Transfer Window Ends; Judgement: Curiously Competent!

The transfer window closed at some point this evening so its possible a late move may still leak out but I think its safe to say this final move being reported by Niko Moreno and confirmed by Tom Bogert and the Denver Post is the final move for the Rapids.  Colorado is sending $2M in GAM to the Sounders for winger Georgi Minoungou.

Minoungou is 23 years old, 24 in July.  He was born in Ivory Coast but represents Burkina Faso at the senior national team level (he played for the Ivory Coast U-20s before making the switch).  He's currently away with the Burkina Fason national team as this deal is made.  He started his professional career at Czech side MFK Vyskov in 2021 but was loaned to the Tacoma Defiance (Seattle Sounders 2) for the 2022 season and has been in Seattle ever since, moving up to the first team in 2024 and making 21 appearances for my hometown club in 2025.

The reason for the move is that the Sounders are stacked at winger and Georgi is probably 7th in the pecking order if everyone is healthy.  He's still quite raw in many areas but he has one of the best dribbles in the league and no fear about going at any defender.  He's also been pointed out for having an obvious joy for the game and willingness to play both offense and defense.

This is a good, possibly great, move for the Rapids.  It fills an obvious need as I think Minoungou becomes a heavy favorite to start opposite Yapi on the wings and he has a very friendly contract ($104K in 2025) that goes through the 2028-29 season.  $2M is a lot to pay but we need the official announcement (presumably tomorrow) to see how that's split up over time and if there's any performance metrics on it.

As I mentioned yesterday Matt Wells challenged us 2 months ago, after the Bassett trade, to wait until the end of the window to judge the team.  At the time that sounded just like Padraig Smith in 2022 when he traded MAK to open the window and then promised more moves to come, only to sign one player on short-term loan the rest of the way.  Especially when coming into this final week the only move had been to sign Miguel Navarro on loan (and buy out Vines).  It was also a concern that they said "end of the transfer window" when there was 5 games before that and we have a track record of wasting time with signings.

This week though the Rapids put together three solid moves in area of need.  A center back this summer that could fill in if Herrington is sold (Williams), a right back for depth (Thompson), and now a potential starting winger (Minoungou).  All young players that maybe weren't deals but also don't look like dramatic overpays.  This doesn't make the team a MLS Cup favorite but it does put us in position to build on our solid start.  Despite the concerns about not having the deals done before the season started Wells got us off to a 3-0-2 start so it didn't hurt us too much.  Not something I'd generally recommend though.

This wasn't a perfect window of course.  The Sealy move isn't looking strong considering how much we paid and it hurts to see Bassett playing for a different MLS team.  On the flip side Herrington is a top-tier find for this team and Ojediran is the destroyer we've been looking for.  Overall a stronger window than many of us predicted and one that was generally better than average for this team.

Defense Inbound

With the transfer window closing tomorrow the Rapids made a move for the summer window today and are hinting at another move tomorrow, which sources have already revealed.

First the Rapids made the rumored acquisition of Loïc Williams official today.  Williams is a 24 year old Spanish central defender currently playing with Granada CG in the Spanish second division.  His father is DR Congolese so he would be eligible for them as well.  Williams is in his 5th year as a pro having played for Girona B (3rd division), Atletico Paso (4th division), Tenerife (2nd division), and Granada.  He's been a pretty regular starter the last two seasons for Granada and his career grown is that of a player on his way up.

Williams will join the Rapids in the summer window after the end of the Liga 2 season.  His contract is through the 2029-30 season with an club option for the 2030-31 season.  He will, obviously, take an international slot.  Transfermrkt values him at a million Euros and sources told Burgundy Wave this would be a TAM deal, but no details were officially released.

This move is a good sign that at least one of Herrington or holding is on their way out by the time the sprint season starts.  Holding will be out of contract after this season and there's interest in Herrington (more on that later this week).  I would be surprised if he came in and hit the ground running like the later but he appears to be solid depth for this season.

Later today Tom Bogert reported, and BW confirmed, the Rapids have made a deal with Toronto to bring in Canadian RB Kosi Thompson for $200K of GAM, with another $200K of GAM in performance goals.  Thompson is 23 years old and came through the TFC academy so he won't require an international slot as a homegrown player.  The reviews on Thompson from Toronto fans are mixed with the best being that he's a MLS spot starter and could grow into something a bit more.  It sounds like efforts to use him at center back were particularly disastrous.

This is clearly a depth move and may indicate Cannon's injury is worse than first thought.  Regardless its not a good look for Travis after stating last week at right back.  This is likely the move the Rapids are teasing for 10am tomorrow.  The window closes tomorrow afternoon/evening and 2 months ago when Bassett was sold Matt Wells challenged the fans and media to judge the club at the end of the window.  We'll do that tomorrow.

New Attitude Rapids Smash SporKCs

I don't yet know how good our talent is compared to the rest of the league, but I do like our new attitude.  Colorado went into KC and not only won, but won convincingly.  Now Sporting is not a good team this year, and the win should be taken in context, but this is a match that in past seasons the Rapids would have fumbled away points in, ore barely held on for a 2-1 win.  Instead they put KC to the sword and poured it on to ensure the 3 points.

Random Thoughts:

• I was surprised hwen Fredrick got the start again based on his play last week.  Then he went and scored what turned out to be the winning goal  My bad, nice job Wayne.
• Speaking of, SKC's Pulskamp was livid about the goal and was sure he was fouled.  A long VAR check showed....he wasn't even touched.  I have no idea why VAR didn't see that in 5 seconds.
• That back heel on the first Rapids goal by Navarro was pretty.  That was a wonderfully worked goal by the whole team.
• The SKC goal was some poor defense by Jackson Travis and poor keeping by Steffen.  Travis got sucked way too far upfield and inside, leaving the right wing wide open and KC came right through that hole.  Then Steffen got beat near post which is a no-no for a keeper.
• The Rapids struck right back with the Fredrick goal off a Sealy corner, with its on keeping blunder.  This is another example of the attitude change, past Rapids teams would have moped their way into the halftime break at 1-1 instead of aggressively attacking.
• After half it was all Colorado.  KC had one good look they hit right at Steffen at the hour mark and everything else was burgundy.
• Miguel Navarro set up Rafa Navarro on the third goal, even if he didn't get an official assist.
• Holding dodged a second yellow right before he was subbed off, but given that the first yellow was weak sending him for the second would have been harsh.
• In an otherwise strong night Navarro right after that should have picked up a second yellow and was very lucky he didn't.  I think he's a better start than Travis but he can't make that mistake again.
• Colorado applied the coup de grace with pressure leading to a quick turnover and a through ball to Navarro that he crossed to Aaronson for the strike.  Good, aggressive, play late in a a game that you're winning.  A great attitude to see.
• Colorado is now beating the teams they should (Portland and SKC), being competitive (ish) against teams that they aren't expected to beat (Seattle, NTCFC0, and taking advantage of mistakes when better teams make them (Galaxy).  That may not be a "win MLS Cup" combo but it is a "make the playoffs and be a tough out" combo, which is better than I expected going into the season.
• Sealy is lucky he got the assist from the corner on the second goal because otherwise he was the black mark on the night.  We're still struggling to find the other winger across from Yapi.
• Colorado goes into the break in a good position, right on the "win at home, draw on the road" point total of 9.  Coming out they've got a trip to Toronto and then finally back at home against Houston before the 30th anniversary Inter Messi match.

Man of the Match: Paxten Aaronson.  The week after I complained we should put a BOLO out on him he gets two goals and an assist.  Navarro had a great match too but Aaronson had his best day in burgundy (or green) so far and its what we need from him.

Quick SKC Preview

Ok, this is going to be quick and dirty.  The shingles vaccine has knocked me out for about 24 hours.

Steffen is back, presumably will start.  Ronan and Cannon are not available.

SKC is not a good team.  They're averaging 1 goal a game, in the form of two games where they've scored twice and two games where they've been shut out.  They got their first win last week in LA against the Galaxy.

If Wells' system is going to work this is a game you have to get a result from.  Combined with next week's game in Toronto you want at least 2 points and really you want 4.

1-1 draw, goal by Yapi.  I'm not yet willing to predict a win on the road for this group, but it wouldn't surprise me.  You can't call this a must win in game 5, but a loss here would be fairly disastrous for the goals this season.  I think we get a draw at least though.

Play The Rocky Mountain Cup In Laramie

 

Today Major League Soccer announced the details of the 'sprint season' being played in the spring of 2027 as the league transitions to the fall-to-spring schedule starting in the fall of 2027.  The basics are:

• 14 games against the 14 other teams in your conference, 7 home, 7 away
• Regular season played February-April
• 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs
• Playoffs are single-game knockouts played inside your conference in May
• MLS Cup between the Western and Eastern Conference playoff winners
• MLS Cup winner and 4 other teams qualify for 2028 CONCACAF Champions Cup
• All 16 playoff teams qualify for 2028 Leagues Cup

When I saw the sprint season was going to be 14 games I was pretty sure it was all going to be intra-conference.  What this means though is that the sprint season Rocky Mountain Cup is going to be decide on one game, and either the Rapids or FSL will have home field advantage for that game.

Unless they don't.

I immediately joked when the announcement came out that they should play that game at Ralph Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction.  Its almost exactly midway between KKK Slogan field in Sandy and the Dick in Commerce City.  It currently hosts NCAA DII football for the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks.  The reality is though it probably doesn't meet stadium requirements for the league or the union, it only seats 8000, and its probably not equipped for a full broadcast on Apple.  Its a funny idea but for any number of reasons its not realistic.

But then I thought a little more about it and realized there is a stadium that could host a MLS match as a "neutral site".  War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming, home of the Wyoming Cowboys.  As a G5 school I'm sure the facilities are good enough to pass muster with the league and union for a one off game, and their football games are regularly broadcast from there as part of the Mountain West Conference so I'm sure it could handle an Apple broadcast.

Yeah, this sounds a little silly at first, but this whole 'sprint season' is a little silly.  Why not try something different during it?  Make it an event.  Has the state of Wyoming ever hosted a top-level professional competitive match in a team sport?  Certainly they've never hosted a competitive soccer match.  Work with the league to promote this as reaching out to new fans, not to mention the whole college population of the University of Wyoming.  Baseball has had success with their single game Field of Dreams and Little League games each season, this could be a (non-repeating) version of that.

Plus, imagine playing the Rocky Mountain Cup at the highest stadium in the country.  Its a perfect match.  Yes, its closer for Rapids fans (a little over 2 hours from Commerce City versus a little under 6 from Sandy) but not so far that I would expect Salt Lake fans not to make the trip.  One team would be giving up a home game, but if they do it right you can split the revenue equally and minimize that hit, or maybe even favor whomever is losing the home game.  Give supporters groups from both sides their regular seats behind each goal and make a true production out of it.

Will this happen?  Probably not.  Neither owner seems like somebody who would push this and I'm not sure the league would be all that excited, but if the fans get behind it and make it something they need to consider we might see something happen.