The long international break is finally over for the Colorado Rapids, who travel to Children’s Mercy Park to take on Sporting Kansas City.
Sporting KC are one of three MLS teams that have not been beaten in 2017 as they sit on 6 points from a win and three draws.
Colorado currently sit on four points having won, drawn and lost in their first three matches of 2017 and haven’t played a competitive match since March 18th due to a rescheduled match against FC Dallas and the international break.
For Colorado, the main storyline coming into the match is that the team made a significant trade during the international break that saw captain Sam Cronin and starting left fullback Marc Burch go to Minnesota United FC in exchange for attacking midfielder Mohammad Saeid and striker Josh Gatt.
Sunday afternoon’s match against KC will be Rapids fans first look at a team that should be much better going forward, as Saeid’s passing abilities are superior to most of the players on the Rapids, but a team that has lost some of their defensive spine as both Cronin and Burch were starters for 2016’s stingiest defense.
So far in the 2017 season it isn’t the Rapids defense that has impressed around the league, but Sporting KC’s. Tim Melia has only allowed just one goal in four games between the sticks for KC and leads the league with three shutouts early in the season.
Defenders Matt Besler, Ike Opara, Graham Zusi and Seth Sinovic have started all four of Sporting’s games together this season and the defensive understanding between the back four and keeper Melia has made the team difficult to break down. That’s a tall order for a new look Rapids line up that hasn’t played together in a competitive match yet.
Colorado has won the last five meetings between the two sides including all three matches in 2016, all of which were won by a 1-0 score line. Peter Vermes men will be motivated not to let that streak continue, especially when playing at home in one of MLS’s most atmospheric stadiums.
For Pablo Mastroeni’s men shutting down Dom Dwyer, Benny Feilhaber and Roger Espinoza will be a tough task. The KC attack hasn’t clicked into full gear yet in 2017, but the talent shared by those three players alone will cause the Rapid back four to worry. Roger Espinoza, an Aurora Colorado native, especially seems to play better when facing his hometown side and if the midfielder is able to find the form he carried during the second half of 2016, he could either create or score for KC.
Gerso Fernandes could also cause the Rapid defense problems. No Sporting player has had more shots, or shots on goal this season than Fernandes and it’s just a matter of time until the Guinea-Bissau international finds the back of the net.
Colorado will hope that the addition of Saeid will finally link together a disjointed attack that hasn’t provided players like Shkelzen Gashi and Kevin Doyle with enough supply for either of those two attackers to cause a persistent threat on goal.
Until the trade for Saied, Dillon Powers had taken on the attacking midfield role that Jermaine Jones made his own in 2016 and wasn’t able to make a mark on the attacking side of the game. Powers doesn’t have the vision or the consistent passing needed to dictate play from the center of the park and Colorado’s attack was lame as a result.
With Saeid in the lineup that should change. Over the course of his career, particularly his recent two year run with Columbus Crew, Saeid has proven to be a very consistent passer with the ability to suck defenders in on the dribble while also being able to pick out teammates in dangerous positions.
It may take some time for Saeid to understand the movements of Gashi, Dominique Badji and Marlon Hairston, but Kevin Doyle plays like a traditional number nine and his movements should give Saeid an outlet to begin to turn defense into a sustainable attack for Colorado.
