The Rapids play the LA Galaxy at the corporately named stadium in Carson, CA. Post your amusements, observations, predictions, and advise about the match before, during, or after. Also post the game time, that would be helpful. Go Rapids! (Unless you hate LAFC so much, your kind of conflicted and want the galaxy to have a good season).
Prediction: Galaxy 3-2 Rapids The great god Zlatan awakes from his recent slumber and realizes the Galaxy, the league, heck... the Universe need him for his greatness and he scores a hat trick. Rapids defense starts to gel and prevent at least 3 or even 4 more goals from being scored on them. All Galaxy fans world wide bow to the great Zlatan and his wondrous display of greatness!!!
The Gals are 6-1-0 at home, 13 GF, 8 GA. The Rapids are 0-5-0 on the road, 5 GF, 13 GA. The Gals lost their last home game 0-2 to NYCFC. The Rapids aren't NYCFC. Why bother? At least it will be over quickly. There's just no need to torture the Rapids before executing the Rapids.
I plan to watch this one in real time and not just blow it off, read the thread here and speed watch the DVR looking for goals, referee discussion topics, and plays people are talking about here. By way of full disclosure that is not because I think Casey will have found some magic dust to sprinkle on the dumpster fire but largely due to tremendous respect for Ibrahimovic going back to his PSG days, before that at other clubs and with his National team, and somewhat since then. I am usually surprised by something and pleased by difficult plays he makes look easy anytime I watch a match that features him -- definitely a unique 'broke-the-mold' after they made him player. (Fanboy/off)
Mad respect for Ibrahimovic and his game. Came from being told he'd never be good at the game to one of the best strikers in the game. As said above, he definitely broke the mold. Mad disrespect for his ego. I'm sure it's just gamesmanship, but I've never been a big fan of smack talking at the level he does it. However, I think the real question we need to ask before this game is how many card-worthy fouls Zlatan will dish out without actually seeing the card....and... how many soft fouls / ghost fouls will he draw against our defense
Love watching Ibra. The Galaxy usually are my favorite MLS outside the Rapids (which isn't that hard, since I hate most of the others). It is not hipster to say it, but I love watching the big names - Ibra, Beckham, Donovan, etc... whether they succeed or fail, it's fun to watch. Plus, I favor the original teams - Galaxy, Crew, etc.. , especially one that hasn't rebranded. Since its an away game (this would not be the case if I was in the stadium), and our season is shot, plus it's more interesting to be record breaking bad than just regular bad, and I want the Galaxy to be better than the other LA team; I'll be rooting for the Galaxy kind of.
Surprising - I previously thought that the Galaxy, like the comment I heard about Chelsea, were nobody's 2nd favorite team in the league. Seems for most MLS fans, you're either a Galaxy fan or a Galaxy hater. I used to root for Donovan but I've never been a Galaxy fan. I never root for LA or NY teams.
No more pain this season. Here, take this! Rapids lose, again, as if there was any other possible result.
Yup! Apparently a two-match ban. That makes me feels better about the game. But....still the the lousy streak continues.
In case anyone is wondering, this is what he's suspended for: 1127421504151523329 is not a valid tweet id I HIGHLY doubt he would try to pull that crap on Tim Howard. I can totally picture Timmy clocking Zlatan if he tried that Heck, come to think of it, I'd even travel to LA to see a Timmy v Zlatan scuffle live
That was definitely more middle school girls slap fight than Kermit Washington v. Rudy Tomjanovich. Two games penned sounds about right.
Rubio’s suspended as well as Zlatan. Diego Rubio gets additional game suspension; Zlatan also out for #LAGvCOL #Rapids96 https://t.co/qmWT5vJWuS pic.twitter.com/YYjf7VkXYm— Burgundy Wave (@Burgundywave) May 17, 2019
Alright, so Rubio and Ford are both out, and Vines is Questionable. If I'm coach on Sunday, I'd throw caution to the wind, play aggressive and attack: If Vines is healthy, I'd put him at LB. If not, Serna. Have Acosta and Price play with the field in front of them, and use their speed to help cover on defense when needed. Let Lewis and Nicholson use their pace and agression on the wings, Shinyashiki to link and hold up play with Kamara. Let Mezquida have fun in the middle of the pitch where there should be some space with Lewis and Nicholson stretching the field. Who knows. Could work. LA's on a 2 game losing streak and like to control play through the middle with Dos Santos and Lletget. Their backline and d-mid isn't their strength, so if Lewis, Nicholson, and Mezquida stretch them with pace, we can potentially create space in the middle and prevent them from controlling too much of the flow of play. The way I look at it, LA Gals are probably looking at us like a weak opponent and that they can just dominate us. If we come out like a hungry, beat up, and vicious animal, hit them first and hit them hard, we just might have a chance. No sense playing lock down defense if we're just going to lose anyway. Might as well take the fight to them first
Casey apparently is running up the white flag on the season: "We haven't been as bad as our record shows," Casey said at training this week. "We've been so close in many games and my message to them is to concentrate on what you can control, which is training every day, continue to build the culture and just focusing on doing your tasks. We've set up training to build on some of the individual stuff each day as well as the bigger group stuff, and it's really just focusing on your tasks, doing your job, and if everyone has that mindset then I think we'll start turning this thing [around] soon." Read the story here. Dredging up the "we are better than our record" is the surrender flag. It's the full embrace of the "moral victory" whimper. Six one-goal losses doesn't convert 0-9-2 into 6-3-2. The Rapids are just as bad as the record.
1-1 draw, goal by Kamara. 11 of LA's 18 goals this season have gone through Ibra. No Zlatan, no party. That said I'm not yet ready to predict a win for the good guys. So a goal a piece and we break our losing streak but we set the record for longest start of a season without a win. http://view-from-the-couch.blogspot.com/2019/05/rapids-heat-to-coast-to-face-zlatan.html
Who's ready for some Sunday night footy?⚽️ #LAvCOL🏟 Dignity Health Sports Park⏰ 6:00PM📺 @AltitudeTV📻 @AltitudeSR💻 AltitudeNOW📝 https://t.co/n7yWwHqsCg#Rapids96 | #Elevate pic.twitter.com/RO36fNzyma— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) May 19, 2019
Abubakar/Smith CB pairing with Wynne to left back. Bassett's in the midfield: Our group to lead us in the City of Angels.📝 https://t.co/jJ6cr3QwuA#Rapids96 | #LAvCOL pic.twitter.com/kBJU5DBvC9— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) May 19, 2019
This is Smith’s last chance. If he still sucks in this lineup he should never start another game. Other than that though it’s a solid lineup.
I don't get why they try Wilson at center mid but not Smith. Smith seems more mobile and has better ball skills. Smith could also probably handle rightback if Rosenberry were unavailable.
Daniel Steres is the Gals next leading scorer after Zlatan, with 3 goals. Though the Rapids can solve lots of problems for them.
Totally agree with this. Second week in a row that I like both the lineup and the formation. Glad to see Basset back in the starting XI. Really like the Lewis-Nicholson-Kamara threesome up top. And given our constant struggles at LB all year, I’m actually interested in seeing what Wynne can do there, especially since that was the position he was actually brought here to play. I’ll stop well short of saying I’m actually optimistic, but I do like what I see. Might be fun to watch.