Colorado Rapids: Conor Casey’s first impression falls flat

Conor Casey is now the lead decision-maker in the Colorado Rapids’ locker room. His first game in charge did little to stem the tide of mounting losses.

Conor Casey has been charged with bringing respectable soccer back to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. With only Kortne Ford listed as injured, Casey had a full roster of options for his first Colorado Rapids starting XI. He also had the benefit of hosting the Vancouver Whitecaps, another bottom-of-the-MLS-table team.

Giving Tim Howard the start at the goalkeeper position was a logical choice, if only because it was a home game and Howard was signed to be the Rapids’ marketable player. But after this first game in charge, he would not be faulted for giving Clint Irwin a start or two.

In fact, both substitute keeper options, Irwin and Zac MacMath, once had a claim to the Rapids gloves. Now both are second choice on the two worst teams in the league. How’s the Rapids academy for keepers?

The scouting department should be compiling transfer targets to build next season’s foundation. The Rapids will have the money, with Howard’s — and others, including Shkëlzen Gashi’s — salary coming off the books.

Howard’s performances have not justified his contract this season, even with a porous defense. The Rapids should give Irwin more minutes, just to see if he can handle the full-time starting role next season. Howard spends too much time at Bleacher Report studios to help turn this team’s season around.

Meanwhile, Keegan Rosenberry was acquired in a trade by Padraig Smith and is viewed as a future building block despite his rough transition into the team. He received the start, along with Kellyn Acosta, Kei Kamara, and Diego Rubio. If nothing else, those four have proven MLS talent capable of leading a playoff-caliber team and should form the core of the group moving forward.

They have yet to put together a winning performance, but the Rapids have scored 14 goals this season. Only eight MLS teams have scored more. That is encouraging for a squad that finished dead last in goals scored (36) last season — San Jose posted the next lowest total goals with 49, a substantial gap.

The biggest problem this season has been in defense. Beyond Howard’s rapid aging in goal, Deklan Wynne has been exposed far too often since signing with Colorado. Axel Sjoberg has never regained his pre-injury form and was at fault for at least one if not the first two goals versus Vancouver.

The Rapids backline has had a slap-dashed and scattershot feeling to their approach since 2016. Using only three defenders just makes it easier to spot who is at fault for conceded goals.

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Sam Vines, Danny Wilson and Sebastian Anderson also got starts. Casey chose to keep high-profile signings Benny Feilhaber and Nicolas Mezquida, as well as SuperDraftee Andre Shinyashiki, on the bench. Most managers want to keep their first game close, earning the trust of the veterans in the locker room. Casey decided to roll out a Hudson-esque lineup instead.

Granted, Anderson had a decent debut but Wilson had a regretful first half. The one Hudson approved signing who has shown MLS level talent, Tommy Smith, was on the bench, as was Sam Nicholson and Cole Bassett.

Casey’s tactics led to a halftime deficit and multiple goals conceded. The only truly threatening attacks required some referring hell. Kei Kamara scored two penalty kicks but still the Rapids failed to earn a point. Rubio was shown a red card and the Whitecaps found the winner soon after. After fighting back just to lose in such a fashion, the team looked broken.

Colorado can play attacking soccer. They can score goals. But the backline has not looked capable of stopping anyone yet. They will need to win shoot outs, that much is obvious. In his debut, Casey could not scheme around the deficiencies that Anthony Hudson ranted about after his last game. The same problems persisted.

Those few Rapids fans that did attend the game will have to wait for that elusive first win of the season. Will it require a third coach? Will the Rapids have more coaches than wins? Casey’s ability to improve a historically inept defense will be the determining factor, and his first outing provided little positive evidence.