This is the geographic phenomenon derby. Rapids happen when a river moves fast, whitecaps happen when mountains snow has not melted away at the top. Are there any other teams in this category? Rapids play Vancouver at the place in British Columbia, Canada on Saturday at 8. If, like me, you didn't watch the open cup and have been distracted by the women's world cup like me you'll have to look how good they are and re-associate yourself with MLS. We are last, I remember that part. I am looking forward to club soccer returning. Add intelligent stuff here before, after, and during the game. Or do what I do.
I believe the whitecaps referenced are the aquatic kind, based on their NASL logo. Which makes it even more apropos of a derby. Stick a rock in some rapids, and you get a whitecap. Speaking of which... I would hazard a guess that the Rapids sink like a rock in BC. But that's because this season has broken me as a fan, and I want my wooden spoon thread back!
White caps can also be called white horses, I first heard this in Ireland but it may be throughout the UK as well? Apparently white horses don't show up much in clouds so hope for a cloudy match day -- also to state the obvious -- playing the white horses sort of makes us the dark horses ... but then we knew that. https://www.xearththeory.com/white-horses-sea-waves-mystery/
Whitecap tends to be an adjective when applied to mountains "the whitecapped summit" but a noun when applied to water "there were whitecaps on the bay". Being a Pacific Northwesterner if somebody said "did you see the whitecaps today?" they were always talking about the turbulent water, not the snow in the mountains. Which is why I like to call this the wettest matchup in MLS since they're the only two teams named after water formations.
Well, I guess the Great Salt Lake is water, and it is really salty, so that kind of fits for Real Salt Lake. But I hate FSL and don’t want to include them on anything. I can’t wait till the Rapids beat them by two goals in August and we get the Rocky Mountain Cup back. Hopefully their fans didn’t break it again this time.
As of the first game it was still in one piece (I had to take it for a few minutes so it could be on the Altitude pre-game and Tailgate Live sets before the game).
A sounder can be a person from around (but probably not in - except house boats) a sound (Puget in Seattle's case) or it can a person on a watercraft that takes the depth measurements or soundings. Little known fact, the Sounders actually invented the idea of using water features to name soccer teams.
I really want the wooden spoon and Rocky Mountain Cup double, but they have to miss the play-offs too.
From this ProSoccer USA article https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/depleted-vancouver-whitecap-host-colorado-rapids/: The Whitecaps, however, will be somewhat depleted against the Colorado Rapids this weekend. Goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau and field players Derek Cornelius, Doneil Henry and Russell Teibert are currently away on Gold Cup duty with Canada. Meanwhile, Lass Bangoura was called up to Guinea’s national team that currently competes at the Africa Cup in Egypt. Furthermore, Joaquín Ardaiz is still out with an injury. “He will not be back until the LAFC game,” head coach Marc Dos Santos said this week. Vancouver, however, were prepared for the Gold Cup and potential call-ups to other national teams during the summer. One player, who has been ready to step in has been goalkeeper Zac MacMath.
So a partially depleted Rapids team takes on a more depleted Whitecaps roster. Just doing some research on the players they have missing: Maxime Crepeau is their main goalkeeper Derek Cornelius has been their starting left back the last several games with 6 total starts in 7 appearances on the season and 1 goal tallied Doneil Henry is a hulking defensive presence at 6'2 180lb and has 13 starts with 2 goals on the season Russell Teibert is one of their main mids, and has 12 starts so far on the season with 1 assist and no goals Lass Bangoura has started 6 and played in 12 games so far, 1 goal and 1 assist Joaquin Ardaiz is their Young DP striker, but hasn't really made much of an "impact" (pun intended) this season with 2 starts and 12 appearances. No goals or assists and 4 shots on goal Zac MacMath hasn't had much luck in goal this year either with 1L and 1T. He's got 3 saves and 3 goals allowed. Interestingly enough, Crepeau, Bangoura, Henry, and Teibert all started against the Rapids when Vancouver beat us a few weeks back. Ardaiz and Cornelius were also on the bench but did not play. So, what can we expect from this game then? Well, if the Rapids are starting to be worth their salt then they should be able to go into Vancouver, make a good showing of it, and get a result. If I put myself in the coaches position, and working under the assumption that Nicholson doesn't play, the Rapids will be without our starting wingers. That said, Vancouver are without their starting CB, CM, LB, and GK. I'd guess we have the following lineup: With a lineup like this, and an aggressive, attacking mindset from the start we should be able to come away with at least a tie, and possibly a win. Vancouver is a tough place to play (they are 3W-2T-1L in their last 6 matches at home) and the Montero-Ingbeom combination is always a threat. Because of this we need to press the ball, have a high line of confrontation, hit first, and hit hard. My idea for a gameplan? Let Mezquida do Mezquida things. He'll be looking to impress at his old stadium. Rubio will bring a fire and an energy if you unleash him. Sub him off if the game starts getting chippy and he starts getting too angry however. Rubio and Mezquida will be a wildcard for us....there's no real way to prepare defensively for either of them as you never really know what they will do at any given time. Let Kamara and Shinyashiki do what they do best and be smart on the ball (side note: Andre got some really nice complements from Tim Howard in his MLS Extra Time Radio interview this week). Price and Acosta do well as a center mid pairing. Use them to distribute and control the defensive flow. We do these things well on the field, then a win is not out of the question by any means. If the Rapids want to prove themselves as an actual threat on the field and really make a stand for contending for the playoffs, then this is a must win game. It will be the exact midpoint of the season, and to win @ Vancouver will be quite a statement. We're currently 4pts out of playoff reach and 7pts out of tying for 5th place. A win here will be our 3rd win in a row, our 6th unbeaten game, and will help close the playoff point gap tremendously That said, a tie is still a solid result. It would also push us to 6 unbeaten (which is still quite respectable) and isn't quite as big of a reach as the W. This result is very possible, and should be attainable. This is a very tieable game. If we lose? Then the days of the Rapids haven't changed too much. There's no reason we can't come out of Vancouver with at least a point. This too will be a statement on the current state of the team. My prediction? 2-1 Rapids. Rapids score first with Rubio - assisted by Mezquida, Montero ties it, Howard makes some great saves to keep us in it, and Kamara gets a PK winner late.
You laugh, I laugh, heck, we all laugh at the thought of playoffs this year, but the statement remains. They threw away the open cup, so there's not many options left. As an organization you need to have a tangible goal to reach for - not just "be better". As I said in that post, Even though we had a tremendously bad start to the season, its not an impossibility. All I'm saying is that a win helps the team to continue to dig out of the hole they put themselves in and close a gap that really isn't that big at this point in the season This weekends game is very winnable
Looking at the point difference can be deceiving though. With games in hand and the fact that you don't need 4 points, you need 4 more points than that team, the gap is really larger than it appears. Over the last 6 league games we went 4-1-1. We have to get those same results in the enxt 6 games just to be back to a playoff pts/game rate for the season. And that's the bare minimum pts/game number, with the West being better than the East so far the actual playoff number will likely be higher. So yes, its only 4 points, but to pick up 4 more points than the teams in front of us is actually a fairly big challenge at this point.
Yeah, exactly. I'm not saying I expect it to happen. Portland has 3 games in hand compared to us for example. RSL also has a game in hand. It's not easy, and its not likely. I'm just saying that if the Rapids want to make a statement that they actually want to compete for a playoff spot and that we won't settle until we are mathematically eliminated, then this is a must-win game. Our next 8 games after this are: Vs LAFC - Probably a big fat L Vs NE Revs - Winnable @ Portland - Should be a hotly contested match and a good game. Portland play LAFC 3 days prior to this match in the open cup, and both of those teams have played their first teams in their open cup matches - meaning Portland will probably be rotating their squad. Could go any way, especially if the Rapids maintain their form, and Lewis will definitely be back from the gold cup by then Vs NYCFC - Tough matchup, but winnable at home @ San Jose Vs Montreal Vs San Jose @ Minnesota You could definitely make a case that of those, we can win 5, lose 2, and tie 1. Thats a very possible 2pts per game over the next 8 after this. We're at a pivotal point of the season, and this game really puts a distinct marker on the trajectory of the remainder of the season
Agree with the lineup projection with the possible exception of Mezquida being wide and Rubio being more central. Without Nicholson and Lewis the Rapids will be lacking a bit in pace on the wings (Mezquida isn't slow, but he's not quite as quick as Lewis and Nicholson), but they will have the guile of Shinyashiki and Rubio with Mezquida relentlessly buzzing around the pitch. As for whether or not the Rapids will make the playoffs, at this point I am just happy that they seem to have found a winning formula, have acquired some more talent and are headed in the right direction. One game at a time - that's the way to think about it rather than worrying about how many games more they've played than the competition, etc.
1-1 draw, goal by Kamara. Vancouver's offense is horrible, but our defense isn't great. Their defense and our offense are pretty middle of the road. This has a annoying draw written all over it, where both teams will come out of it thinking they left 2 points on the field. http://view-from-the-couch.blogspot.com/2019/06/water-meets-water-in-frozen-north.html
Given today's weather, this game is disappointingly *not* at the Dick's like most spring Rapids games......I still remember snow on the stadiums first game. Rapids 2-0! They continue this inexplicable period of success and optimism. R
Rematch with Vancouver coming 🔜⚽️ #VANvCOL🏟 BC Place⏰ 8:00PM💻 @AltitudeTV📻 @AltitudeSR💻 AltitudeNOW📝 https://t.co/YqDKEtKNFq#Rapids96 | #Elevate pic.twitter.com/UaeM28fWCe— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) June 22, 2019
The Whitecaps win at the Dick stands out even in 2019 as a game filled with cock ups. It was Casey's first game but really the team played very Hudson. This is the one where the Rapids had rallied to 2-2 after going into half down two, then Rubio struck out at a player who fouled him and got a red card. Vancouver went on to win it. All 3 Whitecaps goals were of the Rapids D keystone cops variety with players out of position. This is the game where Sjoberg had a couple clumsy plays where he went to ground to clear the ball and failed, making a bad disadvantage (D already caught out of position) an insurmountable one.