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| Oasis or thirst-induced madness? |
Colorado Rapids
2-0-2, 8 pts., 6 gf, 4 ga (+2); home 0-0-1, away 2-0-1
Last Results: DDWW
Strength/Location of Schedule
@ STL (0-0 D); v FCD (3-3 D); @ ATX (1-0); @ SJ (2-1)
Big Picture
Tricky to frame, honestly. The Rapids’ results have improved (see above) but the highlights tell me that they needed every inch of Zac Steffen to earn even a draw last weekend at the San Jose Earthquakes – and he made a minimum of three implausible saves, so here’s to hoping Steffen’s drowning his sorrows with the rest of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s after that choke versus Panama (karma, motherfuckers). I didn’t watch a ton of Colorado in real-time – just the San Jose highlights and about 50 minutes of their weird ‘n’ wild 3-3 home draw versus FC Dallas a couple weeks back – but I saw the Rapids defending to the opposition defensive third, even in the snippets against the ‘Quakes, and aggressively all over the field. Working those young legs, apparently, and those have carried them to a solid run of results, fourth in the Western Conference and seventh overall. Something else I noticed: Colorado leaves a fair amount (read: a lot) of vertical space between that skirmishing front line and the back four (arguably led to this Dallas goal). That hasn’t caused them to bleed goals so far – even with that draw versus Dallas, they average just one goal against/game – and I’ll pick at reasons not named Zac Steffen below. Against that, they needed all of Dallas’ flaws to get that home draw and I’d call them damned lucky to win at San Jose (could easily have lost by the looks of it). I wouldn’t go so far as to call their record a mirage, not yet, but the Rapids are factually picking points off direct rivals in their climb up the table.
Personnel
If Steffen doesn’t return and suit up, I suppose Timbers fans will be the first non-Rapids on their block to know a dang thing about Adam Beaudry, who appears to be their only other ‘keeper and also…wow, 18. The current back four for this early season has featured a mix-‘n’-match involving Keegan Rosenberry, Chidozie Awaziem and Andreas Maxso as the regulars, and Ian Murphy and Reggie Cannon switching on and off, whether by choice or availability. Who they start further up the field has changed with Chris Armas’ preferred formation for the given day, but not all that much. The midfield regulars include Oliver Larraz, Cole Bassett, and, more often than not Sounders reclamation project Josh Atencio (good signing, honestly), but a youngster named Wayne Frederick started in his stead at San Jose. Djordje Mihailovic dropped into midfield when Armas lined up an (alleged) 4-4-2 versus Dallas, but he usually pushes higher to support the attack, if behind the front pairing of Rafael Navarro and, won’t pretend this doesn’t blow my mind, Kevin Cabral.
Navarro, a large, mobile forward (who posts strong numbers), will give Portland’s shaky back three-to-four (preference?) nightmares, but the thing I saw in the Rapids style of play that most worries me was the mobility of their ball progression. It looks like Armas gives them license to move around when in possession and that produces an ever-shifting attacking shape with plenty of support offered and combinations completed. Mihailovic covers a lot of ground and boasts a pretty broad tool-kit, and Larraz, Atencio (or Frederick), and even Bassett provide good cover. Oh, and Portland’s midfielders will need to stay on top of Bassett’s late runs, because he does make them. I didn’t see any glaring gaps in the Rapids’ defense, and all of those players are decent…if in a way that sorta gets at the Rapids as an whole team. This team has a disproportionate share of cast-offs from other MLS teams and, after Mihailovic and Navarro, they don’t have a lot of star-power. To the extent that limits them – an open question for me, for what it’s worth – they cover it with solid team play. Finally, should anyone of the above players be unavailable on Saturday, the Rapids appear to have good depth in many positions.
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| As desperation creeps in... |
As with any visit to MLS’s only mile-high venue (though I’m guessing Real Salt Lake comes close), the Timbers should let their lungs and legs acclimate before they chase anything, including the game. Related, I hope Phil Neville spent the week drilling both defense and midfield work on passing off players and marks. Chasing Colorado players all over and twisting the defensive out of shape will almost certainly spell problems and/or doom toward the end of the second half. When they get on the ball, Portland should take advantage of all the vertical space the Rapids leave (or at least they did against Dallas) and go like hell when they go; as much as I’d give anything (I have a cat available, probably current on the good vaccinations) to get better about letting the ball do the work, the scattered footage of Colorado that I saw recommends aggressive transition play, up to and including mad dashes. On the personnel/formation side of things, I’d prefer to see Neville start a back four and (for the most part) send only one fullback forward, while having some combination of midfielders handle ball progression on the opposite side. To go against the grain a little, I’d start Antony somewhere, have him run at Rosenberry and hope the latter suffers flashbacks from First Kick 2024 (right? or was that 2023?). David Da Costa should start, of course, and I prefer Felipe Mora to Kevin Kelsy in this one. Finally, start Cristhian Paredes, goddammit, because Portland needs all the energy it can get out of the midfield. Throw him in with David Ayala and Santiago Moreno and I’d even consider a 4-3-3…
(Relevant) Notes (or Impressions) from the Rest of the West
Thanks to a messy damn week, I have less on this than I’d hoped to. Overall, though, I’m struck by the early volatility – e.g., San Jose sputtering back to Earth, the Seattle Sounders sitting on as many (or few) points as the Timbers, and both LA teams enduring slow starts. Vancouver looks solid, but I still expect them to sink into the rest of the table, if only with Ryan Gauld out, and the same goes for San Diego…even if that’s based on nothing more than standard expansion-team theory. If I had to name the team that strikes me as the most sturdy and sustainable, I’m tempted to go with St. Louis CITY FC.
That’s it for this one. Till we see what Saturday coughs up…
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