In The Market

Excuse a little shameless self-promotion, we'll return to our Rapids coverage later tonight with the Dallas game preview. I've found myself back in the job market recently.  If anyone in the Denver area is looking for a good technology leader with a strong QA background, feel free to drop me a line.

BadjiBadjiBadjiBadjiBadji!!!

That was certainly unexpected.  The Rapids played probably their worst half of the season on Saturday night.  Luckily it was the first half and they followed it up with their best half since maybe the 3-1 win over FSL in July of 2015 (where we scored 3 in the last ~12 minutes of the game).  Of course the accolades are rightfully going to Badji but there were a lot of contributors to that hat trick.  Blomberg, Smith, and Aigner were all key to the goals as well.  This was a nice boost heading into a rough part of the schedule.

Other observations:

• That was the first hat-trick for the team in almost 7 years.  That was a long drought.
• If anyone told you a month ago we'd have 6 goals in our first 3 games, all from our strikers, you wouldn't have believed them.
• The team looked awful through the first 30 minutes or so, vintage 2017 stuff.  They picked it up a bit near the end of the half and turned it on in the second.  That's a step up from last week when it was 20-30 minutes of good play and 60+ minutes of 2017.  Baby steps I guess.
• Howard didn't have to do much but when he did, he was there.
• Discipline are becoming an issue quickly.  Price already has two cards in three games.  I expect him to miss at least two games this year for caution accumulation.   Overall we're getting a bit of a rep.
• Seeing Hairston and Wilson go down was not good.  Hairston in particular looked bad.  The silver lining is that we got our first look of the season at Sjoberg and Serna and they looked up to the challenge.  Axel in particular stood out, taking his place in the back 3 like it was no big deal.
• Mason was quiet in this one, but when your strike partner puts up a hat-trick you don't need to do much.
• Blomberg is quietly turning into a key part of the offense.  Its going to be hard to pull him out as Aigner and Gashi get healthy.
• Up 2-0 late with a hat-trick on the line I have no problem with Badji being selfish and getting the third goal,  If we're losing or tied though he needs to pass that ball to the wide open Aigner.
• Speaking of, Aigner!  He made some good runs and looked dangerous in his short time on the field.
• It was quite cold out there, much cooler than was expected.  I'd be happy for a warm game soon.
• Up next, our old friends down in Dallas.

Man of the Match: Dominique Badji.  Duh.

Rapids Try To Bust Union

I don't know if a game in March could be considered a must-win at any time, but tomorrow is probably as close as the Rapids will come.  With trips to Dallas and FSL around a home game against TFC this is probably the Rapids best shot at a win until Orlando comes to town in a month.  Starting the season on a six-game winless streak won't make anyone happy.  Game time tomorrow is 7pm so the tailgate starts at 4.  Fleming and Balboa will have the call on Altitude if you can't make it.

Player Availability:

Injuries:

OUT: D Kortne Ford (L MCL sprain); M Shkelzen Gashi (calf injury)

Boli should be available as he's been practicing with the team, though I don't expect him to start.  Aigner participate in practice this week so hopefully he'll at least make the bench.  Philly has two players out injured, one questionable, and one suspended so they're in worse shape than us.

Considering how well we started last week's game I expect the same XI to start this week.  With Aigner and Boli possibly available though I expect different subs.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Mason and Aigner.  I think we've seen the new defense is unlikely to get a shutout but I think the team builds from last week and does a better job defensively.  They'll have to work at it but I think they can find two goals tomorrow, even against a team that has yet to concede this season.

Rapids Dealing With Reduced Wattage

In a bit of a surprising move the Rapids traded Jared Watts to Houston today in exchange for $100K of Targeted Allocation Money (TAM).  While many fans expected a trade most thought it would be Axel Sjoberg who was moved.  Watts proved himself, after some false starts, to be a capable MLS backup CB so $100K of TAM is probably a reasonable trade for him.

This leaves the Rapids with Smith, Wilson, Ford, Sjoberg, Miller, and (apparently) Wynne as center backs which is still pretty good depth.  This move gives us $100K in TAM and frees up Watts' $75K in salary, which means we should have room for a decent signing.  Since we acquired TAM that may be an indicator that we have a larger target in mind, though it may just be stockpiling it for a future move.

In unrelated news the team announced yesterday that the road trip to play the Galaxy, originally scheduled for Aug. 25th, will now be played on Aug 14th at 8:30pm.  No reason was given for the change.  This will have the Rapids California Dreamin' in August as in two weeks they host the Galaxy and San Jose, then travel out to LA to play both the Galaxy and LAFC in back-to-back games the same week (they finish the month hosting FSL).

Second Game, Same Result

Well that was fun, until it wasn't.  A great 30 minutes to start the game descended slowly (or maybe not so slowly) into a repeat of 2017.  2 goals in the first 8 minutes is the fastest double for the Rapids since the 5-1 beat down of the Sounders in October of 2013 started with 2 goals in the first 10 minutes.  Really though, this graphic is the story of the game:

That's right, after the first 20 minutes the Rapids never had the majority of the possession.  After Mason's goal in the 8th minute we didn't have another shot on target the rest of the night.  Not surprisingly, this team can't sustain a lead with that type of play.

Other observations:

• Short as it was, the first 20-30 minutes looked like a good team.  Good ball movement, well timed runs, and defenders filling space as needed.
• Niki Jackson looks like a solid late-round pick.  I'm not expecting him to turn into Omar Cummings, but the next Brown/Badji is not impossible.
• Joe Mason make the Vancouver GK lay a brick on that goal.  More of that please.
• BTW, the assist on that goal was a 60 yard bomb from Smith.
• Good to see Badji back on the score sheet after a rough few games going back to last season.
• Wynne should not be starting.  He really stands out as a key to our defensive struggles.  He's not comfortable at CB and Smith and Wilson have to adjust to cover, setting the whole formation off-kilter.
• Not that he's the only issue, clearly the team is still struggling with the formation.  Both goals came from unmarked trailing runners, something KC was getting away with all night.
• Good, we used all 3 subs.  Bad, our choice of subs, specifically McBean.  He's useless and shouldn't see the field outside the Open Cup.  Serna would have been a better choice.
• 3 points lost in two games on stoppage time goals.  That's a bad pattern that needs to be broken now.
• Side note - Apparently nobody told Stadium Ops the season started on Saturday night.  Way to prioritize your team KSE (this is not a knock on the Rapids FO, Stadium Ops are a separate KSE division).

Man of the Match: Tim Howard.  Stood on his head and saved a point out of this game.  If that's the Hwoard we get going forward he's going to be worth every penny.