Crew SC vs Rapids Preview

Crew vs Rapids Preview – by Chris Brown

Saturday, May 14th – Columbus Crew welcomes Colorado Rapids to Mapfre Stadium for a matchup between two teams that are having drastically different seasons than a year ago.

Colorado currently lead the Major League Soccer Supporter’s Shield standings, as well as the Western Conference as they sit on 23 points. The Rapids are coming off a home win against Sporting KC on Wednesday night where a Dillon Serna goal was enough to keep Colorado’s home record perfect in six games this season.

The Crew currently occupy the basement of the Eastern Conference. Last years MLS Cup runners-up have just 9 points from their opening nine matches and dropped valuable points last weekend in controversial fashion.
Against Didier Drogba and Montreal Impact the Crew took a commanding 3-1 lead before one of the strangest scenes in recent memory unfolded in Columbus. The Crew won a penalty and both Kai Kamara and Frederico Higuain stepped up to the take the spot kick. The two designated players began to argue over which player would take the free kick, not unusual, but the argument then lasted for several minutes with both players adamant that they should take the kick.
Higuain eventually stepped up to the spot, to Kamara’s anger and disbelief, and gave the Crew what should have been an insurmountable 4-1 lead.

However, the argument seemed to suck all the energy and drive from the Crew and they allowed Monteal to come back and level the match over the final 40 minutes.
Kamara then used the post match interview to publicly criticize his teammate. The situation became so toxic that the Crew actually traded Kamara on Thursday to the New England Revolution for Allocated Money and International Slots.

Colorado should be without key players Marco Pappa, who is still out with a knee issue, and Shkelzen Gashi who missed Wednesdays game through injury, though what is ailing the Albanian is still in question.

Without those two key play-makers Colorado looked flat against Sporting KC. Both of those players do well on the wings and without them Colorado tried to play exclusively through Jermaine Jones in the middle. Kevin Doyle and Jones did well to create chances against KC, but Colorado did seem to lose their cutting edge without Gashi running at defenders on the left wing.

Columbus should look to contain Jermaine Jones who has been the catalyst of the Rapid attack since joining Colorado after the first six games of the season. If Columbus is able to double Jones up and force Colorado play the ball out wide to Dominique Badji or Luis Solignac they should be able to blunt the Rapid attack.

Badji has excellent pace but isn’t a physical player and when pressured one on one, he isn’t difficult to reign in. Badji would prefer to make runs in behind defenders and isn’t a true playmaker.

Solignac, like Badji, is a striker and not a winger. The Argentine has more skill than Badji in holding the ball up for his teammates but lacks the vision to play a deadly final ball.

For Colorado the recipe for success is similar. Without Kamara in the side to create danger from crosses Columbus will most likely play a more direct style of football. Focusing on pressuring Federico Higuain should be the main concern for Colorado. Expect to see Sam Cronin or Michael Azira on Higuain’s hip all match long.

Colorado’s defense has been sublime this season, they play deep, pressure quickly and force their opponents to get the ball in the box through the air. Without Kamara in the side to battle Axel Sjoberg for those crosses, Colorado will feel they have the advantage.

If there’s a silver lining for Crew fans it’s that most of Colorado’s points this season have come at home and they’ve failed to replicate their home form on the road. At home Colorado is 6-0-0 while just an underwhelming 1-2-2 on the road.