Colorado Rapids - San Jose Earthquakes (Saturday, 5/10) pre/in/postgame thread [R]

yeah, big time…so great to see him grab that position and make it his own…we have speed now in the middle…pushes Wilson or Romney out of the central organizing role…and Munie can dish the ball. I thought it would take longer for him to be a lock starter, but Wilson’s injury opened the door for Munie and he’s not looking back now.

 

My guess is that when Wilson comes back he takes the center spot and Munie goes to the right. But in any case, yeah, looks like he’s gonna be a regular starter for us unless he has a bad run of form.

 

imo, that would be a mistake…Munie is a better choice in the middle…his future and hopefully present is central…Rodrigues or Floriani on the right…need Munie’s coverage
Central…Wilson central and Romney left is an open invitation on our left side.

 

Would Bruce bench his boy Romney though

 

No, he wouldn't. Teacher's pet.

 

Wilson plays in the center. Don't think he works so well on either side. So the choice then is to bench him or move Munie to the right if you want to keep Munie in the lineup.

 

Matt Doyle

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/chic...lphia-union-s-evolution-more-from-matchday-12

Are we hitting the crisis point yet in Commerce City? It feels like the Rapids should be feeling some level of desperation after a pretty dispiriting 2-0 home loss in which they mustered almost nothing in the second half (they went down 1-0 just before the break when DeJuan Jones got his first for San Jose).

They’re now winless in four, and the switch to a more direct, transition-oriented 4-4-2 has maybe tilted too much toward conceding both the flanks and central midfield over the past two weeks. With Zack Steffen’s form regressing towards, if not necessarily to the mean, the margins have gotten thinner, and too often Colorado have found themselves on the wrong side of them.

To be fair, this was probably San Jose’s best all-around performance of the season, and their third strong overall showing in a row. Their ability to get both wingbacks involved (Jones’ goal was assisted by Vítor Costa, the left wingback) since shifting to the 3-4-2-1 has made them devastating.
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There's also this lol

Last weekend the Galaxy became the first-ever team in MLS to lose without conceding a shot.

This weekend they tied the record for largest margin of defeat (7-0) while setting the record for a winless streak to start the season (12). pic.twitter.com/4EmQJ4OkYk

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) May 11, 2025

 

I'm starting to feel like there might be enough teams in the west who are worse than the Quakes such that the Quakes might make the playoffs. There needs to be at least 6. Off the top of my head, teams that might be worse than the Quakes, and finish lower:

Colorado
LAG
SKC
Houston
Dallas
St. Louis
Austin

 

You forgot RSL, they look pretty damn bad this year aside from our boy Diego Luna and maybe DM Emeka Eneli. Luna has 7 goals and then they have five guys with one goal each.
Hard to believe but having Chicho Arango is better than not having Chicho Arango... they just added Willy Agada from SKC but I think they will find that even at his best (which he has not been so far in 2025) he's no Chicho.

 

Yeah I thought about them too. They are below us right now.

 

Not until someone overtakes him.

Romney will start until one of our youngsters plays well enough to displace him. Harley is a lock starter too. Also, I don’t think that Bruce is looking for a back up GK.

Go Quakesfans!!

 

Wow -- you've been on BigSoccer longer than me. Bad knees come with the territory!

 

We need to see Maradona-lite vs. Messi.

 

Romney will start unless he’s injured. I don’t think any performance in his position will change Bruce’s mind.

 

He probably won’t play and may not even make the bench. Not sure what’s up with Bruce on this.

 

Jones totw

Introducing the best players from Matchday 12. 👏

📝: https://t.co/K2MS2GseGI pic.twitter.com/BwmuEC5AbH

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 12, 2025

 

Really nice road win, even if the Rapids are going in the wrong direction. Good team effort, even with a poor center referee (poor for both teams). Great job by Jones on the first goal and Chico on the second (starting with his defensive effort). Outside of Harkes and Lima (looked slow) not doing much, everyone had a good game.

Good to see Bruce make some subs and help tired legs. However, I didn't like the Buck sub (nothing to due with him getting injured). From the Sac game, he didn't look ready to play.

Let's see how the teams responds to a mid-week game. Go Quakes!

 

https://tacticsfreezone.substack.com/p/power-rankings-1-30-matchday-12

15. San Jose Earthquakes: They’ve looked irresistible the past couple of weeks, and Bruce Arena has done a wonderful job of playing and developing down-roster options (not just kids like Beau Leroux or draft picks like Max Floriani, but borderline cast-offs like Ousseni Bouda).

 

I agree with the latter part of that sentence, but not sure that "irresistible" is the right word to use there in the first part. Indomitable or invulnerable might have been better.

 

Doyle makes a lot of musical references in his write ups so maybe he's just a Robert Palmer fan

 

Yeah I suppose "irresistable" technically works, but that's not the way that word is normally used. It usually means that you gotta have something wonderful. Does he really pine that much for the Quakes?

 

And I can see the iconic music video in my head.

 

for posterity...