Wild West Showdown in Texas: Rapids Away at Austin

AUSTIN, Texas—The Rapids will face their first of two Western Conference foes away from home when they travel to Austin to take on Austin FC tonight. Both teams have had an up-and-down start to 2025, so let’s take a look at this matchup.

When: Saturday, March 8 @ 6:30 p.m. MST

Where: Q2 Stadium

TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV

Attack Thrives, Defense Sacrificed

The Rapids’ last MLS game had a completely different look than we had seen in league play or Concacaf Champions Cup play. Chris Armas’s men had trouble getting in front of the net, going two straight games without a goal or even a shot on target. This was not the case against Dallas, as the two teams put on a show, combining for 28 shots and six goals, with the Rapids having 16 shots of their own in the 3-3 draw at home. 

The Rapids got it started early with a Rosenberry shot/cross that looped over Dallas keeper Maarten Paes. Whether he meant to or not (probably not, given his muted celebration), The Rapids had their first shot on target in over 190 minutes of play. And they would continue the barrage on Paes’s goal throughout the match, showing a side of this Rapids attack we had not seen yet this season. Rafa Navarro played his role as a poacher, securing the two other Rapids goals from close range. Rafa and Oli Larraz combined for four goal contributions, with Larraz having a more offensive and wider role than we have seen from him. He had two assists on the night.

For as fun as the Rapids attack had, there were some worrying moments for the Rapids defensively throughout the game. The defense gave up three goals of their own, two minutes away from each other right before half-time. A scrappy goal midway through the second half from Petar Musa put the Rapids in a losing position from 2-0 up. Dallas had more expected goals, although slightly (1.99 xG to 1.88). It could have been worse for the ‘Pids as FC Dallas forward Logan Farrington had hit the back of the net to make it 4-3, but the goal was ruled offside. 

The defense had a rough go at it, and it wasn’t helped by the injuries to Awaziem and Cannon, both of whom had to be substituted. This made way for the season debut of Michael Edwards and the professional debut of Rapids 2 call-up Anderson Rosa. Both of them held their own in their appearances, but the second game of the season seems a little too soon to be having to go this far down the depth chart for minutes.

Lineup Prediction:

Steffen / Rosenberry (c), Murphy, Awaziem, Rosa / Larraz, C. Bassett, Atencio / Mihailovic, Navarro, Cabral 

The biggest news from the injury report from Friday was Reggie Cannon being out due to a groin injury. This makes it three Rapids outside backs that are out due to injury. When Reggie went down against Dallas, Anderson Rosa had to step in, and it looks like the same for Austin. 

Chris Armas has said that he wants to continue the proactive football that we saw against Dallas. In that game, we saw Bassett return to the midfield, but in a more attacking role, as an eight alongside Larraz, with Josh Atencio holding up the midfield as a six. This change in the midfield structure was the key to unlocking the attack and letting Larraz grab two assists while Bassett helped create in the attacking third. 

This didn’t come without risk, and FC Dallas exploited this for their goals. The usual midfield had a pair of sixes, and Atencio was left on his own at crucial points against former MLS MVP Lucho Acosta. Finding the right balance between the attack and defense will be tricky for Armas and Co, and a lot of that decision making will be based around the middle three for the Rapids. 

If Armas wants to shut down shop at Austin, I could see Mihailović slotting back into the midfield and Bassett and Atencio/Larraz being the two sixes, giving the Rapids a more familiar midfield balance. It will also be important to see how far along players who have been on the injury report have come in the last week. Ronan played 26 minutes against Dallas, with other notable injured Sam Vines and Andreas Maxsø not making the bench.

Outside Back Worries:

It has been an injury-filled position for the Burgundy Boys in 2025. Vines has been hurt since preseason, and while it was reported that his injury was minor and more of a precaution, he has yet to leave the injury report since. It, unfortunately, looks to be a similar case to that of Bassett at the end of last year. The timetable for Vinesy to come back is an unknown at this point, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Stand-in for Vines at outside back has been Reggie Cannon, who looked to avoid injury scare at home to LAFC in the Champions Cup, only to get hurt during the game against Dallas. The Rapids, who had already lost their last outside back, not named Rosenberry, Jackson Travis to a hand injury that required surgery. 

Three of four wingbacks will be listed as out for the game in Austin, and just like last week against Dallas, Rapids 2 call-up Anderson Rosa will likely get the nod. The 23-year-old Brazilian was a name that flew under the radar for many Rapids fans, but not for Chris Armas. The Rapids head coach has been outspoken about how much they trust Rosa and how they felt he was ready to be thrown to the wolves. He will have to be ready again if his name is called in Austin.

Austin’s symmetrical start to 2025:

Austin has had a much more controlled and calm start to 2025 than the Rapids, with both of their games ending 1-0, a win at home against Sporting KC, and a loss away at Portland. An attack very much changed from a year back has been slow from the jump. A staple to the Austin tea, Sebastian Driussi, has left for River Plate in Argentina, and Austin has filled that hole with USMNT forward Brendan Vasquez. Vasquez has yet to get on the score sheet for Austin, however, with the attack spearheaded by him scoring only one goal across their first two games.

Austin was very close to doing what is needed to be successful in MLS. Win your home games and keep your away games close. They took care of Sporting KC and kept Portland at 0-0 until an in-swinging free kick from David Da Costa evaded everyone and found the back of the net untouched. Austin’s attack has been slow to get started, but their defense is in midseason form. 

They kept Sporting KC to seven shots and two on target with an xG of 0.54 and Portland to the same shot count but an xG of 0.59. A little over 1.0 xG over two games is impressive and something that Chris Armas will have to look to do better on Saturday. 

Prediction: Both teams will limit the opportunities and play out a well-defended game in Austin. It ends 0-0.

Photo Credit: John Babiak

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