Rapids Leave Reds Seeing Red

The wounded Rapids, missing 4 starters, got a boost by the unexpected availability of Conor Casey last night. They took advantage of his league-leading 12th goal to get a 1-0 win over the visitors from Canada (eh!) and move up the ladder in their pursuit of a playoff spot.

The first half was made up of a good deal of bad soccer, but mainly controlled by the Rapids. The two incidents of note were a yellow card and a PK. In the 21st minute Toronto's defensive midfielder Amadou Sanyang clattered into Mehdi Ballouchy and picked up a yellow card for it. The card was a bit soft, but I think there was a bit of persistent infringement that influenced the card. A few minutes later Ballouchy sent a corner kick into the box that Baudet headed to goal. The shot deflected off of Gomez's upraised arm and referee Terry vaughn pointed to the spot. Solid call as Gomez's arm was raised away from his body and blocked a legitimate shot on goal, but there was no intent so TFC got a bit unlucky. Casey stepped up...and missed his second of three PK's this season. This one he shot too high and pined it off the crossbar. Perhaps somebody else should take PK's at this point (Ballouchy is 1-1 while Cummings is 0-1 hitting the post)?

The second half was a bit more eventful than the first, but it was still plenty of bad soccer. Neither team could really get into rhythm and it was choppy midfield play that stopped attacks from each side. 6 minutes in Cummings fed Peterson at the top of the box. Peterson swung a cross in and Casey found himself wide open between two Toronto defenders and rose up to head the ball into the back of the net for his league-leading 12th goal of the season. Toronto made some offensive substitutions and they were able to control the game in fits and spurts but never enough to challenge Matt Pickens. In the 76th minute Sanyang fouled Ballouchy again and it was one foul too man. Vaughn showed him his second yellow and suddenly Toronto was down a goal and a man.

The last major incident of the game occurred in the 85th minute when Cummings was running onto a long ball from the back. He only had to beat Toronto defender Adrian Serioux to be 1v1 with the keeper. Serioux saw Cummings coming after the high ball and rather than play the ball he sized Cummings up and took him out with an elbow and shoulder charge. Both serious foul play and denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity. Vaughn wasted no time in showing the red card and the game was essentially over. There are some fans trying to justify Serious play as just a shoulder charge while going for the ball but if you watch the replay on a viewer that's big enough to see the details you can tell that Serioux never even looked at the ball and was gunning for Cummings the whole time.

My key to the game was how well the 5 new starters integrated with the rest of the team. With Casey's unexpected apperance it was only 4 new starters, Ballouchy, Moor, Baudet, and Noonan. Baudet and Moor were rock solid at center back, Toronto never had a decent attempt at goal. Moor will be fighting with Palguta for the starting spot while Baudet appears to be supplanting Gibbs as the starter. Ballouchy was his normal self, 1-2 good balls, 3-4 bad balls, and the rest just eh. Noonan was pretty invisible for a center mid, and that trade is looking worse by the game.

Other Observations:

• I predicted ugly soccer with a 1-0 win off a goal by Cummings. That was before I knew Casey was going to play though so I'd say that was a fairly accurate prediction
  
• Real solid play by the back line. Kimura - Moor - Baudet - Harvey might be our best 4
  
• If Gary Smith thinks Palguta deserves to start we might want to look at shifting Kimura to right mid and pushing Moor to right back. Kimura's speed and tenacity would serve us well in midfield
  
• Casey needs 3 goals to set the team record for goals and Cummings need 3 goals or assists to set the team record for combined goals & assists
  
• We need a center/attacking mid. LaBrocca, Noonan, and Ballouchy can all manage the position without being a disaster but none of them can change a game from there
  
• At least we got through this game without any additional injuries. Bravo and Gary Smith were saying pregame that Gibbs is 2-3 weeks out and Jamie Smith is probably done until the playoffs. Palguta should be available next week at least
  
• Toronto will be down Serioux and Sanyang next week which should improve our chances in the return fixture
  

Player of the Game: Nick LaBrocca. There are a couple of candidates for the award this time but LaBrocca really stepped up and filled Pablo's shoes. He broke up every attack that came through the midfield and started a number of good chances for the Rapids. We still need to figure out who can sit in front of him while Pablo is suspended, but we seem to be OK at d-mid.

DaMarcus Beasley sighting at the Dick

A full write-up of last night's 1-0 win over Toronto coming in the next day or so, but I wanted to post this ASAP. Deron White from the Colorado Rapids Examiner told me that he saw National Team winger DaMarcus Beasley walking around the stadium with Cory Gibbs at tonight's game. Beasley is currently riding the bench with Rangers in Scotland.

Beasley could just be in town visiting, but given his lack of playing time and our sudden lack of depth on the wing (Clark is done for the year and Smith is done until the playoffs) one wonders if the Rapids might be considering some sort of acquisition. The international transfer window is closed so I believe that Beasley can't be sold until January. Its a very confusing area, and then you add in the MLS roster rules and it gets even weirder. Assuming the Rapids could make a move for him I like it as a short-term "rent-a-player" type of move. I don't want to see the Rapids give him a long-term contract though.

Conor Casey Update

Steven Goff is reporting that Casey did not go to Salt Lake City due to his wisdom tooth extraction but he is in good enough shape to play for the Rapids tonight. Hopefully he's good enough to start and add some continuity to a team that can use all they can get this week.

A decision will be made tomorrow on if he will join the Nats team for the midweek game in Trinidad & Tobago or not.

Take Off Eh, You Hosers!

That's right, the boys from the 51st state are in town to face Colorado. Its the first of a double-header, the Rapids will head to the Great White North next week to face Toronto on the road. Because of the U.S National Team game and the Fox Soccer Channel coverage the game will start 30 minutes later at 8pm. The Cantina will open at 5:30 and all fans are invited there to watch the Nats World Cup Qualifier against El Salvador at 6pm. The supporters groups will still have their normal tailgate before the game starting at 6pm.

Official Injury Report:
OUT: MF Colin Clark (L ACL tear); MF Jamie Smith (L knee strain); DF Cory Gibbs (R thigh strain); PROBABLE: DF Scott Palguta (R calf strain)

Official Discipline Report:
SUSPENDED: Pablo Mastroeni (1st of 3 games)
ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: Conor Casey
TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: Mehdi Ballouchy, Omar Cummings, Cory Gibbs, Scott Palguta

International Absences:
Conor Casey - USA

Carl Robinson is questionable for Toronto and Guevara is with his National Team. There is a small chance that Casey might be available for the game. Due to (presumably) emergency wisdom teeth removal he wasn't able to go to the Nats camp until late this week, if he went at all. If he wasn't able to train with the Nats and/or Bradley tells him he won't be used tomorrow night he may still be able to join the Rapids for the game, should his teeth allow. Its a long shot though so I'm assuming he'll be missing when I put together my best guess (and this week its really a guess) at a lineup:

Pickens

Kimura - Baudet - Palguta - Harvey
Dalby

Peterson - LaBrocca - Ballouchy

Cummings - Diz

A number of new names on that lineup. Baudet and Palguta seem to be the obvious choices to replace the traded Ihemelu and the injured Gibbs. Drew Moor could factor into the starting lineup but I'm guessing that Gary Smith will want him to get some more experience with his teammates before starting. Dalby seems the logical choice to fill in for the suspended Mastroeni, but LaBrocca could also move back to that position. In that case Noonan is likely to start at center/attacking mid. Peterson and Ballouchy are really our only choices out wide. Cooke's been cut and Clark and Smith are injured. Diz is the natural replacement up front for the big-man role Casey's been filling, but Noonan could just as easily take the spot if he's not needed in midfield.

Key To Look For:

Read the last paragraph again. 5 new starters from last week at minimum. The key is can all the new faces play as a team or is it going to be 11 individual players out there? The only good news is that we don't have to pull this off for the first time on the road. Gary Smith is going to earn his coaching stripes over the next few weeks as he juggles the injuries and suspensions. It starts tomorrow night.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by Omar Cummings. I expect to see a good deal of ugly and forgettable soccer from both sides. Neither side has been playing great lately. With Toronto on the road at altitude (and apparently had plane difficulties getting her on Friday) and all the new faces for the Rapids there isn't going to be much flow to this game. Still I think the home field advantage will be enough for the Rapids to pull out a win.

Midseason Review

We're coming around the final turn of the season, 75% complete. Time for a final mid-season review.

Goalkeeping: Things haven't changed much in goal from the midway point. Pickens has been solid but not spectacular, Burpo's a capable backup, and Ceus took the Charlotte Eagles to the USL-2 championship before losing in the final.
Grade: A-

Defense: The defense is still wildly up and down. Last week we saw them shut out the top team in MLS, but the week before they gave up 3 goals in the last 18+ minutes to turn a road win into a road loss. With the move this week of Ihemelu for Moor its obvious that Gary Smith sees this as the weakness and is trying to work on it. Gibbs still hasn't shown an ability to organize the defense which results in the team relying on individual talent as much as an actual game plan. Baudet has looked good in 2 of the 3 games he's played, maybe he's the piece the back line was missing. The Rapids fortunes will live or die onbthe ability of the defense to play as a unit.
Grade: C

Midfield: The loss of Colin Clark for the season is a huge blow for the defense. Now we're missing Jamie Smith for at least a game and Pablo Mastroeni's stupid decision to go head-hunting last week has turned a 1 game suspension into 3. This leaves the midfield very thin with the likes of Noonan and Dalby expected to get playing time. When healthy (and not suspended) the midfield has done an adequate job, but nobody has stood out. Now more than ever we need LaBrocca and Ballouchy to step up and run the midfield. You also have to question cutting Terry Cooke instead of a defensive player since we are now hurting from our lack of midfield depth.
Grade: C-

Attack: Conor Casey leads the league in goals, Omar Cummings leads in assists and is a legitimate MVP candidate. They are the best striker tandem in the league. Because of this Noonan and Diz haven't had a chance to show much, but Noonan hasn't been particularly impressive yet. His play last week makes it look like that maybe he's turned the corner though. The only downside is that Casey and Cummings have played so well that they're missing games for National Team duty. Casey also has developed an annoying habit of picking up unnecessary cards for dissent or kicking balls away. He's on the verge of a second suspension for yellow card accumulation, something you don't see very often from a striker. Still you could hardly ask for more form the starting duo.
Grade: A-

Bench: 19 players have started for the Rapids this season, which shows a solid bench if not a real deep one (especially since two of those players are no longer with the team). We have solid backups in goal (Burpo) and defense (Harden, Moor, Palguta) but as we're seeing as we move forward the backups are more questionable. Dalby hasn't been great, Noonan has been iffy, and Diz hasn't had enough time to really make an impact. With the reduced rosters its hard to fault the team for not doing better on numbers but it would be nice to see the quality backups spread over the field more. We're going to see the bench tested over the next couple of games and we'll see who comes up big and who doesn't.
Grade: C

Coaching: Gary Smith has shown some good moves and his bad moves. As bad as the defense was in Chicago they weren't helped by the decision to sub wide players for more defensive players and go into a shell. At the same time we see subs like Ballouchy and Baudet combine for the winning goal last week. The team is playing better soccer but we haven't gotten as many results as we probably should have. Smith has his work cut out for him in the final 8 games of the season, dealing with major injuries and suspensions. Time to see how he can get the team playing down a stretch of relatively easy games.
Grade: C

Intangibles: Some big moves since the last review. Signing Jamie Smith and cutting Terry Cooke looks like a lateral move at best so far, and possibly a bad move. That isn't completely the team's fault though as nobody can predict injuries. This week's move of Ihemelu for Moor plus getting a draft pick and allocation money was a great move by the Rapids. The earlier moves are a mixed back. Baudet has looked good while Noonan's time is running out. Diz hasn't seen enough time to really judge. Smith and Bravo seem to have a plan though, which is an improvement over prior years.
Grade: C

Overall: The Rapids have improved form their mid-season dip but they aren't up to the level of play early in the season. I think we're seeing that Colorado was lucky to face some of the better teams like Columbus and Houston when they weren't at full strength. The Rapids are a team that can win on any given day and they're as good as any of the non-top teams in the league. They aren't consistently up to the level of a LA, Columbus, or Houston yet. That's the difference in being in a fight for the playoffs or being in a fight for a better seed. Colorado is in the former group still.
Grade: B-