Rapids Out Of Gas In Minnesota

Like we saw in KC a week and a half ago, the Rapids were tired to start the game and could never get in gear while Minnesota ran around them to the tune of a 3-0 win.  We're not going to go over the specifics of the game, if you saw SKC you saw this game.

Our road record isn't good this year but we've been particularly bad since the Leagues Cup, being outscored 9-4 and losing 2 of the 3 games, with our only win the last second escape in Dallas.  In Leagues Cup play we had a 2-2 draw in Philly, the scoreless draw against Club America in San Diego, and the 4-0 beat down in Portland.  Combined our last 6 road games are 1 win, 2 draws (with PK wins), and 3 losses and 6 goals scored with 15 allowed.

What I think we're running into is that our lack of rotation is catching up with us, and we see that more on the road due to the travel.  When you look at the minutes played by our main starters its not pretty.  A normal 34 game season has 3060 minutes of play.  Of course we played 7 extra games in Leagues Cup action.  Combined with our 31 league games so far we've had 3420 minutes of competitive football.

Steffen - 3420 minutes

Maxso - 3420 minutes

Bassett - 3185 minutes

Navarro - 3123 minutes

Mihailovic - 2751 minutes (plus 252 in the Olympics)

Vines - 2642 minutes

That's 4 players who have already played a full regular season and another that's about a half short if you include his trip to France.  In comparison I saw maybe a dozen non-goalkeepers in all of MLS who have over 3000 minutes already between the league and Leagues Cup.  Three of those guys are Maxso, Bassett, and Navarro (and unofficially Mihailovic).

We saw this same problem for years in Kansas City.  Peter Vermes would have his starters and run them into the ground and they would flame out late in the season.  This year the highest total for a KC player is a little over 2400 minutes.  The highest field player I could find other than the Rapids is Kai Wagner of Philly at 3257 minutes.  The highest for afield player who didn't make the semis of the Leagues Cup (so played at most 5 extra games) appears to be Thiago of NYCFC at 2969 minutes.

In the case down I-70 it was poor choices by the coach that put them in that situation.  In Colorado its a lack of roster depth.  Maxso's backup is Abubakar or Edwards.  Bassett's is KSB?  Navarro's is Yapi.  Mihalovic's is Bassett or maybe KSB too.  Vines has Jackson.  Other than Lalas these are all young kids.  We weren't expecting to be this competitive this quickly with the rebuild and our young guys just don't have the experience for Armas to throw them into the fire as often as the rotation would call for.

The success that we've had has put us in this situation.  An extra 7 games for the Leagues Cup added 630 minutes.  Being in the thick of the first-round home field race means we can't afford to take any games off and play for a draw while giving the backups some experience.  It does spotlight something we haven't had a chance to talk about here,  The fact that we took a pass on the summer transfer window.

I'm not suggesting we were in a position to win it all now and we needed to mortgage the future to cash in.  But how many summers have we seen the Front Office promise we're making moves and then sign 2 journeyman MLS players to short-term contracts for the cost of $150K of GAM and a 3rd round pick?  That's all we needed.  A experienced MLS defender who could take some of Maxso's minutes and an Alan Gordon-type to give Navarro a break without putting it all on Yapi would have gone a long way this season.  Without that I'm afraid we're going to run our legs off and flame out in the first round.

Rapids Clinch Home Playoff Game If They Avoid Going Loony

With a win against the Loons tonight Colorado will clinch a top 8 finish at and least one home playoff game (8th hosts 9th in the play-in game, all teams in the first round get at least one home game).  Of course our record in Minnesota isn't great so this won't be an easy task.  And its made harder by some missing players, most notably Cole Bassett who's out with injury.  Kickoff tonight is at 6:30.

Player Availability:

OUT: GK Adam Beaudry (upper body), D Sam Vines (hamstring),  M Cole Bassett (quad), M Kevin Cabral (elbow)

Other than Bassett its not great to see Vines still listed as Out, but its not a total surprise.  Good to see Abubakar completely cleared from his concussion.  We might see a lineup similar to the Toronto game.

Similar to the TFC lineup with Lewis in for Bassett.  Reward Yapi for his play with another start on the other side.  The rest is fairly straight-forward.

Prediction: 2-2 draw, goals by Navarro and Mihailovic.  Both these teams are better on offense than defense and our track record in Minnesota isn't great.  I think we battle for a relatively high scoring draw but a one goal loss or win wouldn't be a surprise.

Rapids Go From Worst Season Ever To Playoffs

Sorry for being a bit late on this recap, we spent a couple of nights in Vail to see a concert

Saturday night Colorado got back to a place where entering the season few of us thought they would get, the playoffs.  And they did it with 4 games to play.  The only question in Saturday night's game was if the Rapids would find the breakthrough they needed against a fairly average Toronto side that never looked really threatening.  It took until after halftime but they found 2 goals and the 3 points needed to clinch a playoff berth.

It was great to see Reggie Cannon not only get his first start but also his first goal on a nice setup by Yapi.  The Yapster then turned around and drew a PK late that sealed the win and also gave Mihailovic his 24th goal involvement (goals+assists), a new club record breaking Diego Rubio's 23 from 2022.  The win also took Colorado up to 3rd in the West, 1 point behind FSL.

With 4 games to play we need 5 points earned or lost by Minnesota to clinch a home playoff game (top 8).  Considering our next match is in Minnesota, a win there would do it.  12 points is the magic number to clinch home field advantage in the first round, with a number of teams involved in that race.  A win in Minnesota and then beating the Galaxy mid-week puts the top of the West in play, but we'd still be 2 points behind and hoping the Galaxy trip up against Austin or Houston, so that seems unlikely.  More realistic might be catching FSL and staying ahead of LAFC to claim 2nd, but that seems unlikely as well.  In the end, anything in the top 4 would be am amazing finish to the season.

Man of the Match: Darren Yapi.  Assist and earned the PK.  Easy pick.

Second Chance For Rapids To Clinch

On Wednesday night we needed help to clinch a playoff spot and we got it, but failed to do our part.  Now we need no help.  Win and we're in.  We're also in with a draw or loss with help but lets just get it done ourselves.  Toronto is our opponent tomorrow and they're fighting for a playoff spot with both DC and Philly lurking.  Kickoff is at 7:30pm and its going to be wet.

Player Availability:

OUT: D Lalas Abubakar (concussion), D Sam Vines (hamstring),  M Kevin Cabral (arm)

Not great that Lalas is still in concussion protocol, hopefully he's getting better.  Might Cannon be pushed into starting?

With how tired we looked on Wednesday I'm assuming some heavy rotation.  Keegan and Cole get to start on the bench.  Its not great but it needs to happen.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Mihailović and Bassett (off the bench).  Toronto is not a good team, we should be able to beat them but the rain and the number of games will make this a sloppy tense affair.

Rapids Flatline in KC

Last night Colorado came out flat and never woke up.  Armas decided to go with no rotation other than Michael Edwards in for the injured Lalas Abubakar and the tired legs showed from the opening whistle.  There was no urgency or energy in the side and KC took full advantage, scoring in the first 10 minutes.  Poor passing, weak clearances, and sloppy giveaways would continue the rest of the half but the Rapids managed to hold it together and go into the half only down one.  KC would put hopes to sword coming out of the locker room though, scoring in the 49th minute and the 69th minute to put the game out of reach.  A brief flicker of hope appeared when Mike Edwards got his first professional goal in the 75th minute but KC snuffed that out by scoring their 4th in the 82nd minute.

The only good news is that Austin, Dallas, and Seattle all failed to win so we didn't lose ground in our quest for a playoff spot and a top 4 finish. We clinch a playoff spot with a win over Toronto on Saturday OR a draw and Dallas not winning and Austin loosing OR a loss and Dallas not winning and Austin loosing.

No Man of the Match, nobody earned it.