PBP: P/I/P - Black Diamond Run #3 - Rapids vs The artists formerly known as Wiz - 3/17 @ 7pm

Very soft red

 

This is nothing like the 2018 season.

 

Yet.

 

Looked like a weak second yellow but a legit foul call from the stands. How did it look on TV?

 

Consider yourself lucky. Time to Google "how to unwatch a match."

 

Foul was a foul.

The second yellow for.... kicking the ball away? Weak sauce.

Good free kick. Looked like Howard alligator armed it but also may have been out of reach.

 

The last 21 minutes were a lot like the 2018 season.

 

Not really. This team shows more desire and drive in one game than the whole 2018 season.

 

The Stupid was strong with that one. The call was technically correct.

 

Ouch. Have to say the Sjoberg foul was legit. So the free kick would have happened without the soft yellow/red. Ghosts of last year watching Tim stand and look instead of diving. Maybe he was looking the other way or didn’t see it off the foot.

Have to say the tie was a fair result. Rapids only goal was a blunder. KC had more good chances.

 

Technical execution is still lacking. Stupid mistakes are still subtracting points. The team can't hold a lead at home. And the home draw against Portland isn't looking too impressive right now.

 

Yeah, hard to blame the team for not holding a lead against Portland given how they lost it. And the 2018 Rapids don’t come back, twice, to get a draw in that game regardless of how good/bad the opposition is.

You want to call the last 5 minutes tonight 2018-ish, fine, but claiming there’s no change in this team from 2018 is ignoring the other 265 minutes of evidence this season. This is a team that just played 3 of the best 2018 Western Conference teams and largely held their own. The 2018 team would have lost at least 2 of the 3 by multiple goals and felt lucky if they got 1 point instead of being disappointed they don’t have 4.

 

Jason, everything you wrote is true. But we all have PTSD, so when they lose a lead in the 90th minute on a foul, red card, and Tim mimicking a statute as the ball goes in the net...well, it feels worse than usual.

Another small complaint—Rapids last offensive play in extra time. Kai taking on four defenders to his right. Shinyashiki slowly jogs to the left giving Kamara nowhere to pass. Reminded me of his lack of effort on a play against Portland. Kid, you do play a skilled game—he showed that again tonight—but he has to add hustle too or he’s going to drive us nuts.

 

Some interesting comparisons to KC at home last season (which was the first home game and the second game overall in 2018):

Shots/Shots on goal:
2018: 8/2
2019 13/2

Possession
2018: 38.4%
2019: 39%

Passing accuracy:
2018: 69%
2019: 78 %

Final scores:
2018: 2-2
2019: 1-1

Diego Rubio scored in both games, got the tying goal in the 91st minute last year, got what turned out to be the Rapids tying goal this year.

https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...colorado-rapids-vs-sporting-kansas-city/stats
https://matchcenter.mlssoccer.com/m...colorado-rapids-vs-sporting-kansas-city/stats

 

Why was this game Sunday at 7PM, btw?

I assume it was moved to Sunday due to SporKS playing on Thursday. Why 7PM?

I miss those March 2PM games.

/oldman

 

Yes, Blomberg was stupid, but I don't think many GK's in the MLS are stopping that free kick, it was about perfect as they come (over Axel and under bar in side netting).

 

This. I think if Clint Irwin was in net nobody would be making the claim that he should have done better, but because it was Tim Howard (and because, right or wrong, he has oversized expectations put on him by Rapids fans) we get a bunch of people claiming Tim screwed up.

 

On the positive side: Playing with 10 didn’t hurt us.

On the negative: Giving up the free kick cost is 2 points.

Outlook: won’t be long before all that positive energy gets zapped out of this team.

 

I think it was a TV choice as the national games played in the PM.

Agree the two ties "feel" like 2018 when nothing went right, but in 2018 it was our fault, in 2019 our record stinks but we are much better. I'll give them a few more games before I lose interest.....

R

 

Oddities

 

The Rapids scored as a result of some organized team pressure and a great heads up play. Not much like the last two years.

The undisciplined foul and subsequent yellow and accumulated red we're very much the Rapids of the last few years.

 

It took me a day to process my frustrations from last night's match. These are some of them.

1. The 2019 team has far more talent than the 2018 team. The players are much more experienced, much better quality, and more capable of contending in the west. The coaching, however, remains the same. Hudson has several maddening habits, including tinkering with the chemistry, starting players out of position, trying to force players to fit his system, head-scratching substitutions, and obliviousness to changing game situations. These habits aren't consistent, don't emerge every match, but make appearances from time to time throughout a season. Last night was one of those times.
2. Chapman had an awful match as center ref. He was in "let 'em play" mode in the first half, handing our just one booking. At halftime, probably after debriefing the rough play he let pass, Dr. Henry Jekyll turned into Mr. Henry Hyde. Chapman was in "lock 'em up" mode the rest of the match, issuing seven second half YCs, including the mustard-and-ketchup to Blomberg. I hate it when refs do this, but it's part of the game. Remember the first rule of soccer: know your ref. Vermes saw the transformation, and had Sporting Kansas City ratchet down the aggressive play. Hudson either was slower to notice or didn't adequately adjust to the changed officiating. Blomberg came on playing like it was the 30' mark rather than the 79' mark of a very differently officiated half. That is either bad coaching or an uncoachable player.
3. When Blomberg came in, it was immediately evident that he wasn't on the same page as the rest of the team. He was like a wrecking ball cutting a swath through the formation. Again, either he wasn't given clear instructions or he doesn't listen to instructions. My hunch is that he thought this was his one last, best chance to prove his worth, and his nervous energy took over for his brain.
   
4. Blomberg's performance wasn't just awful. It was almost franchise-history awful. In less than nine minutes, he completed three passes. Those were the highlights. He turned over the ball once (weakly) and lost the ball out of bounds, while committing a foul, snagging two bookings, and hitting the showers. His -662 OPTA in under nine minutes is the stuff of legends. I honestly didn't think scores could go that low.
5. Blomberg's exit didn't cost the Rapids Blomberg. That was actually an improvement. It cost the Rapids Acosta. Without Acosta, Kamara looked like he had a '90s rock star entourage everywhere he went. He was dripping defenders the rest of the match. It didn't help when Shinyashiki went full Nico Hernandez, and dragged an additional defender over to him. ("Here, I don't need my defender. You can have him." "Gee, thanks, kid.")
6. Time after time, I saw passes fall short of targeted players, wide open players passed up in favor of low-probability attacks, players hesitating before passing, and obviously missed scoring opportunities. There weren't as many of these as in 2018 matches, but they were still far too evident.