Podcast: 2025 Colorado Rapids Preview

PODCAST – Hello Colorado Rapids fans! It’s officially Season 8 of Holding The High Line! Rabbi and Red sit down to discuss the XI questions that could define the 2025 season for the Burgundy Boys. We also preview the first leg of the Conca Champions with a special surprise for those joining us at the tailgate.

Here are our XI questions:

1. Will Chris Armas improve in his second year as head coach enough to overcome the Rapids being a more known quantity and a team to not underestimate?

2. Goalkeeper: Zack Steffen had a great run in Leagues Cup and just got his first start with the USMNT in almost two years. He had some howlers in 2024. There was so much talk about his post shot expected goals. Will he get back to his 2019 form with Columbus and is the lack of goalkeeper depth a problem?

3. Center backs: Moise Bombito and Lalas Abubakar are gone. Who’s in the center back pair or treble? How do they play together?

4. Fullbacks: The Rapids have Sam Vines, captain Keegan Rosenberry, and Reggie Cannon. Who starts at fullback and can that position unit raise its level from last year?

5. Defensive midfielder: The Rapids took a flyer on Ali Fadal. Conor Ronan is still here. Jasper Loffelsend and Lamine Diack are gone. Who plays at the 6 and can the embrace the Rapids Thug Life? How ridiculous is it the Rapids might not be good at this position for the first time in a decade?

6. Wingers: Omir Fernandez is in year two reuniting with Armas. Calvin Harris is coming off his best MLS season. Ted Ku-Dipietro is in as a cash transfer or “cash-ver.” KSB is healthy. Who starts at right wing and will they be good? What are expectations for Kevin Cabral given he might not be DP at some point?

7. Goal contributions: Djordje Mihailovic had 25 goal contributions. Rafa Navarro scored 15 and 5. Cole Bassett had a career high 16. No other player had more than 10 goal contributions in league play (Cabral had 9). Can those big three keep up their scoring rate? Who steps up to be the fourth wheel?

8. Armas has said the team will mostly play in the 4-2-3-1 and will deploy the 3-4-3 situationally. How will that go? Will it help the Rapids better balance their attacking impetus with being better defensively?

9. Once again, the MLS offseason saw teams spend big to raise the talent level. Meanwhile, there appears to be millions in the Moise Bombito transfer fee that doesn’t appear to have been spent on the first team. Where did that money go? What does it mean?

10. No Open Cup. An all-Liga MX schedule for Phase I of Leagues Cup. The Rapids went for it in Leagues Cup and paid for it in the final week of the regular season. They’re likely an early exit in Conca Champions. Is it regular season seeding or bust? Can the Pids finish top four?

11. Can the Rapids finally get over the hump come November and advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, talent and spending deficits be damned?

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About the hosts:

Matt Pollard is the Managing Editor of Burgundy Wave, having overseen the site’s move to being independent in April 2023. He moved to Denver in 2015 and has covered the Rapids since 2016. An engineer and environmentalist by day, when he’s not watching or writing about soccer, he’s hiking or skiing in the mountains. He also writes for Last Word on Sports, covering the USMNT.

Mark Goodman, known as Rapids Rabbi or Soccer Rabbi, lived in Colorado from 2011-2018. He became an MLS Sicko after seeing Lee Nguyen of the New England Revolution pull off some silky moves at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. He’s a professional rabbi during the day and the author of the well regarded Backpass series, which started at Burgundy Wave. He watches the Pids from a far, having moved to Pittsburgh. He also covers the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL Championship for Pittsburgh Soccer Now.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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