KC v. Rapids: Thinking Out Loud a Little…

By: Jeff | April 4th, 2008

A) The Colorado Rapids beat the Los Angeles Galaxy like red-headed step-children last weekend.
B) The Los Angeles Galaxy are a bad soccer team.

Therefore, the Colorado Rapids can beat a bad soccer team like red-headed step-children.

C) The Los Angeles Galaxy beat the San Jose Earthquakes last night, a team widely regarded as being worse than they are.

With San Jose not just perceived as, but proved to be a worse soccer team than LA, you’d expect them to put up a lesser fight against the Rapids than LA’s red-headed step-children…perhaps the tenacity of fluffy, white baby seals?

D) The Kansas City Wizards are not a bad soccer team.

Well, now what? How will the Rapids fare against the Wizards this weekend, a team generally believed to be competent? I don’t know, but we’ll have to wait on Sunday for a firm answer. The point of the exercise above boils down to something simple: I resisted drawing too many conclusions from Colorado’s win over LA and, given my perception of San Jose, making much of LA’s subsequent win doesn’t tally either. I expect Saturday’s game will provide a bit more context…even if I don’t know what the hell is going on with DC United.

Here’s what we do know. Here’s the team KC started last weekend in the win over DC United:

Kevin Hartman, Tyson Wahl, Jimmy Conrad, Michael Harrington, Jack Jewsbury, Jonathan Leathers, Carlos Marinelli (Kurt Morsink 74), Kerry Zavagnin, Ryan Pore, Ivan Trujillo (Scott Sealy 69), Claudio Lopez (Eloy Colombano 89).

With none of those guys showing up as injured in MLSnet.com’s preview (only Sealy’s name appears and he’s still probable), and after taking a look at the subs not used by KC last week, I’m pretty sure we’ll see the same bunch on Saturday, if not the exact same. We have evidence that Lopez, 1) came to play, and 2) that he’s got some class – a lovely goal he scored, wasn’t it? – and no one’s really sniffing at Trujillo’s play either. KC seems solid and respectable, but with a little flash: think a flame-job on a Toyota Camry.

Squaring off against this bunch for the Rapids will be? Well, here’s the roster from the LA rout, a group, by the way, that the Class VI blog quite reasonably says, “would seem to deserve to keep playing” (though he immediately suggests thereafter that some of the Rapids’ bigger names need game-time too):

Bouna Coundoul, Kosuke Kimura, Facundo Erpen, Stephen Keel, Jose Burciaga, Jr., Terry Cooke, Colin Clark, John DiRaimondo (Pablo Mastroeni 81), Nick LaBrocca, Christian Gomez (Ciaran O’Brien 71), Omar Cummings (Herculez Gomez 68)

Referring back to MLSnet.com’s preview, it appears a couple notable players have walked off the lists of the wounded: both Mehdi Ballouchy and Jovan Kirovski (No!) show as probable, while Mastroeni’s name doesn’t show anywhere in the injured list. So, there’s the question: do those guys boot anyone off the roster that shellacked LA? Well, if it’s answers you’re wanting, you’re better off ignoring the latest pre-game hype-job provided by The Official Organ; not one (frankin’) iota of word on players…well, apart from going down on Terry Cooke’s Week 1…again. You can also read about the local viewing party for the KC game…which is nice, though it lacks the “tea leaves” for reading; the preview doesn’t give away a lot either.

So, what do I think will happen? Maybe a start for Mastroeni, maybe Kirovski coming in as a sub if/when Gomez comes out, maybe even Ballouchy gets a little run-out (though it’ll be tiny and that’s if he gets it): basically, the Rapids can’t make changes that make much sense – e.g. Petke or Ihemelu coming on at the back to replace Erpen or Keel. There’s also the new signing at forward, Tam MacManus, to consider: will he start over Cummings? I don’t know much about MacManus, but unless you’re talking about a clear upgrade, sticking with worked makes sense. The same applies across the board. So, I’d field the same guys and see what happens.

And, now, the big question: can this Rapids line-up get a result in KC? I don’t see why not, perhaps even a win could happen. But I’m also not expecting the 45-minute cake-walk that was the second half against LA. If nothing else, we should know more about the Rapids by Sunday morning…unless, that is, they play to a tie.