RAPIDS READY FOR MLS HOME OPENER
Home opener against Sporting K.C. follows loss at New England
With a new head coach promising an attacking style of play creating heightened curiosity, the Rapids’ home debut Saturday night appears headed for a sellout crowd.
Head coach Anthony Hudson and two new assistants lead a team with 14 players who weren’t with the Rapids last season. Only three holdovers — Dominique Badji, Marlon Hairston and Tim Howard — played in the team’s MLS opener at New England two weeks ago. New England scored on a free kick more than two minutes into stoppage time for a 2-1 win.
“Just dying to play at home in front of the home fans,” Hudson said Thursday night at the team’s season kickoff party. “I’m even more excited because I hear it’s a sellout — we’re very close to it — and I’m excited because there’s a good feel around the place.”
Predecessor Pablo Mastroeni was fired with 12 games remaining in a 2017 season that would see the club finish with the third-worst record in the league (9-19-6). Management realized the team needed more than a roster tweak.
“We wanted to be entertaining our fans, playing good, attractive, attacking football,” said general manager Padraig Smith, the architect of the overhaul. “We quickly determined that what we had wasn’t going to enable us to do that. That meant we had to go about tearing it down to build it back up again. We’re thrilled at what we’ve been able to do, thrilled at the players we’ve been able to bring in.”
Among the key signings are a pair of strikers, Joe Mason and Yannick Boli. Mason, an Englishman, could make his Rapids debut Saturday against Sporting Kansas City but Boli, who was born in France and plays for the national team of Ivory Coast, will not. Smith said Mason’s play in training sessions has demonstrated a knack for finishing, something that was a problem area for the team in past seasons.
“There’s been a lot of change and we’re focused on making sure we get all the new players in,” Hudson said. “We’re still waiting for Boli to come in, Joe Mason’s had a couple of days training, so we can see what we can be and now we’re just working toward that. We have to acknowledge that it’s going to take them a bit of time. Boli has not played since December, Joe has not played games for a long time.”
The Rapids played two Champions League games in February before the MLS season opener at New England. One of the team’s 2018 draft picks, Grand Canyon University product Niki Jackson, came off the bench to score the Colorado goal on a counterattack in the 66th minute at Foxborough, Mass., becoming the third player in MLS history to score within a minute of making his league debut.
But New England’s stoppage time goal, which came off a deflection in the wall guarding against the free kick, denied Colorado the road tie.
“I felt it was a performance worthy of at least a point on the road,” Hudson said. “I also know we still have players coming in. There’s all these moving parts at the moment. I’m pleased with the progression.”