Two Down, Bring On Toluca!

Friday night the Rapids continued their Leagues Cup run with another win over a Liga MX team.  While the win was tight at the end (as I predicted) the Rapids controlled long stretches of the game.  Zach Steffen once again came up huge on multiple saves.  He's just build for Leagues Cup I guess.

The Juarez goals were off a rebound by Steffen, where Vines kept everyone onside, and a PK given up by Ronan.  Two players who have struggled on defense this year.  Along with the goal against Leon, which also came from a rebound after Steffen parried a one on one shot off the post its hard to blame goalkeeping for any of the goals conceded the last two games.

On offense getting three goals is a nice return.  The first was generated from high pressure put on by Navarro that resulted in a turnover on the end line.  Lewis finished the chance just after he had skied one to the point where I didn't knew who had taken the shot and turned to other C38 members and said "If you tell me that was Lewis I'd believe you",  Sorry JLew for not believing in you.  He also earned a penalty on a hand ball for the second, finished by Mihailovic.  Then it was Mihailovic's turn to set up (eventually) Harris from a corner kick that pinballed around in the box a bit before he finished it.  Three good goals from 3 different sources (open play, penalty, corner).

With the win Colorado moves to the Round of 16 and faces Toluca in another game as the away team at home.  This one is Tuesday night at the Dick at 8pm.  These tickets are not part of the season ticket plan so we might see a less Rapids-biased crowd.

If you're wondering how the rest of the competition lays out, if we beat Toluca we would face the winner of Club America-St. Louis.  We would go on the road for that one (to San Diego if Club America wins).  Then if we're still alive in the semi-finals we would get the winner of the Seattle/LAFC/SJ/Pumas quadrant.  The only way we would host would be against Pumas.  In the final the remaining team would be between 5 MLS clubs and 3 Liga MX clubs on that side of the bracket.  We would host a Liga MX club but be on the road against a MLS club should we play in the championship.

First up though, focus on Toluca.  They took us to the woodshed in group play at the Dick last year.

Man of the Match: Jonathan Lewis.  Score a goal, draw a PK for the second.  Steffen had a great game but I give the edge to JLew.

Juarez In The Knockouts

So this is what moving on looks like.  The Rapids are back in action again tomorrow night. this time being the "away" team for FC Juarez.  Kickoff is at the more normal 7:30 and it's going to be much cooler than expected for an August game.  A nice change.

As far as I know only Kevin Cabral is unavailable tomorrow but it is the third game in 8 days so we may see some rotation.  First I expect Djordje Mihailovic is probably able to start.  But we might see somebody like Rosenberry or Maxso rested.  We're in a position that if we keep winning we get another short rest game, but if we don't we get 3 weeks off.  So at some point rest is going to have to happen so when do you make that switch?

Juarez will play more of a possession game and the Rapids will need to use their press and counter strategy against them.  What we saw for the last 20-30 minutes on Monday night is what we want to see.  Juarez beat Dallas 2-0 and tied St. Louis 1-1, winning the shootout, to win their group.  Two teams that we've beaten by a combined 9-2 three times this season.  Juarez is also, obviously, on the road for their 3rd game but has an extra day of rest over us.

The winner of tomorrow's game will face the winner of the Houston - Toluca match.  Houston will host if they win, Colorado would host Toluca.  The Leagues Cup would decide where a Toluca-Juarez game would be played.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Mihailovic and Bassett.  I think the Rapids might be a better team than Juarez right now and they have the home advantage.  I think that gives them enough to overcome the fatigue, but it will be close.  I wouldn't be shocked to see another shootout.

The Streak Is Over

After almost 8 years ad 10 chances the Rapids have finally advanced in a competition against MLs or international competition.  Just like the last time it happened it came down to a PK shootout with a U.S. Nats keeper in goal for Colorado coming up big.  Before that it looked like Colorado was on the ropes before a last second goal from Navarro.  What's that?  That's right, I Didn't Hear No Bell!

The first half was fairly even on the stat sheet but the couple of good looks went Leon's way.  Luckily Steffen was up to the challenge including stoning Leon on a one-on-one they should have scored on.  In the second half the field tilted Colorado's way, especially once Mihailovic was subbed in.  The problem was despite their good looks the Rapids couldn't get one over the goal line.

That ended up costing the home-but-road side in the 77th minute.  Leon got behind the defense and while Steffen was able to get enough of a block on the one-on-one to force the shot into the post, the follow-up was an easy tap in.  There was a long delay as VAR got involved on the goal because the pass to the initial shooter was a very close offside call, and just off that pass Maxso had taken an arm in the face as the pass was made, which could have been considered a foul in the build-up.  In the end the goal stood, much to the objection of the Rapids players and fans.

Looking back at the goal I can't find a fault in allowing it but I think a different ref or with different technology it might not have stood.  I've been told that Leagues Cup is using the semi-automated offside technology like we saw in the Euros so if that came up as onside I can't argue it.  If this were MLS though I don't think there was a shot clear enough to overturn the original offside call.  As far as the tussle with Maxso right before he got an arm to the face he got his elbow up in the face of the Leon player.  Was their a foul there?  Likely, but you could make a case there was a foul the other way too and a no-call was appropriate.  Again a different ref maybe waves it off for the foul.

Colorado didn't go away though.  They had 2 or 3 good looks after the goal but it felt like it wasn't going to come.  But this is the 2024 'I didn't hear no bell' Rapids.  With less than a minute left Bassett lofted a cross into the box that Rosenberry volleyed to the exact right position for Navarro to head home.  His first goal after signing his new contract.  It was the last real touch of the game taking us directly to penalties 

In penalties Steffen came up big, stopping two of Leon's last three penalties after Mihailovic (as predicted), Bassett, Navarro, and Bombito scored theirs.  Maxso's had his saved so we needed the second save to win.   

With the results in other games the Rapids will host FC Juarez on Friday in the round of 32.  The Rapids will once again be the road team.  Home/road is determined by league results last year, so Colorado is the next-to-last placed team on the table (only Toronto 9is worse).  So we're always going to be the road team even when playing at the Dick.  That's why you saw Leon graphics on the scoreboards after the goal and such.  Kickoff on Friday will be at 7:30.  If we beat Juarez we'll play the winner of Houston and Toluca (who beat us at the Dick last year).  We'd go to Houston and host Toluca.

Man of the Match: Zack Steffen.  Easy.  Maybe his best game as a Rapid.

The Balboa Cup

Image from Burgundy Wave

If you don't count his one-time five-minute cameo appearance for the Metrostars at the end of his career 'Celo only played for two still existing professional teams, Club Leon in 1994 and 1995, and the Rapids from 1996 through 2001.  Tomorrow both his clubs face off in the Leagues Cup.with a spot in the knockout rounds on the line.  Winner (in regulation or PKs) moves on, loser is out.  Kickoff is at 7pm (not 7:30!).

Despite what certain people are posting this is not the inaugural Balboa Cup.  In the qualifying round of the 1998 CONCACAF Champions Cup Colorado, as MLS Cup runners-up, and Leon, as Inverno winner, were matched up in a home-and-home.  The young Rapids surprised Leon in Denver winning 1-0 before going down to Mexico and getting blitzed 4-2.  BTW the winning goal in that first game was scored in the 83rd minute by none other than Marcelo Balboa.  Paul Bravo and Steve Trittschuh had the goals in the loss.

There is one other connection between these teams.  Former goalkeeper William Yarbrough came to the Rapids from Leon.

Coming back to tomorrow's game the good news is that Djordje Mihailovic and Kimani Stewart-Baynes are both available after returning from national team duties.  Of course the bad news is that they're both back earlier than they had hoped, with Djordje and the U.S. being eliminated from Olympic competition in a 4-0 loss to Morocco on Friday.  Adam Beaudry played in tonight's CONCACAF U-20 final against Mexico and will not be available.  The Yanks conceded goals with the final kick of regulation, to tie the game 1-1, and the final kick of extra time, to lose 2-1.  Nothing Beaudry could have done on either goal.

Don't be surprised to see Colorado wearing the New Day kits tomorrow as technically they are the road team in this match.  I'm not going to get into the reasoning behind this and in the end it has very little impact.  The kits are the only noticeable change.

Leon likes to build out of the back with short passing so Colorado will need to hit them quickly on the counter.  If we can institute our mid block and get them on their heels we'll have a chance but the deeper we sit the more they'll like it.

I expect to see the same lineup as we saw in Portland.  Despite Mihailovic being back I don't see him starting.  He played 250 minutes over 4 games in 9 days, and then took a long trans-Atlantic flight home.  He doesn't have 90 minutes in him and as our best PK taker you want him on the field at the end of the game if you think its going to penalties.  He'll be available off the bench if we need a 2nd-half spark.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, loss in PKs.  Goal by Bassett.  I just feel like Mexican teams find a way and after our performance in Portland I'm not sure we're up to the pressure of a knockout competition yet.

Deja Vu, Deja Vu

Remember that game when the Rapids went up to Portland and got burned in transition over and over, leading to giving up 4 goals and looking completely outmatched?  No, not the season opener, last night.

Yeah, I don't know what it is about Portland, either the team or the stadium but they have our number.  Just like the game back in February Portland drove the ball down our throats and we had no answer.  We had two great chances in the first 5 minutes that Crepeau stood on his head to keep out (one for Fernandez and one from Navarro) and then we didn't have another shot on goal until Armas threw in the towel and subbed the kids in late in the game.  At that point we were down 4-0 and looking ahead to Leon on Monday.

I'm not going to go through and break down this game too much, largely because neither the game nor the competition deserve it.  But to give you an example, on the first goal it was 5 Timbers attackers against 8 Rapids defenders (including Steffen).  Despite that mismatch the only pressure put on the ball was a weak effort from Bombito on the entry pass and Steffen let the shot get between his legs.  And it got worse from there (the lack of effort on the 4th goal was disheartening).  Nobody had a good game, but Rosenberry, Vines, and Steffen had particularly bad ones.

The silver lining is that with a loss goal differential doesn't come into play.  The winner (be it regulation or PKs) on Monday night advances, the loser goes (or stays) home.  Honestly, I don't have high hopes but stranger things have happened.  Should we fail to advance it will continue an almost 8 year streak of not advancing in knockout competitions against MLS or international opposition.  That covers the MLS Playoffs (0 for 3), the Open Cup (0 for 3), the Champions League (0 for 2), the Leagues Cup (0 for 1), and the MLS Is Back tournament (0 for 1).  The last 10 chances dating back to being eliminated by Seattle in the 2016 conference finals.

Man of the Match: Adam Beaudry, for getting the U-20s into the U-20 World Cup and the CONCACAF U-20 final, and for not being part of this mess.