Early trip to the Lone Star State – Rapids Dynamo Preview

HOUSTON, Texas— The Rapids take their first trip of the season into the Lone Star State to take on the Houston Dynamo. From snowy Colorado on Friday to the sunshine of Texas on Saturday, it’ll be a good weekend to play an away game, and mid-April Texas is a lot better than midsummer Texas.

Kickoff should only be around 80°F and drop from there. The Rapids will try to break their win one lose the next streak they have going on after an impressive win at home against San Diego. Let’s take a look at the mtahcup.

When: Saturday, April 19 @ 6:30 p.m. MST

Where: Shell Energy Stadium

TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV

Yapi Hour against San Diego:

In what was probably the game of the week in MLS, the Rapids won in their first match against the new expansion side, San Diego FC. The Rapids’ attack exploded against San Diego, with Apple TV showing the Rapids having 4.47 expected goals at full time. A fair amount of those expected goals came from before the Rapids’ first goal, as it felt like the ‘Pids were going to have one of those nights where they couldn’t find the back of the net, despite chance after chance. We haven’t seen that type of performance from the Rapids in a long time, but they did not start those problems back up again.

The key from the first half for the Rapids was high pressure, and it is what got them chance after chance before Darren Yapi was taken down in the box by San Diego goalkeeper Carlos Dos Santos. This allowed Djordje Mihailović to sneak his penalty under Dos Santos for the 1-0 lead, his 30th goal contribution in 37 games. That makes him the fastest Rapids player ever to reach 30 goal contributions, and it helped the Rapids take a 1-0 lead into the half.

The lead would not last long after the break, as Luca de la Torre uncorked a screamer into the top right corner of Zack Steffan’s goal to make it 1-1. The Rapids responded with their first corner kick goal of the season after a Maxsø to Awaziem header combination allowed Yapi to poke it home for his first of the year. The young homegrown added a goal to an impressive starting debut in 2025, impressive enough to get praise from his goalkeeper.

Yapi’s striker duo, Rafa Navarro, found his goal in the 60th minute, just seven minutes after Yapi’s go-ahead goal. A picture-perfect counterattack from the Rapids sliced open the San Diego defense and led to one of the prettiest goals of the Chris Armas era. The Burgundy Boys had looked good in multiple looks that Armas put them in based on what the game demanded. The high pressure led to great chances, and when the Rapids had the lead in the second half, the counterattacks were well worked.

The Rapids sliced through San Diego again late in the game, with a beautiful counter leading to Kevin Cabral missing wide from twelve yards out, an opportunity he really should have taken. Despite the pressure the Rapids were generating, it was San Diego who took their chance, with substitute Tomas Angel scoring another good goal to make it 3-2 and keep it interesting in stoppage time. But interesting was all it ended up being, as the Rapids held on to win against San Diego in their first matchup. It was one of the Rapids’ best performances of the season and was a great win against a great team in San Diego.

Personnel and Formation: Who and What?

Chris Armas employed an unfamiliar formation against San Diego that he called a fluid 4-2-2-2 that could be a 4-4-2 defensively, and a 4-2-4 offensively. While we have seen both formations employed midway through games based on what the game is calling for, we haven’t really seen a lot of starting in the 4-4-2 shape, and sticking with it throughout the game. It was a tactic that was employed last season against NYCFC, leading to a 2-0 win for the Rapids away from home. It has worked for the Rapids in the past, and it worked against San Diego. But is it a formation that Chris Armas will start to look at more with the Rapids getting healthy?

The Rapids are starting to look healthy, with Sam Vines starting for the first time this year alongside Reggie Cannon, both of whom are making their way back from injury. We also saw the first minutes for Ted Ku-DiPietro, who could be in line for more minutes out wide. Yapi’s first start of the year was good enough to yield some more minutes, and a two-striker system with Navarro could be a great way to incorporate Yapi in the starting eleven. All of these pieces are coming back for Colorado, but it causes some headaches for Chris Armas to deal with who starts and how to set up the team. It is a better headache to have than not having the full team together, but still something to have to get right for Armas and Co.

The Rapids had not practiced the 4-2-2-2 much before employing it against San Diego, and while I see them using this in games that would suit this style, I believe the Chris Armas formation is the 4-2-3-1. If Ted Ku-DiPietro becomes an electric player on the wing, we could see this formation become truly unlocked by the Pids’ attack. But formation-wise, I see a lot of fluidity due to the personnel that Armas wants on the field.

There is a good bit of depth on this Rapids team all of a sudden, and it may come down to who is the hot hand, and if it’s Yapi, we could see a return of the 4-2-2-2. If it is one of the wingers, we could see the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 again. One thing is for sure: this upcoming lineup is one of the hardest to predict correctly, and that is good for Chris Armas. The unpredictability and fluidity of the Rapids personnel and formation are a dangerous thing for opponents to deal with, and can give the Rapids the edge in big moments.

Rapids Dynamo Preview Lineup Predictions:

Steffen / Cannon, Maxsø, Awaziem, Vines / C. Bassett, Atencio, Larraz, Mihailovic (c) / Navarro, Yapi

The Rapids are as healthy as they have been all season, just missing Adam Beaudry and Ali Fadal, who were long shots to start or even get minutes. I would not be surprised to see Ted Ku-DiPietro in a starting eleven sooner rather than later, but I think Yapi gets the nod as the one player to start that isn’t a part of the usual core of the team. I also think that Chris Armas will continue with the 4-2-2-2 formation we saw against San Diego, which will give Yapi another chance to showcase his abilities in a striker partnership with Rafa Navarro.

I believe Armas will opt for the 4-2-2-2 formation again for this game, with another week’s preparation of the formation under the team’s belt. We have seen this Rapids side be able to play well with a deep 4-4-2 shell, especially away from home, and the 4-2-2-2 allows for a seamless transition between a defensive look and an offensive look. Both will be needed against Houston, as I would not be surprised to see some high press from this Rapids side, looking to disrupt the tempo of the Houston possession.

With everyone healthy on the backline, it will be interesting to see who starts at outside back. It has been a position that has been filled by a committee, with numerous amount of injuries causing Armas to employ centerback Ian Murphy at outside back, and reaching into Rapids 2 to play Anderson Rosa in a couple of matches. With everyone healthy, however, the Rapids have three quality outside backs for the two available spots.

It seems like Keegan Rosenberry would become the odd man out, with a lot of money going into both Sam Vines and Reggie Cannon. Keegan would start on many MLS teams at outside back, and he is the team captain, so it would be a difficult name to leave off the starting eleven. It will be interesting to see who the go-to outside backs are down the stretch, with hopefully everyone available.

Not-So-Hot Start for Houston:

The Houston Dynamo has had a puzzling start to 2025. Ben Olsen had turned the team around in the last few years to become a playoff team, making the postseason each of the last two years. But they haven’t started like a playoff team, as through eight games, they have six points and only one win on the year, which was against a rotated LAFC team.

Houston’s most recent game summed up their year so far, as they failed to hold a one-goal lead against a struggling LA Galaxy side, even when Galaxy defender Matias Jorgensen was sent off 28 minutes into the game. They started the season winless in their first six matches, and haven’t yet scored more than one goal in a game this season. But, Houston is a team that is desperate to right the ship, and a desperate team is a dangerous team.

On paper, Houston is dangerous enough, even without the desperation they have. It is a very similar team to the ones of the last few years, with the big change being the departure of Hector Herrera. A big change in the middle of the field for the Dynamo, but they brought in youngster Jack McGlynn, who had been making a name for himself at Philadelphia. An attack speared by Ezequiel Ponce and Amine Bassi, and supplied by Jack McGlynn is a scary prospect to defend. No matter how incorrectly Bassi shoots an arrow in his celebration. So why has this attack and team struggled to start 2025?

A big reason and a growing concern for this Dynamo team is the injury report. It has grown and grown and grown to start the season. They have lost their first two starting goalkeepers to injuries so far, and had eight names on last week’s injury report, only eight games into the season. Ben Olsen has had to play superdraft pick and first-year professional Obafemi Awodesu at center back, and while he has stepped up and played well, it surely wasn’t the plan to hurl him into the starting lineup so soon.

They also have fallen to their third-string goalkeeper, Blake Gillingham, and started 20-year-old Brooklyn Raines against the Galaxy. They have had to go far down the depth chart early in the season, and have been a huge factor in the early struggles for Houston. The Rapids will have to use this to their advantage on Saturday to get all three points.

Prediction: The Rapids continue to pour the misery on Houston, and go to Shell Energy Stadium and leave with three points. Rapids win 2-0.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

Thank you for reading Burgundy Wave. Support us via our Patreon starting at $5/month. We’re always looking for new talent. Let us know if you’re interested in covering Colorado Soccer.