Family Losses

Well, I'm back.  Lots of Rapids news to cover but we have to start with the most important news,  While I was gone dealing with personal losses in my family, our Rapids family lost two of their own as well.

On Thursday news broke that former Rapids striker and Ghanaian international Junior Agogo had passed away.  While no cause of death has been announced the assumption is that its related to the stroke he had a few years ago.  About 18 months ago Centennial 38, with an contribution from the Rapids, sent Junior a care package after hearing about his stroke and the fact that he hadn't heard from many teammates since then.  Agogo only played for the Rapids for a year and a half but made a large impact with his personality and friendliness and quickly became a fan favorite.  He was certainly one of my favorites, with Agogogoal! being one of my favorite shouts after he scored.

Then this morning we got new that midfielder Colin Clark had passed away over night from a heart attack.  Clark was a homegrown player before that was a thing in this league, growing up in Fort Collins and playing for various Rapids youth teams including the Boulder Rapid Reserves before becoming a regular starter for the Rapids.  He was with the team during the transition from the black & blue Invesco Field days to our burgundy home at Dick's Sporting Goods park.  His career was derailed by a couple of serious injuries but after retirement he went into coaching and was involved with the Colorado Rush organization.

Both Rapids alumni will be missed and my thoughts go out to their family and friends.  Combined with the loss of Fernando Clavijo in February this year has sucked.

Brief Hiatus

Due to a death in the family my posting will go quiet for a couple of weeks (if anyone is still reading this anyway).  I will predict that if we get through tomorrow's game without Abubakar or Kamara picking up a yellow and being on yellow card suspension in SLC that we win that game 2-0 and bring home the Rocky Mountain Cup.

Rapids Go To American Home Of Scandinavia, Johan Goes To Scandinavia

A bit of roster news today before our game preview.  Johan Blomberg was loaned to GIF Sundsvall in Sweden for the rest of the season, which will see out his contract.  Safe to say he won't be offered an new one from the Rapids.  Blomberg never found his place here, and this season the youth movement ate up any real playing time he's have in midfield.

So while he heads back to Scandinavia the Rapids head to Minnesota, which has one of the largest Scandinavian communities in the U.S.  This will be Colorado's first look at Allianz Field, United's new home after playing at the University of Minnesota while it was being built.  Game time tomorrow is 6pm and Fleming will have a guest color commentator for this one as Alan Gordon steps in for Marcelo Balboa.

Injury Report:
OUT: D Kortne Ford; D Deklan Wynne
QUESTIONABLE: GK Tim Howard

Disciplinary Report:
SUSPENDED: M Jack Price (yellow card accumulation)
ONE YELLOW FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar; D Danny Wilson; F Kei Kamara

There's been no updated injury report so I'm just going with the same one from Saturday.  I really don't want Abubakar or Kamara to pick up a yellow in Houston and be suspended for the Rocky Mountain Cup so they need to either get it out of their system tomorrow or save it for SLC.

Really, a midweek game on the road with another road game on Saturday means anything could happen.  I wouldn't be shocked to see a very B lineup rolled out there with a lot of normal starters rested for a potentially more winnable game in Houston on Saturday.  I'm going with the idea though that we're going to just deal with the game in front of us and worry about Saturday after the fact.

Prediction: 2-1 loss, goal by Lewis.  If this were a game on full rest we could see 5+ goals in the match with two of the better offenses in the league but on short rest I expect a more "normal" score.  Minnesota is better than us though and I think they get the 3 points.

This Team Fears No One At Home

Another good performance by the Rapids at home on Saturday night.  After being taken apart by San Jose two weeks ago the team we saw this weekend was much better prepared and ready to face the Earthquakes.  That said, they were outplayed for stretches of the game, but they did enough to get the win without making it look like they were stealing the 3 points.

Random Musings:

• Odd start to the game, after the opening kick I'm not sure the ref blew his whistle for at least 20 minutes.  no goal kicks, no corner kicks, no fouls.  I'm not sure I've ever seen that at the pro level.
• We were lucky not to give a way a PK in the first 5 minutes.  The ref was pretty lenient most of the night, which balanced out between the teams.
• I'm not sure how Acosta's shot made it into the goal, its the type of shot that usually goes off target or the keeper easily saves.  A well placed ball indeed.
• Maybe the Rapids just knew SJ's keeper was weak to his right as both goals got by him on that side.
• Colorado was both unlucky to concede and lucky to only concede one.  SJ's one goal was off a bad deflection but the Earthquakes hit the post twice.
• Kamara hit the same post.  Maybe that post should have been MOTM, 3 big saves!
• Casey has won 7 of his 15 games now, and if you discount the one where he took over midweek that's essentially a 50% win record which is very good for a Rapids manager.
• The Rapids have also gone a single-season record 15 games without being shut out and are on pace for their second best offensive season of all-time.
• All that said, the road gets much much harder from here.  Of our 10 remaining games 7 of them are on the road and 8 of them are against teams currently in a playoff position.  We have the hardest remaining schedule left in the league.
• The Bodmer line is at 1.7 pts/game.  Not unreachable but unlikely.  The Bodmer Line is just an average of past seasons though, not a predictor of what the number will be this season.  Realistically its looking to be higher than average so the team would probably have to average more like 2.3 pts/game or so to make the playoffs.  That seems pretty much impossible.

Man of the Match: Diego Rubio.  A few weeks ago I complained that his theatrics on the field were barely worth it if he kept scoring.  Well, he has kept scoring.  He got the winner in this one for his 3rd game in a row with a goal.  I still don't love the attitude on the field but you can't complain about the results right now.

Inoculated City

Didn't we just see these guys?

Lets hope the city is inoculated, one disaster in the Earthquakes is enough.  Yep, San Jose again, just like two weeks ago when they ran all over us in a 3-1 win.  The difference this time is that we're at home, and Kamara isn't injured.  Is that enough to change the result?  It may be.  Kickoff tomorrow is at 7pm so the tailgate starts at 4.  After celebrating his birthday this week Marcelo will have the call alongside Fleming on Altitude for those who can't make it.

Injury Report:

OUT: D Kortne Ford; D Deklan Wynne

QUESTIONABLE: GK Tim Howard

Disciplinary Report:

SUSPENDED: D Seb Anderson

ONE YELLOW FROM SUSPENSION: M Jack Price

Yes, Seb is still suspended since he's been with the U-17s the last two Rapids games, so those don't count towards serving his suspension.  My bet is that Tim is only on the bench if he doesn't get the night off completely, no reason to push him at this point of the season.

This seems really easy to predict.  This is the first game of a three game week, so we might see some players rotated out for rest, but I bet we go all in on this one and worry about rest with the later games on the road.

Prediction: 2-2 draw, goals by Kamara and Lewis.  San Jose is still a good team and we're...not.  I think we can reverse some of the damage from the first game by just playing better and having Kamara up front but I don't think we're good enough to actually beat them.  An entertaining high-scoring game ends with a share of the points.