2025 Colorado Rapids Season Preview

PREVIEW – Tonight the Colorado Rapids kickoff their 2025 season in Concacaf Champions Cup against LAFC. This Saturday, they’ll open the MLS campaign at St. Louis CITY. The Rapids are coming off a feel-good 2024. Chris Armas surprised everyone in his first year. Djordje Mihailović and Cole Bassett cooked. They took back the Rocky Mountain Cup from RSL. They qualified for Conca Champions by finishing third in Leagues Cup by beating Liga MX teams in four straight games. Then they got tired and injured and were a first round exit from the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Pids are back on the map in MLS and they’re “hungry for more,” to use the Armas saying.

Departures: Sebastian Anderson, Miguel Navarro, Jasper Löffelsend, Lalas Abubakar, Jonathan Lewis, Ethan Bandré, Daniel Chacón

There weren’t that many big departures from the club over the winter. The big losses might be Löffelsend and Abubakar. Both were important depth pieces. The German got taken by San Diego FC in the expansion draft. Abubakar moved to Dallas as a free agent. He’ll be missed because of his energy and relationship with the fans. He’s a serviceable MLS defender.

Anderson wasn’t able to break into the first team after Reggie Cannon came in the summer. He’s off to Hartford Athletic in the USL, which a fair level for him. Lewis is getting older and the Rapids have lots of young options at winger. It was time for a change of scenery for him. He’s already made his debut for Barnsley in League One. Navarro never actually played for the Rapids and his loan to Tallerse was made permanent, which was some good business.

Nobody else is worth significant mention. Colorado lacked MLS-ready bench depth throughout the year. The players who’ve been retained and brought in will add to that.

Arrivals: Chidozie Awaziem, Ian Murphy, Ted Ku-DiPietro, Josh Atencio, Sam Bassett, Ali Fadal, Alex Harris, and a bunch of other draft picks

President Pádraig Smith had a busy start to the offseason and a busy end leading up to tonight. With the first trade window open, they got Chido Awaziem and Ian Murphy from FC Cincinnati for $1 million GAM. Those two center backs will secure the backline with Moïse Bombito and Abubakar gone. The rumors of Andreas Maxsø leaving for the Middle East have gone quiet as well.

The next two holes were defensive midfielder for the double pivot and right winger. Josh Atencio was acquired this week from Seattle Sounders for $1.3 million in GAM plus some other stuff. The club’s first cash transfer or “cashver” was for D.C. United winger Ted Ku-DiPietro. Atencio has a good defensive work rate. He’s press resistant and looks for forward passing. TKD is a dog. He hates losses, is a good chance creator for himself and others. He presses well.

Sam Bassett, Cole’s younger brother, joins the team as a Homegrown after a banner senior season at the University of Denver. He’s a complimentary player to his brother. Positionally, he might be best suited as a back up to Mihailović off the bench.

All the other deals were depth picks. Colorado been tracking Fadal for years going back to his high school days at Montverde in Florida. They got him on a free transfer with a sell-on and buyback from Valencia CF. He could be a Rapids 2 guy this year. Alex Harris is a Generation Adidas striker out of Cornell. He’s looks good and FAST in preseason. With Darren Yapi nursing a shoulder injury, he could get minutes early season.

Colorado brought in options at striker, winger, center midfield, and center back this offseason.

Possible Breakout Star: One of the wingers, maybe Calvin Harris?

Yes, I’m still hanging onto my Calvin Harris stock, four years later. 2024 was his best season yet in MLS. He’s been more technical on the ball than Omir Fernandez. If he can improve enough on the pressing and defensive work rate, he could hold off TKD.

One of them has to hit whether it’s Calvin Harris, Omir, Ted, or Kamani Stewart-Baynes. This was like last year where the Rapids had 4-5 viable center back prospects. One of them was going to be good enough to start. That ended up being Bombito. Most of the other positions are spoken for or have two guys vying that we already know about. In the 4-2-3-1, the biggest question mark is right winger. In the 3-4-3, it’s that position and the third center back.

If one of these kids hit (8 goal contributions, good pressing metrics), the Rapids will be money in attack.

2025 Outlook and Predictions:

The focus has to be on the league season. The club won’t be in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The new format for Leagues Cup should make that less arduous. It would also be something if the team made it to the semifinals again. Last year, they ran out of gas. They need to peak at the end of the year and finish with a higher playoff seed.

Tactically, they’ll look similar. Armas will deploy the 3-4-3 situationally but will mostly play the 4-2-3-1. Expect them to press. They’ll attack and score goals. They’ll conceded, hopefully fewer than the 60 they gave up in league play last year. Bassett will play in the double pivot.

Season Predictions: The Colorado Rapids will finish 6th in the MLS Western Conference. They will advance out of the Best-of-Three round but lose the next year. They’ll retain the Rocky Mountain Cup. They will not win Conca Champions or Leagues Cup.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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