It seemed like a fairly even game--Nashville 2nd String against the Rapids 1st String, many of whom would be 2nd string on other teams. And who is this Navarro guy that I see wandering around outside the goal sometimes? Does he actually play a position on this team? Mostly he acts like he's waiting for a bus.
I think the biggest L of the night though was the announcers consistently getting Larraz and Ronan mixed up on the call, and then obviously trying to get their Spanish pronunciation right of Navarro by emphasizing the R in ‘Rafa’ and rolling the R’s in Navarro. I mean, I know he hadn’t produced much of anything, but the man is still the Rapids DP striker. You’d think of anyones names to get right it would be his - especially when talking about him being on loan from Palmeiras. But no, no homework beyond that to know that the R’s in his name are pronounced like H’s. Ok, no. Still the biggest L of the night was Lewis’ handball. Best play of the night goes to Steffen’s save in the 1st half.
Once again this team has zero ability to move the ball into a dangerous position to take actual dangerous shots… and the few times they did, nobody is home to put it away. We spend entirely too much time back passing without any particular purpose. Navarro was about as effective as that sparkler machine thing they tried to do with the players coming on the field at the start. I fear we are in for another year of scoring by committee. 1-1 is a fair result. We did not deserve to win.
My wife made an astute observation. She said "The Rapids are good at advancing the ball all the way to about the 18, but then they always get stuck in a little dance with the defenders." That happened approximately a million times last night. I think we're just super easy to defend against.
I know it's early days, but this line-up in this formation just isn't working. Mihailovic isn't driving the action forward, Ronan and Rosenberry are missing in action, Navarro seems to work hard but he just doesn't pose an offensive threat, and the communication between Vines and Bassett isn't clicking at all. Last night Bassett proved to be an outright liability: he has NO left foot which makes him easy to defend and led to two feable efforts on real scoring chances; he left at least 3 goals on the field. Bombito had a very solid game and Steffen looks to be a real goaltender. Other than that...not much. On the bright side, at least Cabral did not play.
I think promotion/relegation is long over due. you have the “elite” teams that pretty much get the players they want and then you have other teams who treat this league as a minor league. MLS model could easily model itself after the EFL and start with MLS Premier then MLS 2. over the next decade out so they can add lower divisions.
Exactly! We need more from him.....Yeah, Clint Mathis used to have a line about appearing stupid and out of place, then make a quick score, but he needs to place himself where he can *actually* receive the ball. Or at least draw defenders to him to open up some space....Maybe in order to reduce the costs he doubles as the team bus driver? R
I think the biggest problem with Bassett and Mihailovic through two games is Armas asking them to play out of position. Bassett is NOT a winger. And yet he was asked to play out wide most of the first two games. Mihailovic was at his best in this league when he was on the wing, yet Armas has him in the middle. Last night Mihailovic’s best offensive moments were when he rotated outside or got to the end line. When Bassett moved inside he was also much more of a threat. My question is: why do we continue to square peg, round hole with this team? It seems like every coach we have lately tries to prove how smart they are by playing guys out of their position.
I would disagree… I think the league has room for non-elite teams (teams other than NY teams, LA teams, Miami, and Seattle for example)… There are plenty of teams that are frugal but make their dollars go far while other teams are cheap and indifferent. Compare the 2023 spending of our team versus a Columbus, KC, or I hate to say it, RSL. These teams all run circles around us (the one consistent exception appears to be Toronto, which literally blows gobs of money year after year with uneven at best, and last place at worst, results). Back to last nights game, I don’t know if the problem is that we lack the talent (again!!!) or we lack coaching (again!!!) to properly utilize our talent (probably both). All I can tell about the “Rapids Way” after the last 25ish years of being a season ticket holder is that it refers to either back passing all the way to the keeper constantly, or very soft shots on goal that are right to the keeper.
There are good ties and bad ties. That was a bad tie. I can accept an own goal under pressure, but that hand ball was amateurish. The team didn’t deserve a win, but that tie was painful.
Seems like a tie was the fairest option. Both teams made a major mistake that resulted in a goal for the other team. If we had won, then the world would have not been right. The rapids just don't get those types of wins. So, the tie kept nature and the laws of physics intact. Turns out, we probably should be thanking JLew for saving the universe. Who would have thunk it.