team.  It takes time to mention two big local losses, Colin Clark and Joan Dobrzynski.

There are a ton of pictures as well, from fans to in-game photos, to looks at our jersey history.  They highlight the names from our history every MLS fan knows, 'Chelo, Pablo, Howard, but also guys that became important to Rapids fans like Cookie and the Ginger Ninja.  There's even a section on El Pibe in both English and Spanish.  It even finishes with a set of club stats including our longest undefeated streak in 2016.

You can pick it up from the club shop for $30, $24 with season-ticket holder discount.  You can also order it directly from the Glory website but with the exchange rate, shipping, and potential tariffs you'll do better finding somebody to get you one from the club.

I started this off talking about my involvement, but my involvement was minor compared to the grand scheme.  Beyond the people at the club (past and present) C38 and Mile High Lokos members Dave Wegner, Mason Andrade, Miguel Sifuentes were called out along with me for thanks and I think they all deserved it more than I did.  Apparently it was quite a party bus ride!

New Attitude Rapids

Sorry for the delay here, I was celebrating my birthday.  We're three days past the game so I'm not going to get into heavy detail on what happened, at this point I assume you know.  What I do want to talk about though is the change in attitude in the Rapids that we saw in this game.

Colorado was the stronger team in the first half, and deservedly led 1-0 at the break.  Coming out of the break though the Galaxy took control and levelled the score.  At that point the hope was really that the home team could hold on and get a point against a more talented team.  Then Pec picked up a pointless yellow card and everything changed.

First of all, Pec picked up that yellow card because Navarro picked up the ball and went right down the field with it.  No knocking it around the back to waste time, no uncertainty about what support he might have, he saw an opportunity to advance the ball and took it.  There was plenty of defensive cover so there was no reason for Pec to commit a tactical foul while already sitting on a yellow, but Navarro forced that decision on him.

How many times over the years, especially in the last 10-15, have we seen Colorado go up an man and not take advantage?  Most of the time they would struggle to find a winner, instead just passing it around the top of their opponent's half looking for a window and never really finding it.  Instead Rafa immediately put a shot on goal.  Manyoma scored, Navarro scored twice.  When LA handed the Rapids knife they not only stuck it in, they twisted it as well.

In the 15 minutes between the halftime break and the red card LA had 7 shots.  After the red card they had as many shots (3, none on target) as the Rapids had goals.  Yes, the willingness to go forward by the burgundy boys did leave them a bit open in the back and the Galaxy looked dangerous at times, but those chances amounted to nothing.  Hansen didn't have to make a save after the visitors went down a man.

In a prior year this is easily a 1-1 and an opportunity for a win missed (or worse, we give up a goal up a man).  This year there was no doubt that we were going to go for the win, and get it.  I'm not convinced this team has the talent to compete this year, but Matt Wells is certainly giving them the attitude to compete, which is a positive change.

Man of the Match: Darren Yapi.  Yes Navarro had the two goals and drew the red, but Yapi had the opening goal and an assist, and Navarro's goals were icing on the cake.  He also took a wicked hit to the face and came back in at a time where we were out of subs.

Classic Rivalry Renewed

Into the 20-teens Galaxy-Rapids was the most played competitive fixture between MLS teams when you included the regular season, playoffs, and USOC.  A remnant of the two teams being the only ones to have played in the Western Conference all (now) 31 seasons.  The Rapids struggles since their Cup win in 2010 has meant less playoff and USOC meetings and the fixture is no longer top of the list but its still one of the most contested.  Tomorrow they do it again at the Dick, and we're back to the normal 7:30pm kickoff, which means the tailgate starts at 4.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Zack Steffen

Steffen picked up a shoulder injury this week so Nico Hansen will get the start.  Ali Fadal is off the injury list but he's also been loaned to R2.

The old "if it ain't broke" move here, with Hansen coming in for Steffen as the only change.  I'm off the Ronan bandwagon now, I really thought he was going to feature more but its clear that the midfield, for now, is going to be Aaronson, Hamzat, and Atencio.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Navarro.  I think LA is a better team than us, but this is the Galaxy's 5th game in 2.5 weeks and their first league game on the road.  I think that's enough early in the season, at altitude, that they'll be feeling it by late in the 2nd half.  That will allow the Rapids to get an equalizer and/or keep the Galaxy from pushing for a winner.

That's More Like It

In a complete 180 from the game last Sunday in Seattle the Rapids looked like a real team that knew what they were doing in their home opener.  The y came out with the type of dominant performance Matt Wells has talked about expecting from the team.  Even in his post game comments he congratulated the squad on a very good, but not excellent, game as he believes there's still another level they can take it to.  Regardless it was a much needed morale boost and a proof of concept for what Wells is trying to do.

Random Thoughts:

• The game could have gone very differently as Cole Bassett got the first look at goal, but his header was somewhat easily saved by Steffen.  A goal there, especially from Bassett, could have put the home team on their heels.
• After that the Timbers only got one more shot on goal in the half, and one in the second half after they were down 2-0.  Defense did a good job keeping any Timbers attacks from being dangerous, but Velde did sky their best look of the first half in the 34th minute.
• I think Holding starting stabilized the back line in a way Cobb couldn't last week.
• Meanwhile on the other end the Rapids kept driving at the Timbers.  25 total shots, 10 of them on target.  That's more than we had in our first three games combined last season.
•  Sealy looked good this week after being invisible in Seattle.  I noticed the number 7 multiple times in the attack and he had the assist on Herrington's goal from the corner.
• How about that from Hamzet the Destroyer?  It sounds like they don't want him shooting from 33+ yards very often, but having that in the bag of tricks will force defenses to step up and create space behind them.
• One thing notable is that outside of Herrington's play (see below) and the goals nobody really stood out as playing above everyone, or playing poorly.  This was a well played game by everyone across the board.  I can't say Aaronson played bad for example, but he wasn't standing out either.  And that's the case for pretty much everyone.
• Its always great to get back out to the Dick for a season.  And the weather was gorgeous.
• Back at it next week wit the Galaxy in town.  The open question is which is the real Rapids, the team that showed up in Seattle or the team that showed up in Commerce City?

Man of the Match: Lucas Herrington.  A great headed goal on Sealy's corner, rising up and over Cole Bassett.  If you look he's reacting practically before the ball crossed the line, it was that well placed that nobody could get to it.  Plus a solid effort on defense as well, for the second straight week.  He was named to MLS's team of the matchday and for me has been the best surprise of the early season.  So far I think I underesitmated his ability to make an impact.