Minnesota United vs Colorado Rapids Preview by Chris Brown
Minnesota United FC welcome Colorado Rapids to TCF Bank Stadium for the second matchup between these two teams this season.
Minnesota and Colorado already met on March 18th and battled to a 2-2 draw. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
The first match was played on March 18th in Denver with the match finishing level at 2-2. Dominique Badji opened the scoring for Colorado in the 17th minute before goals from Kevin Molino and Christian Ramirez in the 50th and 58th minutes gave the Loons the lead. Minnesota’s lead stood for barely a minute as Marlon Hairston leveled the match again in the 59th minute.
The lasting impact of that first meeting isn’t what happened on the pitch, but the trade made between the two teams in the weeks following the match. Colorado’s Captain Sam Cronin and starting left fullback Marc Burch were shipped north to Minnesota while midfielder Mohammed Saeid and Joshua Gatt flew south to become Rapids.
That first meeting at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park proved to be a scouting trip for each team and the moves seemed to make sense for both clubs as Colorado, on paper, improved their weak offense while Minnesota added grit and defensive organization to a side that was leaking goals at a historic pace.
Since that March 18th meeting things have gone pear-shaped for the Rapids. The 2-2 draw against Minnesota is the last point Colorado has earned as the new look Rapids were soundly beaten 3-0 by Sporting KC and saw their 19 match home unbeaten streak snapped against Real Salt Lake last weekend. Newcomers Saeid and Gatt saw their first action in the loss to RSL, but neither had an impact on the match itself.
During that same stretch of time Minnesota claimed their first ever MLS win by beating Real Salt Lake 4-2 and claiming a point against Houston Dynamo in Texas.
Rapids Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni hasn’t had a chance to get his new look side on the pitch together yet as injuries and suspensions have forced him to shuffle his side heavily. 2016 defender of the year candidate Axel Sjoberg is out with a hamstring tear, Sam Cronin’s replacement in Nana Boateng is out for eight weeks with a fracture in his back and Tim Howard and Jared Watts are both currently suspended.
Colorado will be without several starters including Tim Howard, who is serving a three match suspension. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
With four starters out Mastroeni has had to depend on unlikely candidates to fill in, like Kortne Ford, the young center-back who was drafted earlier this year from Denver University. Ford, who struggled and looked very green against Sporting Kansas City, is expected to start again in the back four as is Bobby Burling, who last saw action against Minnesota in March. Burling will be filling in for Jared Watts, whose 85th minute red card in Colorado’s last match will keep the towering defender out.
Adrian Heath has his own injury problems to deal with as a handful of Minnesota players are out right now as well. New arrival Marc Burch is questionable for the match with a groin injury while Bernardo Anor, Thomas de Villardi, and Rasmus Schuller are out, and Bobby Shuttleworth is questionable as he comes back from a head injury.
Sunday afternoon’s match will be a good measure of where each team is heading. Colorado have averaged a league low 2.4 shots on goal a game as well as a league low 7.4 shots a game. The trade Colorado made with Minnesota was supposed to fix some of those offensive issues and if there’s an opponent for things to start clicking against, it should be Minnesota.
Christian Ramirez has scored 5 goals in 2017 including one against Colorado in March. (Photo Credit: Corbin Elliott)
The same can be said of Minnesota’s defense. Sam Cronin and March Burch were brought in to fix an defense that gave up 18 goals in their first four matches and this is a great opportunity, against the leagues tamest offense, to gel as a defensive unit and create some confidence.
Keep an eye on Marlon Hairston and Dominique Badji for the Rapids. Both players have started the season in good form and with Mohammed Saeid providing better passing from the center of he pitch, Badji and Hairston should have more opportunities to get in on goal than in previous matches.
Christian Ramirez is the danger man for the Loons and has already scored 5 goals for Minnesota in their debut MLS season. Kevin Molino has scored three goals from midfield and both players scored against Colorado in their earlier meeting. With the Rapids backline injured, suspended and ultimately rotated, Molino and Ramirez could create havoc and put Rapids backup keeper Zac MacMath under heavy pressure.
