Wow, what a crazy set of story lines coming into this match. The saga drama in NE around Bruce Arena and Richie Williams. It appears that Clint Peay has been elevated from NE II to be the head coach the rest of this season. With all the above, NE are likely going to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Of course the Rapids have their own issues - Fraser's been sacked and Chris Little is now the HC for the rest of the season, but beyond that and perhaps more importantly, C38 has issued a public letter about KSE shortcomings in their management of the Rapids and will be protesting by wearing black and walking out at the 20th minute of tonight's match. On the pitch it will be interesting to see the attitude and motivation of both sides. And with Chris Little at the helm, will the formation/tactics be significantly different from Fraser? Looks like Lewis and Rubio will be able the Rapids will be healthy minus Price. Wonder if Luis Diaz will get any playing time? Despite all of NE's distractions they should still be favored.
0 - 0 at half. Big surprise there. I'm not falling asleep during this one because I love seeing the message behind the goal.
I've entered the nihilist stage of Rapids fandom. Its a victory, but nothing matters any more this season.
The stadium sounded great for the first 20 minutes. After that, you could hear shouts on the pitch ... definitely made an impact.
Message received C38. Well done. Standing ovation. Proud of the C38. They stuck to their guns. What’s the saying? F around and find out? I’d like to think they inspired the team to a victory last night. Again, well done C38. You guys and gals rock!
It was the same on the broadcast. You could clearly hear the loud and rousing cheering / chanting on TV. Then you could clearly hear Take Me Home Country Roads. Then it was so silent you could hear most every sound on the pitch. It was almost as quiet as the MLS Is Back games before they started piping in game sounds. Bravo C38. Bravo.
Scenes from the @C38sg protest in the parking lot during the match pic.twitter.com/znzpXRHwvl— Jason Maxwell (@RapidsJason) September 17, 2023
And about the actual game: Bassett has been mediocre at best all season, but he really shined in the 35 minutes he played in the 2nd half; Harris was lively all game and his goal was beautiful and the reaction of his teammates and coaches showed that he is really respected by everyone; Bombito was everywhere, and cleared balls (albeit as high as possible) all over the place; Navarro works very hard and with some quality service he will score goals; Ilic with one fine save; the Tavares injury was very odd--trouble breathing it looked like and the medical staff were with him when he came to the bench for a long time.
I missed the game again. Heckuva CU v.CSU football game instead. Maybe I can get interested in the Rapids again, but that is in question.
I too was out late on Saturday night, didn't get back to the house till 1am. What a game. It was great to see that the Rapids won and actually scored a couple of goals and only conceded very late. According to the graphic I saw the Rapids came out in a 4-2-3-1 but some have suggested it was more like a 4-3-3.