Matchday Musings: Colorado Rapids
A slightly too lighthearted look ahead to the Red Bulls' upcoming fixture
Photo credit: Irish Maliborski
It’s the biggest soccer weekend of the year, hell the biggest one till the 2026 World Cup final held in MetLife Stadium right in local East Rutherford. If you’re a hedge fund manager or a Tony Award winning Broadaway star get your tickets now or else you’ll miss the USMNT winning the greatest tournament in sports, coached by Gregg Berhalter Jurgen Klopp Nick Saban Dick Cheney Taylor Swift. While we have to wait two years and one week until that glorious, glorious day we’ll have plenty of action this weekend as the whole world turns its eyes to this wonderful sport. No, I'm not talking about the Euro Final between Spain and England or the Copa America final between Colombia and Argentina. No, the clear game of the weekend, if not the decade, is without a doubt the New York Red Bulls away game against the second best team in the Rocky Mountain region; the Colorado Rapids.
Bulletin Board
The good news, the Red Bulls are on a five game unbeaten run. The bad news, they’ve only won one game in that span, drawing 4 in the process. The team still remains solidly in 4th place, but it’s definitely a stretch where the team could’ve picked up more points. The last two draws were DC United and Philadelphia, the bottom two teams in the Eastern Conference. Not a great look, though to be fair rivalry games can get tricky and Philadelphia is a better team than their record. The Red Bulls couldn’t quite get revenge on their Pennsylvania boogeyman in a game that had a bit more action than its zero-zero score line would imply. The Red Bulls had a few golden chances early on, Lewis Morgan looked a little rusty back in the starting line up, missing a shot on a nearly open goal in the 3rd minute, while record signing Dante Vanzeir continues to struggle in one on one situations, and Elias Manoel sent a potential winner wide right in the 85th. The Red Bulls wracked up a sizable 2.7 xG, but none of their shots really forced any difficult saves. That’s a sentence that could’ve been written about quite a number of games last year, but hopefully doesn’t see anymore ink in 2024. A little bit more concerning was that the team definitely faded down the stretch after controlling the beginning of the game. The depth that made New York strong has become a little thin between injuries and transfers, which definitely hurts the Red Bulls’ ability to maintain a physical press. Worse, Emil Forsberg, who hasn’t seen any action since leaving for the June international break, was officially put on the injured list. Meaning he’ll miss at least another 6 games with a foot injury. We are in the dog days of summer now, and the Red Bulls might want to partake in their namesake beverage to keep the energy up.
Without a doubt the Colorado Rapids are the comeback team of the year. After finishing dead last in the West last season, the Rapids underwent a very intelligent, ambitious, yet well managed offseason. They retooled their team not with 10 million dollar South American wunderkinds or past their prime European stars, but with affordable talent that had already demonstrated success in MLS. They brought in former MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Zack Steffen from Manchester City, former Montreal star Djordie Mihailovic from AZ Alkmaar, Gold Cup winner Sam Vines from Royal Antwerp and poached Red Bulls’ fan favorite Omir Fernandez in free agency. That last one hurt a bit on a personal level, not gonna lie. They also traded for 3 of the top 5 picks at the MLS Superdraft and hired maligned former Red Bulls coach Chris Armas in a move that’s gone a lot better than most people (myself included) expected. If you couldn’t tell by the tone of this paragraph, that all has worked out in a big way. The Rapids are flying, or I guess rafting would be a more appropriate term, having won 4 of their last 5 games with their only loss coming to Western Conference leaders LAFC. They’ve scored a combined 13 goals in those victories, so this really is a team that's clicking on all cylinders at the moment.
The Rapids like to line up in a 4-2-3-1 a formation which plays well into their strongest groups of players; their attacking midfielders and wingers. Between Mihailovic, Fernandez, Cole Bassett, Kevin Cabral, Calvin Harris, and Jonathan Lewis, they have no shortage of talented options that could potentially make the starting line up. That gives them flexibility in their choices, and means that the biggest threats can come from virtually any direction. That group has done an excellent job feeding DP striker Rafel Navarro, who is having a resurgent season of his own. However, this isn’t a team that relies on any one or two players to run their offense through, though both Mihailovic and Bassett are capable of being that focal point if needed. The backline is skilled in its own right, Vines is no John Tolkin, but he’s still one of the strongest left backs in the league, while Keegan Rosenbeery on the right has had a career season that’s been rewarded with his selection to the MLS All-Star game. No one on this team is gonna be an MVP finalist or make the 2024 Best XI, but there’s quality at almost every position and the only notable weakness is in goal, as Steffen has not had the season expected from a player of his pedigree. Another factor that has to be considered is elevation, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park is 5,200 feet above sea level. The Red Bulls haven’t played in conditions like that in years and with depth a little thin at the moment, they face a real risk of being outrun and outlasted in this one.
Stats Circle
New York Red Bulls MLS record: 9-9-4 (4th-E)
Colorado Rapids MLS Record: 11-4-8 (4th-W)New York Red Bulls Last MLS Result: 0-0 vs. Philadelphia Union
Colorado Rapids Last MLS Result: 4-1 vs. St. Louis CITYNew York Red Bulls Top Scorer: Lewis Morgan (9)
Colorado Rapids Top Scorer: Rafael Navarro (11)The Red Bulls and Colorado last played in 2022 in a thrilling 4-5 Colorado victory in Red Bull arena.
Fun Fact: Rapids head coach Chris Armas was the interim co-head coach at Leeds United for a single game in February of 2023, a 2-2 draw against Manchester United, making Armas technically the 4th American to coach a game in the Premier League.
Players to Watch
Cole Bassett
On Monday, US Olympic coach Marko Mitrovic named his 18 man roster, making the extremely brilliant decision to include John Tolkin. That does sadly mean the Red Bulls will be missing the 21 year old left back for the duration of the upcoming Leagues Cup. However, Mitroivc also quite controversially left off Bassett, despite reportedly telling the player he made the team a few days before the roster was released. The Olympics are a potentially once in a lifetime opportunity, and I know if I was Bassett I’d be pretty pissed right now. In my experience that kind of anger and disappointment can take quite a few different forms on the field, most of which don’t tend to end well for the opposition. Hopefully he took out some of that frustration on St. Louis, where he scored a goal and assisted another, but if he still has those feelings, he could make the Red Bulls defense his personal therapy punching bag. Bassett has had a career year. His 7 goals this season are a personal best, and there’s still a significant portion of the schedule to go. Adding 4 assists on top of that has made him one of the most productive attacking midfielders in the league. To the point that many analysts picked him to make the MLS All-Star Game, another major event which he was snubbed for. Though to be fair, he may have been left off with the assumption he’d be at the Olympics. Either way, this is a very talented player with a very big chip on his shoulder at the moment. That’s as dangerous a combination as any.
Carlos Coronel
Despite starting all three of Paraguay's friendlies in the build up to the tournament, Carlos Coronel did not see a single minute at the Copa America. A little bit of rust would’ve been understandable, but he was absolutely brilliant in his return game against Philadelphia, reminding Red Bulls fans of everything the goalkeeper brings to table. Not just his impressive shot stopping abilities, which led to a number of strong saves, but his keen eye for the field and his ability to marshall the backline. Ryan Meera filled in admirably in his absence, but Coronel just offers a little something more that makes him one of the best underrated keepers in the league. Against a high power attacking group in an environment where the ball will travel a lot faster, and can be shot with power from a lot farther than what the Red Bulls are used to, Coronel’s reaction ability will be more vital to grounding out a result in this game than perhaps any other on the calendar. While in general goalkeepers deserve a lot more appreciation than they get, this week above all others is one the Red Bulls’ faithful should let their starter know how much they care for him.
Matt Miagza Model of the Week
Omir Fernandez
Photo credit: @ooohhmeeur Instagram
Oh my beautiful boy, why’d you have to leave? Was it something I said, something I did? I know you have a new team in your life, but they’ll never love you the way we do. Please just come home, I’ll do whatever I can to make it right.
Prediction
It’s not quite as high scoring as the last time these two teams met, but there are still plenty of goals. It’s another draw as a Lewis Morgan brace isn’t quite enough to grab the victory in a 2-2 game.