Among the questions on the minds of Philadelphia Union fans when the Colorado Rapids come to town for Saturday’s season opener, is undoubtedly whether or not Zac MacMath will be in net for the Rapids or if it will be starter Clint Irwin. Union fans will be happy to know the Union will not have to face MacMath in goal, as one stipulation of his loan to the Rapids is that he cannot play in the match against Philadelphia. Though, fans will see undoubtedly see him play for the Rapids as they believe he might be the ticket to push Irwin or surpass him and take the starting position for good.
The other important thing to note is that 13 players from the team we saw a season ago are now gone, and some key areas were addressed in the offseason. However, the Rapids are still without the striker to give them the goals they need on a regular basis. This paired with the fact that the Union has acquired key pieces on defense and a striker might prove to be more than the Rapids were counting on for their first game of the new season.
According to mlssoccer.com Rapids Team guide, some of the players that the Rapids will have at their disposal for the matchup versus the Union are D Michael Harrington, D Bobby Burling, M Marcelo Sarvas, M Sam Cronin and F Caleb Calvert. Within these players, there is a fairly decent amount of experience and they all bring something to the table that should help the Rapids in their respective positions. Now, it is just up to the players and staff to translate it into a combination that can compete in the Western Conference.
With the team that Colorado had established last season, they came to PPL Park and walked away with a point after a contentious game led to a frustrated Michael Lahoud kicking Jared Watts in the face. Lahoud received his second yellow card and was sent off, leaving the Union with a two goal advantage and playing down a man for 11 minutes. Those 11 minutes changed the whole game when two goals were scored by the Rapids. The first was from Dillon Powers converting from the penalty spot and the second coming in the closing moments from Deshorn Brown.
With the changes that have been made to the roster in the offseason for both teams, the Rapids could potentially add another win to their column or fall victim to opening the season in the losses column at the hands of a newly revitalized Union team. Philadelphia is coming off of an exciting preseason where they were the champions at the IMG Academy tournament in Bradenton, FL. While that does not sound exciting to most people, some of the new Union players showed off the skill and talent they will bring to this year’s club, and Union fans have to be hoping that will transfer into the regular season and get them a spot in the playoffs when all is said and done.