The biggest question on my mind as we await the game against Houston (with much anticipation, by the way) is who will be starting. The Rapids showed at the beginning of the year that they can play well in the 4-5-1. I would still prefer it because, as I’ve stated and overstated here on The Rapids Offside, this team’s power is in its midfield. A 4-5-1 allows the Rapids to keep LaBrocca on the field, and if there’s a spot for another midfielder, he’s certainly earned it. On the other hand, a 4-4-2 gets another forward up there, and Peterson’s goal in his first start this year makes a compelling case for it.

If I had to choose now, and everyone was healthy, it would go something like this:
———————Bouna——————–
—Kosuke—Facundo—Ugo—Jose—
Terry—Pablo—Christian—Nick—Colin
——————-Herculez——————-

That striker up front is a hard choice, but with a five man midfield (a few of which are very capable of scoring), Herculez, Jacob, Tom, or Omar are all fine choices.

But, looking at The Match Up page on the Rapids website, Fernando is trying something different this week. It’s right about 2/3 of the time, but it has projected Jordan Harvey playing in the back instead of Jose, Terry and Colin are benched (like last week), and Peterson’s on the left wing. If this is right, it sound’s like something Fernando might do. He seems to be playing around with the line-up while it’s still early in the season and the Rapids have a couple of easier games ahead of them, and that might be a good idea. I will certainly be interested to see how this works out, and if there’s any early season game that’s good for trying this out, it’s this one.

I figure MLSLIVE.tv owes me about 50 cents. I’m considering tacking on some money for pain and suffering – I mean, here I am, primed to tell you about how the Rapids lost to KC and I got less than nuthin’ – but haven’t yet settled on a figure. I’m thinking, say, the low millions – ’cause this hurts real bad…and there’s this crink in my neck since – but, like I said, I haven’t settled on a figure.

Suffice to say, I didn’t see this game. Did catch the highlights, though, and – shuey! – what a second half I missed! All y’all will have to tell me about it…seriously, if you guys don’t provide some copy, I’m hung-out to dry here…so, please, anyone who caught the game should feel 150% free to tell me what I missed. If you just want to link to this article, hey, beats a kick in the head for drumming up traffic. I think I had something like 1,300 visitors last month…oh yeah….all right, I can’t make you famous, but you can make all of us smarter, so give it up. That goes double for anyone who made the road-trip.

Based on what I did see – again, just the highlights – I’d forward the following questions:

- Set piece defending: 1) was it as bad as it looked; 2) would you chalk it up to having the players better left to the “kids’ table” handling the piping hot gravy-boat before they’re ready.

- Your thoughts on the Rapids’ goals: I liked Jose Burciaga’s all right – even if Hartman shouldn’t have let that one in – but the other one….well, that ain’t gonna happen every week, now is it? Still, great work by Omar Cummings to let that go for…um…John DiRaimondo. Unselfish and alert isn’t exactly going to keep you off the field…good finish, too.

- OK, if MLSLIVE.tv didn’t take a giant crap on your afternoon (ooh…I think my knee hurts to; better call Dr. Nick), how did you think the Rapids did? On paper, this is about what I expected, if not a little better. A team can do worse after a opening day, home slaughter than a hard-fought home loss against a decent team.

All for now. I’ll tie some things up tomorrow…can’t say what yet…mainly ’cause I don’t know.

Things didn’t look so bleak for the Los Angeles Galaxy by the end of the first half. And, yeah, one could argue Omar Cummings picked up a soft penalty kick; as Max Bretos noted in his commentary Cummings popped back to his feet to continue the play after Abel Xavier’s challenge. But a couple other phrases by Bretos – these came on either side of Colorado’s 4th goal, a particularly humiliating poke that, again, victimized Xavier and added LA ‘keeper Steve Cronin for good measure – speaks to how the game played out after that PK:

“Like lambs to the slaughter….”

“Like a hot knife through butter.”

So, the Rapids beat Los Angeles 4-0, a grim score in any part of the world. But it’s particularly grim from LA’s perspective: the Rapids haven’t beaten a team this badly since…nope, not 2007…there’s the 5-4 playoff win over FC Dallas in the 2006 playoffs, but that’s a close game, unlike last night; you have to go back to July 23, 2005 in order to see Colorado knock 4 past another team while also dominating – in this case, the Chicago Fire (archived results are available here). And, for the record, they had let in four goals on a couple occasions during that period – including the 5-0 pounding in last year’s U.S. Open Cup against the USL-1 Seattle Sounders. Even if I fudged the details, the larger point holds: the Rapids don’t very often do what they did last night. Nice way to start the season.

At the same time, how much of this was LA? I hinted at how badly LA played over on Center Holds It. Let’s just say such was LA’s defending that I’d wager the J.V. squad from the nearby high school could find a way through. Sure, it’s possible I’m wrong about LA, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Getting back to Colorado, though, a couple things stood out. In spite of an entirely competent night – and scoring on a PK to top it off – Christian Gomez didn’t mean as much to the game as Terry Cooke and, in the late going, Colin Clark. The team so far seems wed to last year’s formula of flying down the flanks – with the difference being it worked like gangbusters last night. It’s possible Cooke benefited from facing off against LA’s Michael Gavin, not to mention having the support of Kosuke Kimura for overlapping runs (he also shut Landon Donovan down; nice bonus, that); suffice to say, Colorado’s right laid open like a freeway at midnight. The left only opened up later, when being behind forced LA to chase the game, hence Clark’s “punking” of Xavier (it’s a Hollywood thing, Abel; get ready for more). All that said, though, having the flanks work should allow Gomez some room to operate in future.

If there’s one thing I’m uneasy about where Colorado is concerned it’s the somewhat random feel to their game. At times, it reminded me of basketball – e.g. isolating one flank player against one of LA’s defenders and putting it on them to beat them and make the opening. In other words, I saw fewer complicated build-ups and spells of possession than I saw a series of good, but opportunistic, plays. That’s not bad so much as it’s something you may not want to rely on for offense.

All in all, however, what’s not to like about a 4-0 win for your side? If you’re fishing for a bottom line, I’d dub this an encouraging performance with an asterisk stamped on the end of it: Colorado hasn’t won like this in forever, but *do keep the opposition in mind. Whether LA will be this awful in a couple months isn’t really the issue: they were frankin’ awful last night, bad enough that I’d recommend taking at least two of those goals with a grain of salt. I think next week – the Kansas City Wizards away, who are fresh off a decent win over DC United – will give a better measure of where the Rapids are these days.

Looks like the Colorado Rapids ended their pre-season on a high in the lower part of our fair nation: they beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 on a goal scored by Stephen Keel. And, to quickly flag some details in the write-up ), note the frequent appearance of the following names in that linked-to article: Ciaran O’Brien, Jose Burciaga Jr., Omar Cummings, and, later, Herculez Gomez. Personally, I find the first two names most encouraging. And the win seems like a good thing too.

A View from the Couch offers up the starting line-up and formation, a 4-5-1 with Cummings on top. The same piece also contains word on who’s gimpy and who’s not.

As much as Rapids fans may want to forget 2007, keeping that defense together seems a good idea. Good news: a couple minor departures aside – Tony Sanneh (who was old) and Brandon Prideaux (not the best; not the worst either) – Colorado did keep their defense together. Bouna Coundoul returns in goal, along with all or parts of the following (“parts” noted parenthetically where appropriate): Mike Petke (gimpy ankle), Ugo Ihemelu (brokedick hip); Dan Gargan (lame knee); Facundo Erpen; Stephen Keel (though he’s new-ish, isn’t he?); and Kosuke Kimura. It’s possible I missed a player or two in there, so do forgive any errors.

In an attempt to strengthen that defense (or, to be honest, to help with some other on-field need), the Rapids brought in a couple new players: Jose Burciaga Jr. from the Kansas City Wizards and Tim Ward from the Columbus Crew…and let us never speak of Chase Hilgenbrinck again.

As well all know, defense isn’t just a team’s defenders. One only needs to type “Pablo Mastroeni” for anyone to get that. He, along with a few other players, will do everything they can to keep the ball away from and out of Coundoul’s goal. And I know that, in the modern era, every player on the field has defensive responsibilities, but I’m focusing here on those for whom defensive duties are primary.

That only leaves the question of how they’ll all fit and work together…and that’s what comes below.

The Parts
Goalkeepers: Bouna Coundoul, Mike Graczyk, Justin Hughes
Defenders: Jordan Harvey, Dan Gargan, Facundo Erpen, Jose Burciaga Jr., Mike Petke, Stephen Keel, Ugo Ihemelu, Tim Ward, Kosuke Kimura, Cesar Zambrano (I thought this dude was a midfielder).
Defensive Midfielders: Rafael Gomes (from what I hear), Pablo Mastroeni, Ciaran O’Brien…and quite probably a bunch of other players. Again, forgive my blind-spots. I’ll have this stuff down cold by the sixth week; I promise…

How They’ll Fit Together
If memory serves – and it’s all too possible it doesn’t – Colorado generally plays a 4-4-2. Assuming that’s correct, as well as a healthy individual players, I expect they’ll line up something like this (left-to-right):

GK: Coundoul
Defenders: Burciaga Jr. – Erpen – Petke – Ihemelu
Midfield: Mastroeni (camped out over them)

How They’ll Work (I Think)
Holy crap do these guys have lots of cover/competition for spots! That’s not only good news for Rapids-nation, it also makes a mockery of my expected line-up. For example, if Burciaga busts on the left, Erpen played that position for DC United – not always well, I know, but he’d be experienced and comfortable right away. Ihemelu could play centrally or out right and that doesn’t even get into all the possible permutations the Rapids can field on any given Saturday. Injuries forced them to do that plenty last season and it’s reassuring to know they can do it all again. (Significantly, however, there are those injuries. Is the physio huffing ether down in Denver or what?)

Simply put, the Rapids remain strong and have a hell of a lot of flexibility in the back because they didn’t give up anything meaningful. With Burciaga, they gained some offensive skills and, with Ward, they gained some dirt-cheap (as in free; he’s Generation Adidas) back-up talent.

At the same time, it’s not all sweetness and light. Burciaga strikes me as an “X-Factor.” Getting caught out often as he does, he’s not the best defender out there. Even if I get the impression he improved since moving mile-high, the same goes for Erpen; he gave DC fans fits for years with over-eager defending. Two guys like that on one back-line can spell trouble. Another player I have always found unsettling: Coundoul. More than once a game, he comes out so rangy and ragged that the scares the bejesus out of me. All the same, he gets the job done – even when he looks like he has no clue doing it.

Anyway, those are the liabilities, such as they are. In all honesty, I expect the Rapids defense will be fine in 2008. Maybe that’s why there’s not much to say here. I’ll get to the offense tomorrow….and don’t think I’ll be as stuck for words on that post.