Rapids Win The West , Play On Thanksgiving!

What a night!  The Rapids came out and slammed the door on LAFC's playoff hopes, then got help from Vancouver and (blech!) FSL to win the West!  They capped that off by announcing tonight that they will host MLS's first ever Thanksgiving Day playoff game against the winner of the Portland-Minnesota matchup.  Oh, and with the 3 points they set a new team record for points, clinched a Champions League spot, and won their 17th game, their most ever in the post-Shootout era.  Lots to cover today so let's get started.

• The Rapids absorbed pressure for the first 15 minutes, then struck hard.  A goal in the 18th forced Bradley to make a quick change in his formation, pulling a defender and putting Vela, returning from injury, into the game in the 30th minute.  The move didn't pay off.
• 2 minutes after LAFC's move, Warner(?!) made it 2-0 and the Rapids were off to the races.  It came off a corner and because the LAFC keeper palmed it away Captain Jack didn't get an official assist, but good work from him again.
• We were feeling pretty good at half, especially when Vancouver came back to score quickly after going down 1-0 to Seattle.
• A quick strike after halftime pretty much put LAFC out of the game.  They tried to make it interesting with closing it to 2 goals twice but never got closer.
• Though there was a bit of nervous tension in the stadium after they made it 4-2.  There's enough Rapids history that long-term fans couldn't feel fully comfortable.
• Badji has played himself into a contract next year with 4 goals in 5 games and 5 goals overall.  He got the the final regular season goal in this one.
• While the Rapids did give up two, the first was while the team was a bit confused.  After Lewis scored his second he was off the field with a bit of a knock.  He seemed to think he had been subbed out, or at least the referee was making him walk around the field to come back in.  The Rapids were confused and racing to get a sub on and while playing down a man LAFC scored.
• Once we got to the 80th minute I can't really tell you what happened in the game as I was watching the scores on my phone.  The Rapids finished first despite kicking off for the second half last (least amount of stoppage time) and there was a lot of cell phone data usage in the stadium as we waited (including the players on the field huddled around phones).
• Then, we celebrated.  Colorado has never won the West before now and I love that we did it at home with a fairly full stadium.  The players were already set to make a lap to acknowledge the fans at the end of the season but there was a lot more energy behind it as Western champions.  Padraig Smith and Wayne Brandt came over and hopped into the C38 section, it was a party.

Ok, moving ahead from the game itself to some of the other happenings:

• With the other results in the West all 6 Texas and California teams missed the playoffs.
• This does mean that FSL made the playoffs, sadly.  But in doing so they gave us the West so win either way.
• The playoffs this year are a bracket similar to March Madness.  They don't reseed after every round.  So we know that after the bye through the first round we will play the winner of Portland-Minnesota (Portland hosts).  That game takes place on Sunday Nov. 21.
• Tonight the league announced the schedule for the first round and the games the Revs and Rapids will host in the second round, and the Rapids will play on Thanksgiving Day at 2:30.
• Yeah, for a lot of people this probably sucks, but I like it.  Its a weird one-off that we're never going to experience again.  C38 is already planning a Thanksgiving-themed tailgate and my wife is fine with me going to the game (in exchange she's not going to make a full turkey dinner).  I'm looking forward to it.
• Should we win we are likely to host the conference final on Sat. Dec 4th.  The other conference final is on Sunday the 5th, but with New England not playing until the 30th I expect the Eastern Conference final to be on Sunday to give the winner of that match as much rest as possible.
• MLS Cup would be on Saturday Dec. 11th, should we make it that far.  If we do and we play anyone other than New England the Rapids would host.  If its New England we'd be travelling to Boston.

And one last thing, the Concacaf Champions League:

• With the result we clinched the "best" spot in the CCL we could.  Long story short, the spots in the CCL are ranked based on how the teams who had them in the past years performed.  The USA 3 spot, which is what we got by winning the West, is ranked the highest because of past performance.
• That puts us in Pot A, and we'll be drawn for a home-in-home series against one of the teams in Pot B.  We know 7 of the 8 teams in Pot B already.
• The series will be played in Feb./Mar. next year, exact dates have not yet been announced.
• Our possible opponents are Santos Laguna (Mexico), Santos (Costa Rica), Motagua (Honduras), Saprissa (Costa Rica), Cavaly (Haiti), CD Guastaoya (Guatemala), of Comunicaciones (Guatemala).
• The 8th possible opponent is Forge FC (Canada).  However they are also in the Canadian Championship final against Montreal, and the winner gets the "better" Canadian slot in Pot A.  So if Forge wins they would move up and I'm not sure who would fill the slot they're currently in, which comes from being a semifinalist in the CONCACAF league, which is a tournament among the smaller CONCACAF nations where the 4 semifinalists qualify for the Champions League.

So, that enough?  :D  Enjoy it Rapids fans, its been a long time coming!

Man of the Match: Jonathan Lewis.  2 goals.  Easy call.

WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS!!!!

Full game recap tomorrow night but for tonight we celebrate the team's first ever Western Conference Championship!  That also comes with a spot in next year's Concacaf Champions League.  Possible conference semifinal playoff dates for our first match would be Thanksgiving Day (the 25th), Sunday the 28th, or Tuesday the 30th.

First Place On The Line On Decision Day

For only the second time in their history the Rapids go into Decision Day with a shot at winning the West (2016 was the other).  This time the task is a little harder as not only do they need a win, but they need 2 other results (name Seattle and SKC not winning).  to break down the possibilities:

• Rapids lose - Rapids finish 3rd
• Rapids draw - Rapids finish 3rd unless SKC loses to FSL, then Rapids finish 2nd, clinch CCL spot
• Rapids win - 
• And Seattle and SKC win - Rapids finish 3rd
• One of Seattle and SKC win - Rapids finish 2nd, clinch CCL spot
• Neither Seattle or SKC win - Rapids win the West, clinch CCL spot

All games kickoff at the same time.   Seattle is in Vancouver while SKC is hosting FSL.

Of course what happens in those games only matters if Colorado takes care of business against LAFC tomorrow.  LAFC needs a win and a lot of help to make the playoffs (as does FSL, while Vancouver just needs a draw to clinch a playoff spot) so they're going to play desperate.  Kickoff tomorrow is scheduled for 4pm but will really be 4:25 as with all games kicking off simultaneously the nationally televised game will have 20 minutes of pregame before the games start.  The Rapids are yet again still only on Altitude.

Injury Report:

QUESTIONABLE: D Keegan Rosenberry

Disciplinary Report:

ONE CAUTION FROM FINE: D Lalas Abubakar, M Collen Warner

If Abubakar or Warner were to get a yellow tomorrow they would only get fined as if they had reached a suspension, no actual suspension carries over into the playoffs or to game one of 2022.  Any red card assessed tomorrow would result in suspension for the first playoff game.

This isn't exactly the formation I expect but it was best the app could do.  We could see Beitashour instead of Esteves, or we could see Acosta play wing back again.  Regardless, there's no tomorrow and there's been a week of rest.  There's no reason not to start our best XI (other than Rosenberry) as we're guaranteed at least 2 weeks off after this and possibly more.

Prediction: 2-0 win, goals by Badji and Barrios.  The Rapids will not make the fans sweat on this one, getting a multi-goal lead and then fending off LAFC's desperate attacks.  However things won't go quite as well as hoped in the other matches.  Vancouver gets the draw we're hoping for, allowing us to jump Seattle for 2nd, but KC puts a beating on FSL to win the West on the total wins tiebreaker over Colorado 18-17.

All To Play For On Sunday

Well we got the results we needed to make Sunday VERY interesting.  Seattle and the Galaxy tied on Monday and Austin is just wrapping up a beat down of SKC.  That leaves the standings as:

Seattle: 59 points

SKC: 58 points

Colorado: 58 points

all with just the final game on Decision Day to play.  All the games kickoff at the same time of 4pm MT on Sunday.

Colorado hosts LAFC, who is barely hanging on to a playoff chance

SKC hosts FSL, who depending on what happens in the game currently going on may be fighting for their life

Seattle goes to Vancouver, who's chances will also be greatly affected by FSL's result tonight

The scenarios are this:

Colorado wins the West;

With a win AND Seattle AND SKC drawing or losing

Colorado finishes 2nd:

With a win AND Seattle OR SKC drawing or losing

OR

With a draw AND SKC losing

Its going to be a crazy day...

Rapids Clinch Top 3 Finish, tie Best Season Ever

So I didn't watch this game, because I was at Fan EXPO Denver.  I did watch the 15 minute recap MLS posted to its website, but about the point where Badji scored I got bored and started reading The Athletic's article about Ryan Reynold's and Rob McElhenney's trip to Wrexham to see the team they bought, Wrexham FC.

As an aside, even though I'm a bit of a fan of Wrexham's rival Chester, I find that story really fun to follow.  The article is worth reading if you have a subscription.  Non-league football is more enjoyable to follow than Champions League football.  Yeah, I said it.

Back to the Rapids, the game was just dull.  Even the 15-minute recap struggled to find enough highlights to fill the time.  The important thing though is the Rapids got the 3 points.  instead of reviewing a dull game I didn't watch we'll just talk about what the result means.

• With the win we're guaranteed to finish in the top 3 of the West and the top 4 overall
• The 3 points tied the 2016 team for the most points in team history.  The Rapids go for a new record against LAFC on Sunday.
• Currently Colorado is in a tie with KC and Seattle for the top spot, but both teams have a game in hand.  The Rapids also lose all possible tie-breaking scenarios with those teams.
• What that means, in short, is that a win by either KC or Seattle in their final 2 games means we can't pass them regardless of our result by LAFC.  A win by both of them means we're locked into 3rd.
• Seattle kicks off against the Galaxy in about 15 minutes, then goes to Vancouver on Decision Day.  KC goes to Austin on Wednesday and hosts FSL on Sunday.
• If one of the teams doesn't win either game, we pass them with a win over LAFC.  If they lose both games we pass them with a draw.
• If we can pass one of them we would clinch a Concacaf Champions League spot.  If we don't pass either one of them, but if one of them or New England wins MLS Cup we get the extra CCL spot (we would also qualify if we won MLS Cup, obviously).
• Badji's goal gives him 4 on the season, That puts him into a 3-way tie for 4th on the team with Basset and Shinyashiki.  Both of them and the 3 ahead of Badji (Rubio, Lewis, and Barrios who leads with 8) have played a minimum of about 1250 minutes..  Badji has played 307.
• Barrios has a 3 goal lead over Lewis and Rubio for the Golden Boot, so that's probably locked down.  Barrios and Rubio are tied for second with 5 assists, but Jack Price is lapping the field with 12.  The real question is can Captain Jack get 1 more on Sunday, tying him with Barrios for the lead in goals + assists?
• Our possible first round opponent is still up in the air as Portland, Minnesota, Vancouver, the Galaxy, FSL, and LAFC are all separated by just 6 points and everyone other than Minnesota has 2 games left to play.  My money is still on us finishing 3rd and facing Minnesota or the Galaxy though.

Since I didn't watch the game I'm giving the Man of the Match to Robin Fraser, for taking us to (hopefully) our best season ever.