Smash And Grab

As I predicted Minnesota and Colorado played to a 1-0 result last night.  As I failed to predict though, Colorado came out on the winning side.  For only the second time this season the Rapids lost the possession game but still managed to claim the three points.  As the saying goes, that's why they play the games.  With the win the Rapids move up into the final playoff spot (on a tiebreaker) going into the lat week before the World Cup break.

Random Thoughts:

• Last week (And before that too) I questioned if Matt Wells could adapt or if he was too wedded to his system.  Last night he came out in a 5-4-1 that morphed into a 4-2-2-2 in attack and didn't focus as much on playing out of the back.  In the post-game conference he said "To go out and play our normal shape tonight would have setting the guys up to fail". a very positive sign from Wells.
• That said, some things don't change.  Namely our physicality.  24 fouls last night, an average of 14.6 a game this season.  We're on pace for about 500 fouls this season.  The team record is 581 in 2000, 18.1/game so we probably won't hit that but this is the highest rate since 2007 (though up through 2007 foul rates were incredibly high across the league).
• A nicely worked goal by Aaronson and Navarro.  That's what we need to see out of our DPs.
• That's Navarro's 8th goal, halfway to the single-season team record, and his 12th goal involvement, just under halfway to that team record.  5 more goals will put him second all-time on the Rapids scoring list, passing Paul Bravo.  He's currently 15 behind Conor Casey for the record.
• Honestly a more fair result would have been 1-1.  Minnesota had a couple of big chances, hitting the crossbar in back-to-back shots within a minute, first by James Rodriguez and then by ex-Rapids Anthony Markanich.  They also had a goal called back due to a (clear) offside early in the second half.
• In fact the Rapids were out-possessed, out shots, out xGed, and were equal on corners.  They once again only had 2 shots on target.  But if one goes in and you pitch a shutout that's all you need sometimes.
• Shoutout to Rosenberry for a great game.  For his first start in a while he marshalled the back well.  Something you love to see.
• Herrington bounced back well from the struggles on Saturday.  He is so good.  He was named to the MLS team of the matchday.
• Miguel Navarro was the only player risking suspension for the game on Saturday and he got out without a card so everyone will be available (barring injury).
• Speaking of, Saturday is the big one.  The Rocky Mountain Cup in Sandy.  As long as we keep it to, at worst, a 1 goal loss then all we have to do is win the home match in August to retain the Cup, but I want more of a buffer than that.

Man of the Match: Nico Hansen.  A big shutout when we needed it, Hansen was well-placed on a number of Minnesota shots last night.  He also commanded his area well.  For you other old-timers he has a bit of Bouna Coundoul in him, occasionally going for short walkabouts when you wish he didn't but it didn't cost us last night.,