Published 2025-08-10
tag(s): #fútbol #coloradorapids
I made a couple comments in the Rapids subreddit (yes,
the same I said I was
going to quit) about our away game against Minnesota United, and I figured I could recycle
some of that and expand it just a bit more.
Part of me wishes someone reads this and emails me and I make a Rapids pen pal. Heck, I would
be OK with another MLS sicko even if they support a different team. ;)
Both the "official Rapids app" and the MLS one give our line up as 4231[1], yet during the game it was displayed as 343. Only FotMob shows that line up, which I assume is the correct one:
Some day, I will write an Emacs command to insert mark up for line ups as plain text,
because taking a screenshot and uploading the image etc is not "a lot" of work, but I didn't
enjoy it.
Maybe something that queries me for names until it fills a line, then the next one, finally
writes it all in a glorious monospace block of text. Anyway!
Trying to be newbie friendly (since I was one myself, still am in some aspects). The picture
above shows 3 defenders, 4 midfielders, 3 attacking players.
In modern football, players "starting positions" are more like guidelines. Usually they will
move all over the pitch, and the areas they occupy at different times will change. Some
(most) teams are OK with players moving completely out of position as long as there's another
one covering their space. Of course some players are more suited for attack, and others for
defense. And even within those groups there can be more specialization: players that are good
attacking at speed on counters, vs attacking players that are better at finding spaces in
congested areas (like, when the opposing team has 7 guys covering their goal).
Going into the game, we knew MNUFC[2] was 3rd in the standings, and that
this year they are a team that pundits would say "are ok ceding possession" or "don't play with
the ball". Basically they are counter machines. They let you have a lot of ineffective
possession, in hopes that your failed attacks leave your team completely exposed (like, maybe
a defender or two gravitated up the field too much, leaving space behind them).
For this, they have fast attackers, good long rage passing, and a very organized defense. You
can get a clue of all this from their own line up: 532. Park the bus, let you move your team
around trying to break them down, and punish you when you fail.
If they are 3rd, it is because they are carrying out their plans very well.
As I mentioned in the post linked above, we just lost our best attacking midfielder. A player that was very creative in finding good passing lanes, dictating the tempo of our attack (good decisions between moving the ball quickly up the field, or holding it to open spaces in other part of the pitch). So breaking down MNUFC was going to be difficult.
I think a tie was a fair expectation, even if we really need a win in each of the games we
have left in the season. Losing by 1 would have been sad but understandable.
We won 1-2 and we are over the moon.
Us Rapids faithful know Vines and Cannon have played as full-backs, in our coach's favorite
(and most standard nowadays) line up of 4231. We know that they are expected to join the
attack, in most cases carrying the ball up the field to whoever is playing winger.
Were they today really that far up the field? Yes, but also no. Guidelines, as we said
earlier.
Out of possession, when MNUFC had the ball, both of them tracked back to have 5 players
defending. If I weren't lazy, I would look try to screenshot of today's match to show
this.
UPDATE: I wasn't lazy, but getting an screenshot of exactly that I wanted wasn't easy. But I
pinky promise that's what happened, we noticed it while watching the
game[3]. :)
In possession, our three defenders stayed behind, but wide apart to cover more area. The
numeric advantage (3 defenders to 2 of their attackers), was necessary as their attackers
are fast. And in that case Vines and Cannon joined in the attack, which was needed to
overload their well organized bus defense.
LOL no. Our two goals came out of quick counters...so while we should celebrate today's
victory in what was a very difficult week for the team, the question of who takes the mantle
from Mihailovic remains open.
And also, he was a free kick goal machine, and while Basset has been effective in that area in
the past, he hasn't been doing that hot lately.[4]
But, our defense hasn't exactly been solid this year, and today they endured quite the attack,
AND spared some numbers to execute those counters. In particular for the second goal, where we
had enough
personnel joining the attack up the field and dragging their defenders, to keep Yapi
completely open to score.
I am not much into stats, one of the reasons I enjoy football is that I think it is a game
that cannot be reduced to numbers - you have to watch the games to "get" what happened. But,
it's hard not to point out that MNUFC had 23 shots, 10 on target. Contrasting this with the
Rapids' 12 shots, 5 on target. Makes you wonder what will happen when we play a team that is
more creative on the ball, and makes good use of their possession.
Will our five at the back hold then? Even today, Steffen had to make a number of close saves
to keep things even in the first half, and only 1 down in the second.
First one is that the post is all over the place, I started beginner friendly and then turned it into a Rapids-lore dissertation. Ooops.
Second, is that in my replies today I mentioned that I don't think we'll play exclusively the "3(sometimes 5) at the back, 4 and wide midfield". But maybe I was wrong. It seems from the teams we have to face next, none of them are doing particularly hot, so maybe we see this formation some more.
Third, in our last game of Leagues Cup, we tried a number of young players that maybe should get more minutes. And I bet if today at halftime we weren't 0-0, Armas would have subbed in a couple of them. I hope in the coming games we try them more, partly because they were good, partly because any injury could derail our entire season. To be fair, being bench thin is a very Colorado Rapids thing.
And finally, up the fucking pids.