Choppy Waters Ahead!

The Rapids get their first look at the team trying to swamp their control of water nicknames in MLS, the Vancouver Whitecaps. Essentially you've got turbulent river water versus turbulent sea water at the Dick tomorrow. Vancouver just traded for former Rapid Jordan Harvey, so we may see him back at the Dick for a second time this year (he already played for Philly last month). Game time tomorrow is at 5pm and the tailgate kegs will be tapped at 4, with the grills being fired up at 5. For those of you unable to make it the game will be on Altitude.

Injury Report:

QUESTIONABLE: FW Macoumba Kandji (L knee ACL tear)

PROBABLE: FW Omar Cummings (R ankle sprain); MF Brian Mullan (lower back spasms); MF Joseph Nane (R shoulder strain); GK Matt Pickens (R groin strain); MF Jamie Smith (R calf strain); DF Anthony Wallace (R quad strain)

Disciplinary Report:

SUSPENDED: MF Pablo Mastroeni

SUSPENDED AFTER 2 MORE CAUTIONS: FW Conor Casey; MF Ross LaBauex; MF Jeff Larentowicz; DF Tyrone Marshall; DF Drew Moor; DF Anthony Wallace

No official change to the injury report for tomorrow, though all reports are that if he wasn't suspended Pablo wouldn't be able to play anyway. Vancouver has 6 players injured or suspended so they're hurting more than we are. My guess on the lineup:

Pickens

Kimura - Wynne - Marshall - Moor

Mullan - LaBauex- Larentowicz - Smith

Casey - Cummings

I think that after a week's rest and not travelling to KC both Mullan and Smith will be able to go. Other than that the starting XI is fairly obvious. LaBauex has been the best player off the bench, though I wouldn't be shocked to see Nane starting instead.

Key To Look For: Expansion team, at home, with 10 of 11 starters available. There's no reason the Rapids shouldn't control this game start to finish.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Casey and Cummings. C+C Goal Factory find their rhythm and put the Rapids up 2, but the defense continues to have at least one breakdown a game to make things interesting in the second half.

Change Of Location, Same Result

Before I get to the game review I wanted to mention that the Rapids have announced some of their pre-season plans for next year. They've been invited to be the MLS representative in the new Hawai'ian Islands Invitational Tournament in February. The other teams invited are the J-League's (Japan) Yokohama FC, the K-League's (South Korea) Incheon United, and the A-League's (Australia) Melbourne Heart.

Now on to last night's game. Just over a month ago the Rapids hosted Sporting KC, Casey scored in the first half, Sporting equalized in the second, and the teams settled for a 1-1 draw. Last night in KC Casey scored in the first half, Sporting equalized in the second, and the teams settled for a 1-1 draw. Colorado looked strong in the first half, with the C+C Goal Factory settling back into their familiar partnership. The big hit for the Rapids came in the 12th minute as Pablo slid into a tackle and Roger Espinoza collapsed on his leg. Pablo, correctly, got a yellow for the bad tackle which will see him suspended for the next game, but he also got a hyper-extended right knee which will probably keep him out longer. Mastroeni tried to play through it but 18 minutes later he was subbed out for Nane. 2 minutes after the sub Casey chested down a long free kick out of the back, spun, and slammed a shot past the White Puma to put the Rapids up 1-0.

The second half was more physical and more controlled by Sporting. The big change was C.J. Sapong's entry into the game for Teal Bunbury. He immediately created a chance that Pickens had to parry, leading to KC missing the open net while Matty P was on the ground. A minute later he did it again, only this time Zusi was able to hit the open net to level the score. KC would hit the post on an attack after Pickens had to come out to make a save. The Rapids best chance came off a Nyassi free kick that everybody watching on TV was sure was in. The final attack came from KC where Jesus had to palm a deflection into the crossbar and out of play to preserve the draw.

My key to the game was could we score. Once again the Rapids could only find the back of the net once and not surprisingly, didn't win.

Stat Of The Game: Pablo's suspension for yellow card accumulation will make 14 games in a row that the Rapids have had a player suspended.

Other Observations:

• Great to see the C+C Goal Factory starting again. We haven't seen it since the opener.
• Nane is a No-no. Most of the passes he tried ended up with KC.
• Another solid if quiet game from LaBauex. I don't expect him to be taking a starting role anytime soon, but he's showing himself to be a jack-of-all-trades in midfield.
• I liked some of what I saw of Nyassi coming off the bench. I think that's a great role for him right now.
  
• One thing I didn't like was Nyassi dribbling the ball in two circles, killing an offensive charge, before passing.
• Folan still isn't working if he doesn't get the perfect ball.
• In the first half you could see some of the play that got us to MLS Cup last year. We need to figure out how to do that for 90 minutes (staying healthy would help).
• Its too soon to have a "must win" game, but the Vancouver game is looking pretty important.

Player of the Game: Matt Pickens. He had a couple of rebounds right in front of the net (one of which led to the goal) but he also came up big on more than one occasion to keep the Rapids in the game. And honestly, there was no defense to be seen on the goal so I can only blame him so much for that.

Colorado Makes First Visit To Livestrong Park

Its appropriate that Colorado, home to the Garmin-Cervelo pro bike racing team and so many American bike racers, is going to Livestrong Park tomorrow during the first week of the Tour de France (can you tell one of my other interests is bicycle racing?). Kansas City finally got a home of their own and this will be the Rapids first look at it. A few supporters are making our second-shortest road trip, but with our shortest trip (to FSL), MLS did us no favors by making it a midweek game. For the rest of us the game will be on Altitude tomorrow starting at 6:30pm. No official Class VI/Pid Army viewing party, but I'm sure there will be groups at the Highland Tavern and the British Bulldog.

Injury Report:

QUESTIONABLE: FW Macoumba Kandji (L knee ACL tear)

PROBABLE: FW Omar Cummings (R ankle sprain); MF Brian Mullan (lower back spasms); MF Joseph Nane (R shoulder strain); GK Matt Pickens (R groin strain); MF Jamie Smith (R calf strain); DF Anthony Wallace (R quad strain)

Disciplinary Report:

SUSPENDED: FW Quincy Amarikwa

SUSPENDED AFTER 1 MORE CAUTION: MF Pablo Mastroeni (1 game good behavior removes one)

SUSPENDED AFTER 2 MORE CAUTIONS: FW Conor Casey; MF Jeff Larentowicz; DF Tyrone Marshall; DF Drew Moor; DF Anthony Wallace

Suddenly our injury report got much worse. 3 new players added to it since Friday. Along with a 3-game week the lineup is going to be kind of hard to figure out. 4 KC players will be missing due to injury. My guess at the starting XI:

Pickens

Kimura - Wynne - Marshall - Moor

Nyassi - Mastroeni - Larentowicz - Thompson

Casey - Cummings

Midfield is a complete tossup. I'm guessing that Smith rests both Mullan and Smith for the game on Saturday, but who knows. I'm sure he'd like to rest Cummings but they need some firepower and he has to get C+C Goal Factory working again. I wouldn't be shocked to see Palguta play for Marshall or Wynne but I think the regular back 4 will start.

Key To Look For: Can we score? Since our 8 goals in 3 games to start the season we've only scored more than 1 twice. Not surprising we've only won twice as well. No goals means no wins.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Casey. I've seen nothing in the Rapids play over the last two months that makes me thing we're going to score more than 1. Meanwhile KC is en fuego right now. I think the short turn-around+ travel is enough to give Sporting the edge in this one, but the Rapids have proven themselves to be tenacious this year. A draw wouldn't be much of a surprise.

Rapids Save Fireworks For After The Game

Well there isn't much to talk about in this game. Houston came in happy to defend and take a 0-0 draw, or get a counterattacking goal to steal a 1-0 win. Colorado carried possession most of the game and created more chances, but couldn't convert and Houston got its 0-0 draw.

My key to the game was the Rapids getting a lift from the home crowd and controlling the game. While Colorado controlled the game they were incapable of breaking down the Dynamo defense. It seems that the book is out on Colorado. If the C+C Goal Factory aren't both on the field give the Rapids possession, they can't get through a defense. Colorado was only dangerous last night off of set pieces and the occasional cross.

Stats Of The Game: It has now been more than 3 months (not the 2 that I mentioned in the game preview) since our last home win. :P

Other Observations:

• Amarikwa's red card was deserved, and idiotic. You can't get in the refs face after the whistle, especially after just getting a yellow card. More stupid mental mistakes from our forwards.
• I'm done with the Folan experiment. While last night was better than his last couple of appearances, he's just not on the same page as the rest of the team and he refuses to actually work for a chance. He waits for the perfect pass, and when he doesn't get it he throws his hands up instead of chasing after the ball.
• Apparently last night's strategy was to turn Kimura into the cross-o-matic. I think he had more crosses than the rest of the team combined. I'm not sure why this is was the strategy, there's a reason Koz is a defender.
• The best balls of the night came from Smith. Unfortunately there weren't enough of them.
• Mullan got a nice welcome back without being over the top for a player returning from a suspension for a dangerous tackle.
• The Rapids stadium-wide tifo looked pretty good, too bad after all that build up ESPN didn't bother to show it..

Player of the Game: Marvell Wynne. The lack of chances from both offenses made it difficult for anyone to stand out, but Wynne being back really seemed to settle down the back line. Considering the only difference between the back-line in the last two games and this one was Wynne over Earls/Palguta, and in the last two games the Rapids gave up 7 goals on poor defensive plays and in this game there were no really bad plays and Colorado pitched a shutout, Wynne seemed the best choice.

The Annual Independence Day Game Is Here!

OK, so this year its on the 3rd and not the 4th, but the annual Independence Day game is upon us. Houston is in town trying to do what only two teams have done before, defeat the Rapids on the 4th (3rd) of July. The Rapids have won 11 of 15 games on this holiday weekend and tied 2. Game time on Sunday is 7pm, which means the Class Vi/Pid Army tailgate starts at 4pm and its going to be a big one this week so get there early! For those of you unable to get to the Dick, Colorado will make its first appearance on ESPN2 this year. For once I will not be watching on TV, as the move of the game from the 4th to the 3rd means I actually get to attend the game, then celebrate my 13th wedding anniversary the next day.

Injury Report:

DOUBTFUL: FW Macoumba Kandji (L knee ACL tear)

PROBABLE: FW Omar Cummings (R ankle sprain); MF Joseph Nane (R shoulder strain); GK Matt Pickens (R groin strain)

Disciplinary Report:

SUSPENDED: FW Conor Casey

SUSPENDED AFTER 1 MORE CAUTION: MF Pablo Mastroeni (2 games good behavior removes one)

SUSPENDED AFTER 2 MORE CAUTIONS: FW Conor Casey; MF Jeff Larentowicz; DF Tyrone Marshall; DF Drew Moor; DF Anthony Wallace

Well once again we have a suspended player, for the 12th game in a row. That means it will be another game before the C+C Goal Factory is back on the pitch. Houston is missing 4 players to injury, so they aren't in much better shape. My guess on our lineup:

Pickens

Kimura - Moor- Marshall - Wallace

Mullan - Mastroeni - Larentowicz - Smith

Cummings - Folan

Left back is still a big question mark as long as Wynne is injured. He's not on the injury report right now, but I doubt he starts his first game back, especially since this is a 3 game week. Folan seems to be the obvious choice to fill in for the suspended Casey.

Key To Look For: The Rapids have to get a lift from the sold-out crowd. Its been 2 months since our last home win, and they need to come out and play like they own their own house. Control the game, keep the Dynamo from thinking they're in it, and put up a dominating win.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Cummings and Smith. Houston's not a very good team, but I don't trust our defense to get a shutout right now. The game will be closer than it should be, but the loud crowd will give the Rapids the edge they need to win this one.