Season Review

Reflections on 2019 Through the Lens of MLS’s Teams of the Week

With the CONCACAF Champions League officially underway and the Rapids on the cusp of Major League Soccer’s 25th Season, it seems like a perfect opportunity to wave one last goodbye to the 2019 Rapids season which left all of us supporters wanting more.

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Preseason

20 Predictions For 2020

Rejoice! The new season is upon us. With just two weeks left, the Rapids will begin play in the twenty-fifth season of Major League Soccer when they go to the nation’s capital to face D.C United. With much of the roster upgraded and with the team under the direction of Robin Fraser, the Rapids look to make the playoffs after a three-year absence.

Fan favorites like assist king Jack Price, the goalscoring duo of Diego Rubio and Kei Kamara, and the brick wall of Lalas Abubakar will join new faces like the quick-footed Nicolas Benezet, the up-and-coming Auston Trusty, and the club’s newest designated player Younes Namli. On paper, the Rapids look to be a dark horse contender amidst other teams with their Chicharitos, their Velas, and their Pulidos.

Here at Rapids Republic, I want to give you some hot but measurable takes about the Rapids with a hint of a “wait, what?” aftertaste. That’s why I, Juanners, the Resident Rapids Soccer Seer, am going to make some 2020 season predictions. LET’S BEGIN.

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Rapids Journal

Four Questions Facing the Rapids in Preseason [Updated]

After a busy week that saw the Colorado Rapids finalize terms with three major attacking talents, the first team reported to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for physicals Saturday morning. The offseason is finally over and we’ll soon have our first glimpse of the 2020 Colorado Rapids. Several years of roster building and three coaches have brought the Rapids to this moment, leaving supporters in anxious anticipation for Opening Day.

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Front Office

2019-2020 Offseason Preview – What do the Rapids need to do?

The Colorado Rapids find themselves with a lot to be proud of after their last-ditch effort to make it into the postseason on Decision Day. The team has not one but two clinical finishers in Kei Kamara and Diego Rubio, two dynamic wingers in Sam Nicholson and Jonathan Lewis, Rookie of the Year Andre Shinyashiki, a solid midfield partnership of Kellyn Acosta and Jack Price, and fullbacks who can get up and down the wing in Keegan Rosenberry and Sam Vines. The biggest glaring issue for the Rapids is the situation at center back and goalkeeper. There also isn’t much to write about the team’s depth options. As of today, Lalas Abubakar has not completed a move and the option year of Tommy Smith’s contract has not been picked up (though contract negotiations have begun). With Kortne Ford’s health still unclear, the uncertainty of Danny Wilson’s playing ability, and the lack of options at center back, the Rapids have a huge hole in the back line to fix.

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Colorado Rapids

2019 Rest of Season (July-October) Preview

Now that the midpoint of the MLS season has come and gone, it’s time to look at how the rest of the season will pan out for the Colorado Rapids. I wrote my 2019 Season Preview up to 17 games into the season. Upon reflection, I was excited and hopeful that this team had what it took to be a mid-table MLS side. I’ll admit, I was so optimistic that I was convinced Anthony Hudson was the right man to lead the Rapids to a playoff berth.  Instead, Colorado went on to have two months without winning and averaged one point a month for a total of two points after 13 games.

The biggest turning point of the season came when the Rapids Front Office dismissed head coach Anthony Hudson on May 1st 2019. He had only won a total of 8 league games since being hired in November of 2017. After the firing of Hudson, Conor Casey was tasked with  the position of interim head coach to right the course of what had been a terrible start to the season. Under Anthony Hudson, the Colorado Rapids went 0-7-2 and under Conor Casey they went 5-2-2 for a combined total of 5-9-4.

The Rapids find themselves in 11th place just 6 points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. My season preview had dubbed 2019 as a throwaway season and to some extent it still is. It’s hard to find it in myself to believe that the Rapids could possibly turn it around and become a playoff contender. However, they probably can. This weird balance of skepticism and optimism has overall clouded any clear prediction as to whether or not the Rapids can actually make a playoff appearance this year. So, this Rest of Season preview will attempt to see both sides and make the case for the optimists and the skeptics: How the Rapids could still make the playoffs and why they ultimately won’t.

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In-Depth, Preseason

2019 Season Preview: Rapids Positional Power Rankings

The long preseason grind for the Colorado Rapids has reached its inevitable conclusion: the start of the regular season. The objective for the organization? To return to the promised land of MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2016.

After a flurry of offseason activity, a noticeable level of hype is slowly starting to build around the Rocky Mountain side. Some of the league’s own media outlets are actually acknowledging Colorado’s existence for once and preseason results have led to a measured sense of optimism emanating from the coaching staff.

The Rapids’ roster has gone through its fair share of reconstruction over the past two years, leaving Colorado with only four players who were part of the team’s mythical Supporter’s Shield run in 2016 and quite a few unknowns to boot. Suffice to say, there are a lot of new faces in Burgundy for 2019 – here is how they stack up against one another in every position of Anthony Hudson’s 4-4-2-Diamond.

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Rapids Journal

Another Year, Another Rapids Rebuild

To say the 2018 MLS Regular Season was a disappointment for the Colorado Rapids would be quite the understatement. Colorado endured two seven-game losing streaks, scored a league-low thirty-six goals, and finished third-to-last in the overall table with a measly thirty-one points. Despite brief glimpses of the “attacking football” pledged by the club’s front office, it was clear from two month into the season that the Rapids did not have the quality to compete on the same level as the top sides in Major League Soccer.

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