Aw shit! Kreilach almost scored on his 1st touch in the game. Great buildup with Chang-Cordoba-Kreilach. Excellent step in by Rosenberry to break it up.
Not sure why Garcia and Rubio aren't getting minutes. Garcia is a fast threat and Cordova needs a break.
I’m happy with a point in Colorado with a depleted roster. I was pretty happy with Ruiz this game too. Orozco was very impressive. Subs were good. Too bad Cordova couldn’t place his one solid opportunity a bit better but a decent game from him overall.
Very light penalty call. But, that's soccer. Both teams had plenty to score more, though RSL was the overall better team on the night. Thin lineup and acceptable outcome. Onward!
It made up for the no call when Sergio was held in the box. That one clearly should have been awarded a PK. I thought CRapids outplayed RSL. The stats are very one sided in their favor. The draw is a very good result. As you said, that’s soccer!
Don’t know if I agree there. RSL was playing bunker defense, and Crapids had their chances. I’d say we were on the wrong side of even, but that we played well above expectations (again).
The team's got heart, I'll give them that. If we get healthy this might prove to be the most promising RSL side in several years.
I didn't make it for the second half, and appreciate the commentary. Good result; we're still in second place despite only two home games in six matches combined with a weaker roster and the injury shenanigans. Impressive.
I guess in my view, even though the stats leaned against RSL, their passing seemed more crisp and assured. The completion of passes seemed more constructive, more controlled.
I’ll take the point. All in all it looked like the 3 points were there for the CRapids in the second half but for some timely RSL defending. Especially because Brody. Kudos to the team for not letting the game get away from them. It looks like if they can keep their heads about them they could make this an exciting season. Or at least one you can enjoy watching.
That’s a good point re Brody. He really anticipated those two passes and killed both scoring opportunities.
This was by design with the crapids. They showed a way to beat us just suck in the final third thankfully
Any description of this game that does not praise Brody is missing the point. The draw is entirely down to his timely defending.
My thoughts We are cashing in all of our luck early in the season with the injury bug we have. It's truly scary that we’ve had to call in multiple players on the “emergency” caveat just 6 games into the season Also, why did Fall sign a bunch of academy kids if they can’t make the bench in this scenario? Instead of having to go to the league for emergency signings what if we filled the bench with the kids on first team contracts? I’m kind of surprised the league isn’t pushing back on that. Besler, Benitez, Beavers, and Wellings all started for the Monarch’s on Saturday… are we really valuing that over their chance to be with the first team? I can see an argument to get them time there instead of sitting on the bench with Pablo, but then again when are we going to be in a "better" spot to give them a chance? I’m confused I was intrigued by this 4-3-3 Pablo went with, most especially with 3 midfielders you’d categorize as “holding”. To me it showed an attempt to get the wing backs up the field more after they were pinned back against SKC. This made a lot of sense on paper but didn’t work out as planned Which is due to the way the cRapids went about their play. They like to stretch the field a lot and pulled RSL apart with it. Most typically this was done by pulling the outside of the front 3 (meram or Chang) towards the outside back for the crapids in their defensive third. At the same time Rubio, Lewis, and/or Barrios would make a vertical run at our outside backs. It made the field very long and asked a lot of the beforementioned 3-man midfield. Largely, RSL had an answer for this in the first half. The second half was another thing but I'll get to that in a second. First, I want to talk about what this gave for RSL: Transition opportunities. With a better midfield we would have scored 2 or 3 goals in this tactical setup from the cRapids. They gave zero respect to our midfields ability to progress the ball and felt comfortable with their 2 center mids covering our 3. And, for the most part, they were right. Where we did catch them a few times was when we'd break their first pressing midfielder and then get into the front 3. Cordova was especially a target in that. However, he was too occupied with going down on any and every touch from the cRapids defense than fighting through contact and building play. The cRapids may have showed frustration with the ref on the fouls called, but they were able to stop our transition so much with just a simple push or nudge to Cordova. It was infuriating to watch. That is not a penalty. I get the argument that Meram was clipped in the play initially, fought through, and then on the second part went down. I just don't agree with it. I loathe the game being called in a way that essentially any contact is viewed as a foul. Meram was knocked on the shin, sure, but if you think that's enough for a penalty then we will get multiple called against us this year (and should have had more, already). I especially loathe that Meram took a full step after the contact and then under NO CONTACT AT ALL falls to the ground. That's bullshit. Ruiz giving it to the cRapids fans after the penalty was great. Lets not pretend our south end wouldn't react the same way (beers thrown on the field) if an opposing player did that. Speaking of extremely annoying players: Esteves for the cRapids might be my new least favorite player in the league. The cRapids goal was such a broken play and a really bad look for us defensively. There are 3 RSL players that that cross somehow gets behind and everyone except Abubakar doesn't react until the ball is past them. Well done by him to keep on the play, very poor look from RSL. Actually, I take it back, Jack Price is my least favorite player in the league. That dude is a ********ing hack. From about the 65th minute on we were gassed. There wasn't much on the bench to offer in terms of rotation so it became a game of sitting in and hoping the cRapids couldn't break us down. Schmitt had some very forgettable moments against Barrios. but Barrios also did everything to not score after creating dangerous chances. Shooting from a tight angle TWICE after beating him on the wing was a summation of this game. Some good ideas but just ugly execution. We had a chance to steal the full 3 points in this. Cordova has to put that shot in the second half closer to the post. Its a great run and play but to have that be the final shot was... well disappointing for someone who is supposed to be at a Bundesliga level talent. All in all, this was a really impressive point to get on the road. The cRapids are a well-built team with an identity they've fully bought into. We were down to emergency signings and still got the point. Please, for the love of god, let the rest of the roster get healthy.
As usual, really like your points. Regarding the game, you have much better insight into the game than I do. For your points 2&3, I never thought we'd see the kids this year and we still haven't seen the rules between MLS and MLSNP. The season is almost 20% in and we don't have up to date rosters! I think a 4-3-3 and 4-1-4-1 would look much better with a Best XI #6. Not sure I like it more than the 3-4-3 we saw earlier, though. Still not sold on Cordova, especially as a solo striker. This team has to start getting healthy or they won't be able to gut out a draw on the road because everyone will be gassed around the 60th. The limited subs aren't even getting used! I thought we'd get 3 against TOR, but the two teams are kind of headed in opposite directions the last couple weeks. Looking forward to the Salcedo ceremony though (I'm assuming it happens).
The Salcedo ceremony would be hilarious He honestly deserves one more than Rusnak. Dude went on to play in a World Cup and at a very high level in Europe. Rusnak got cut from Slovakia and has gone to... Seattle My point about the academy kids being on the bench is because I've heard the excuse that a young player like that needs to get exposed to that gameday environment before they can be expected to contribute. Craw before you walk, walk before you run type thing right? Well here is the most opportune situation to get them into the gameday routine. Expose them to what a road trip with the first team is like. Instead? Playing for the Monarchs. Which, don't get me wrong, I'm VERY happy they are playing for the Monarchs (as opposed to mid 20 year olds who are random signings...) but those same mid-20 year olds that took their time at the Monarchs are now getting called into emergency contracts with the first team. Did we just move the goalposts?