2020 Season Catch All Thread

Well friends, the time is now upon us! It's the dawn of a new decade, the dawn of a new season, the dawn of a new head coach, and maybe this year will be the dawn of a new Rapids team!

In just a few short days the 2020 MLS Season kicks off. Last year, we wanted more wins, more points, and more exciting play on the pitch. This year, there's even more pressure on the team to do well and continue to build off of the end of last year.

It's a time of cautious hope for us Rapids fans. 2019 we finished strong, but can we continue to build off the success we were able to find? Some say yes. Others say it's not possible.

Here's to 2020! Let's hope this year is the one we've been waiting for

 

2018 - 2019 transition
2018 saw the Rapids go 8W-7D-19L with 31 points (.91 per game), 36 goals scored (1.06 per game), and 63 goals allowed (1.85 per game).

2019 started with some minor hopes and expectations of at least challenging for the playoffs, but those hopes were quickly dashed on the dark rocks of the Hudsonian Era.

Under Hudson, the Rapids went 0W-2D-7L with 2 points (0.22per game!!!), 13 goals for(1.44per game), and 23 goals against (2.56per game!!!).


The Casey Era Begins
After Hudson was fired, Casey took the reigns. It was a bumpy start, with losses to Vancouver and Real Salt Lake - both at home, and both by a 3-2 scoreline. This put the Rapids in contention and on pace for one of the worst teams in MLS history, going winless in our first 11 games and recording a whopping 0.18ppg.

But then things turned around. The Rapids responded by beating LA Galaxy 1-0 in LA (side note: Zlatan has never scored against the Rapids in his entire tenure with LA either), which started a 7 game unbeaten streak that included the Rapids blanking LAFC 1-0 at home.

Overall under Casey in 2019, the Rapids finished 7W-3D-7L with 22 points (1.29 per game), 29 goals for (1.71 per game), and 28 goals against (1.65 per game)

Casey's last game as the interim head coach was a 2-0 defeat on the road to Fake Salt Lake, sealing our fate in the 2019 Rocky Mountain Cup. Subsequently Robin Fraser took on the role as our permanent head coach.


Fraser Takes Over
Under Fraser, the Rapids finished the season quite strong with a record of 5W-0D-2L, playing all but one playoff team (SKC) in that stretch. The Rapids finished strong with 15 points (2.14 per game), 15 goals for (2.14 per game), and 9 goals against (1.29 per game). Had a couple of results go differently for the Rapids (I'm looking at you TFC and that red card on Jozy that was never called), and go differently across the league, the Boys in Burgundy actually had a chance to make the playoffs last year.

Post Hudson
Post Hudson our team finished 2019 with 12W-3D-9L notching 44 goals for (1.83 per game), and 37 goals against (1.54 per game).

If you take out Casey's first two games - debatable premise, but he never really had any serious coaching experience beforehand - we finished 12W-3D-7L with 40 goals for and 31 goals against. That works out to an approximately 60 point season, with 62 goals for, and 48 goals against.

2019 was an absolutely wild ride. If 2-3 games across the season finish with W's instead of L's, and we may have actually played in a playoff match.

We also went from having a team that was not enjoyable to watch to the Rapids actually having a chance (albeit quite slim) of making the playoffs and being a team that we could watch without dreading what we were about to see on the pitch.

2019 - 2020 KEY PLAYER LOSSES

• Marlon Hairston (1/11/2019)
• Shkëlzen Gashi (3/1/2019)
• Benny Feilhaber (5/8/2019)
  
• Johan Blomberg (8/13/2019)
• Tim Howard (10/6/2019)
  
• Tommy Smith (11/21/2019)
• Dillon Serna (11/21/2019)
• Axel Sjöberg (11/27/2019)

2019 - 2020 KEY PLAYER ACQUISITIONS

• Jonathan Lewis (5/7/2019)
• Lalas Abubakar (5/7/2019 - made permanent 11/20/2019)
• Auston Trusty (11/20/2019)
• Drew Moor (11/27/2019)
• Nicolas Benezet (1/14/2020)
• Younes Namli (1/15/2020)
• Braian Galvan (7/7/2020 - unless earlier purchase arrangements are made prior to the primary transfer window closing on May 5th, 2020)

2020 Schedule
https://www.coloradorapids.com/schedule

2020 Positional Breakdown/Previews
https://www.coloradorapids.com/post/2020/02/23/2020-preseason-position-preview-forward

https://www.coloradorapids.com/post/2020/02/20/2020-preseason-position-preview-midfielder

https://www.coloradorapids.com/post/2020/02/14/2020-preseason-position-preview-defender

 

This got me thinking....I really like the idea of the polls on the other threads. That's nice to see a percentage breakdown, and it's unfortunate you can't do multiple polls at once here.

But I'll give my entire predictions for the entire season below (and still vote in the polls):

• Rapids finish the season with 51 points (1.5ppg), and make the playoffs
  • We don't have an "easy" schedule, but our Eastern Conference matches have a nice spread of home/away challenges
  • Orlando, Philadelphia, Toronto, NYRB, and Chicago @ home
  • DC, NE, NYCFC, Montreal, Columbus away
    • I fully expect that the Rapids can steal some points in the Eastern Conference away games

• Kei Kamara scores 15 goals this year
  • Last year we scored 58 as a whole, with 46 assists. Kei scored 14 times last year, and I think he improves on that with a better offensive unit

• Rubio, Lewis, and Benezet all score at least 7 goals
  • Shinyashiki scores 5 (down from 7 last year)
  • Mezquida scores 4 again this year
  • Nicholson also scores 4

• Namli goes off this season for 10g/10a - or he contributes directly to 20 goals in whatever combo necessary (13g/7a or 5g/15a etc. etc. etc.)
  
  
• Namli also leads the team in assists this year
  • I still think Jack Price still gets 8+, with 6 set piece assists

• Acosta leads the team in fouls again, but this year surpasses Rubio for the team lead in yellows
  
  
• Keegan Rosenberry makes the All Star team - either as a starter, or an alternate
  
  
• Cole Bassett scores a wonder-goal - either an insane angle nobody should've scored on, or a long range rocket that bests the keeper
  
  
• Rapids WIN THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN CUP - and do it at home - by a comfy margin
  • 2-2 tie on our first match @ FSL
    • I think this first one is gonna be a crazy fight to the finish. Chances everywhere, but only 4 goals find the back of the net....with Rapids scoring in the 85th+ minute to tie it up
  • 3-1 win at home to clinch the cup
    • FSL scores first here, but then we pull our heads out of our butts and close it out 3-1

Those are my predictions for this season. Let's go Rapids!