Headwater Kits against a New Opponent – San Diego Preview

COMMERCE CITY — The Rapids will look to bounce back after a disappointing away day in Vancouver against a San Diego side that will be the first meeting between the two teams. San Diego FC have had a strong start to life in MLS and sit just behind the Whitecaps in second in the Western Conference. It will be a huge test to see what this Rapids team is made of. First home game with the Headwater Kit for the Rapids, hoepfully no “away kit at home” bad luck. Let’s take a look at the matchup.

When: Saturday, April 12 @ 7:30 p.m. MST

Where: DICK’s Sporting Goods Park

TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV

No Shots on Goal in Vancouver:

The Rapids flipped their result against Charlotte and were on the wrong side of a concerning 2-0 loss at Vancouver. Offensively, it was their worst performance in terms of expected goals since the season opener at St. Louis, with the Rapids only mustering 0.41 xG in Vancouver. The Burgundy Boys had seven shots, and none were on target. This is the second time in MLS play the Rapids have failed to register a shot on goal. The first was also against St. Louis. It has been an interesting last few games for the ‘Pids, with a great attacking showcase against Charlotte being sandwiched between two poor offensive displays against Portland and now Vancouver. It is starting to look like the game against Charlotte was an exception and not the norm for Chris Armas’s side.

The game itself was not fun for the Rapids, who paired a worrying offensive performance with a potentially more worrying defensive performance. The Rapids defense found themselves sliced open with ease by the Vancouver attack more times than just the two goals. Armas looked to start a more defensive back four, which included Ian Murphy at left back, similar to Charlotte last week, but it did not produce the same results. Both of Vancouver’s goals did not paint Murphy in the best light, but the defensive unit as a whole will have to turn it around for San Diego.

Chris Armas showed flashes of a different look for this Rapids side, going back to a 4-4-2 that he used a handful of times in 2024, especially when defending a lead late. The Rapids had most recently used this style of play against Charlotte, which put Djordje more centrally and helped him get him two goals and the win.

Oli Larraz was the man pushed out wide for this game, but the whole system didn’t seem to work against a stout Vancouver defense. A defense that had an identity and a plan that stuck to that identity in this game. Whitecaps head coach Jesper Sørensen allowed the Rapids to have some possession, trying to bait them into giving the ball away in a vulnerable position and hit on the counter.

It is a similar system that Portland had in Colorado a few weeks back, and it was the same result for Vancouver. The Rapids were happy to keep possession but failed to make anything meaningful out of it and seemed to lack the drive to push the ball forward. This played perfectly into Sørensen and Vancouver’s plan and gave the Whitecaps both defensive stability and a danger going forward, something the Rapids did not have throughout this game. It was a worrying performance from the Rapids, who will have to figure out how to break down a low-block counter-attack style soon. At least Sam Vines made his return to MLS play, and Sam Bassett got his MLS debut.

Lineup Prediction:

Steffen / Rosenberry (C), Maxsø, Awaziem, Vines / C. Bassett, Atencio, Larraz / Mihailović, Navarro, C. Harris

The Rapids are getting healthy! This is as thin of an injury report as we have seen this season, and some mainstays are finally off the list. Ted Ku-DiPietro is finally off the list, and I would not be surprised to see him on the bench and potentially getting some minutes as the Rapids look for an answer out wide. Vines is also off the list for a third straight game, and he got 35 minutes against Vancouver. I see him getting the start instead of Ian Murphy as he continues to integrate back into the team.

Ali Fadal makes an appearance on the injury report, so number one Ali Fadal fan Judgemental Jim will have to wait at least another week for the debut of the 21-year-old Ghanian. Hopefully, this is not a long-term injury for Fadal, who was hurt in the Rapids 2 game against St Louis 2 last week.

Adam Beaudry also appears on the injury report after his red card in the same Rapids 2 game, so Nico Hansen will have a chance to be the second keeper against San Diego. Lastly, Connor Ronan is now questionable instead of out for this game, inching closer to being fully fit. I would still expect him not to be involved in this game.

Despite Ted Ku-DiPietro not being on the injury report, I don’t believe he will start at winger, and with Cabral out of form, that winger spot is up for grabs. I think this is the week we see Cabral benched for Calvin Harris or Omir Fernandez to make their first MLS start of the season. I’ve gone for Calvin Harris, but it feels like a coin toss between him and Omir.

What to do with Kévin Cabral?

Some not-so-easy conversations will have to start to happen between Rapids President Pádraig Smith and Coach Chris Armas about what to do with their multimillion-dollar man, Kévin Cabral. It has become increasingly harder to mask the struggles the 25-year-old Parisian has had to start the season. Including the CCC tie against LAFC, he has 595 minutes on the season, and in the nine games that it took to reach that total, he has yet to register a goal or an assist. It hasn’t been that he has been unlucky in front of the net or just missing the finishing touch that Cabral has never seemed to have; he has been struggling to affect any game positively.

Cabral had his worst game of the year against Vancouver, and it compiled the concerns about his game that have piled up since the start of the season. Cabral’s biggest strength in his game is his pace, but he hasn’t utilized it dangerously. When the opposition match him with a just-as-pacey outside back, he is almost completely taken out of the game. It doesn’t help that wingers Calvin Harris and Omir Fernandez have come off the bench and looked better, providing the attack with a much-needed spark. Both of those guys have outproduced Cabral in much fewer minutes, so why doesn’t Omir or Harris get a look-in from Armas?

A big problem with the idea of throwing in the towel on Cabral is how much the Rapids have invested in him. Cabral is a Designated Player and is getting DP money, even if half is coming from LA Galaxy. The sheer amount of investment that the Rapids front office has put into Cabral, along with his maximum salary cap hit that he gives the team, makes it hard to give cheaper players a shot when there is a chance Cabral could work out. Now, how much money a player is making should not be on Armas’s mind when choosing the team sheet, but it has to play a role in the long-term plan for Cabral and the right winger position. It’s hard to say when enough will be enough for Chris Armas when it comes to Cabral, or whether Cabral will be able to turn it around before the likes of Omir Fernanez or Calvin Harris start to become hard to bench, or Ted Ku-DiPietro becomes healthy.

San Diego’s inaugural season:

San Diego started their relationship with the Rapids by taking then-Rapids midfielder Jasper Löffelsend in the expansion draft, and since then, they have proved to be an opponent to worry about for the Burgundy Boys. They joined the league with some standout signings, including the likes of USMNT player Luca de la Torre, Anders Dreyer, and the main man for San Diego, Hirving Lozano. These signings immediately made their impact, starting their new MLS lives with a convincing 2-0 win at LA Galaxy, which was a lot more impressive then than it is now, but they stayed hot after this.

They have gone 4-1-2 (W-L-D) in their first seven games, with some convincing wins against Seattle, RSL, and LAFC. Sitting just behind Vancouver in second in the Western Conference, they have made MLS life look easy.

What has been proven to not be easy is trips to Commerce City, especially your second trip into the altitude that comes with it (San Diego beat RSL at America First earlier this year). The Rapids will have to make this game difficult for San Diego if they want to get a win out of this game. San Diego FC has at times struggled to create or score against teams who allow them to have the ball. San Diego lost 2-1 to Austin despite having 76% of the possession and only created 1.1 expected goals throughout the match. Against St. Louis, San Diego had 72% possession but only had 0.97 xG in a 0-0 draw. These will be interesting stats for Armas to consider going into this game, but it would go against the normal style of play for the Rapids.

However they end up trying to break this San Diego team down, they will have to be solid defensively to stop Hirving Lozano or Anders Dreyer from making their mark on the game. Those two are the danger men up top for San Diego and already have a combined eight goal contributions this season. San Diego FC is a very exciting team, fresh on their first year in MLS, and will provide a new challenge that the Rapids will have to quickly adapt to in order to get another win at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Prediction: The Rapids continue to have a bad streak with expansion sides, falling at home 1-0 to San Diego.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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