And somewhere, former 1996 one-match interim head coach Roy Wegerle is saying, "Why oh why do I have to be back on the bottom of the coaching list again?"
Andre scored, but Abubakar is the man of the match. Great positioning, aggressive but smart plays. He shut down so many LAG chances. Great game!
Going to post some thoughts without reading what's been stated since the match started. No surprise that the Rapids won. They have suffered from individual mistakes in recent matches, but not so tonight. Anderson was on the bench as was Vines to start the. With Abubakar anchoring the back line there was a much better chance that the opposition would have a more difficult time scoring than against the pre-Abubakar edition. The selection and formation put the Rapids in good position to counter attack. Nicholson and Lewis have such good pace and can go 1 v 1. Bassett was almost like a withdrawn forward and Acosta could go box to box. How many times did he break up an attack? He seems to have a nose for the ball at the right time and place. Someone else on the coach next to me said he should be "man of the year." This is a bit of an overstatement, but boy is he a difference maker. There were more than a few time when I was thinking that the Galaxy would have a good opportunity - but no, Abubakar was there to break it up. How much better did Tommy Smith look with his new partner on the back line. And putting Wynne wide rather than the youngsters didn't hurt either. It was frustrating watching the attack screw up opportunities more than once. It seems that Kamara's lost a bit of his scoring mojo. Hope he gets it back soon. Okay, was this the second straight match where an opposition player should have received and straight red? Wow. But it didn't seem to faze the Rapids one bit.
Counter attack level 💯#Rapids96 | #LAvCOL pic.twitter.com/Y6569YTIwA— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) May 20, 2019
I'm gonna go ahead and take credit for the win since I won the "auction" for Shinyashiki's Parley jersey. Seeing someone buy it must have given him the extra confidence to score...yeah, that's it! It also helped explain the cost of the jersey to the wife..."See? Kid's good!"
I really like the lineup that was put out by Casey. The name of the game was speed and Nicholson and Lewis provided that. Man, if those two can become consistent forces our fortunes could start turning around. Kei will a ton of opportunities based on Nicholson and Lewis, like he did yesterday, and hopefully he won't squander those chances. i said from the beginning I loved the Abubakar pickup. He brings that physicality. He brings that smart play and strong positioning. Dude was a beast yesterday. My MOTM. Abu has more to offer, too.
Agree about the lineup and the potential of Lewis and Nicholson. The next step for both is to become consistent with decision making in and around the box. Lewis struggled a bit with his passing last night, but boy did he use the threat of his pace to completely fool the defender in the second half with a move in the box where he pulled the ball back and got a shot off that was parried into the path of Kamara.
Exactly. I saw that little juke and burst of speed and my eyes got wide like damn...that speed is more of an asset that I thought. The passing does need a little work. He's got a mission and that's straight to goal. I've noticed with NYCFC, USMNT, and with the Rapids he puts that head down and blazes full speed ahead but when he finally picks that head up he kinda of hesitates and is stuck between should I make a pass or keep dribbling. More often that not, he's forced into a pass and that little hesitation either throws a runner off his run or Lewis has telegraphed his pass allowing a defender to react quickly. That aspect of his game can be ironed out over time.