I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too
Thursday I don't care about you
It's Friday, I'm in love
Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart
Oh, Thursday doesn't even start
It's Friday I'm in love
- The Cure
Friday is here. And with it come my five questions from the week that was in Major League Soccer. Enjoy your weekend, folks.
Who is winning the offseason so far?
The winter window has been slow, but fret not. As the 2018 Transaction page tells us, the momentum generally builds all the way through opening day, even if the big splashes usually come in the summer.
Still, someone’s got to be winning, right? That someone in my book, for the time being, is the Colorado Rapids, with honorable mentions going to Minnesota United and FC Dallas and incompletes for Atlanta United, the LA Galaxy and Sporting KC.
Why? Because Rapids general manager Pádraig Smith has been busy filling the holes everybody gaped at last year as the Rapids scuffled to third bottom in the Supporters’ Shield standings. Right now, activity with a purpose is more than most clubs can boast.
Goalscoring? Here comes Kei Kamara and Diego Rubio via trade. Are they perfect fits? Probably not, but you can’t search for perfection when you scored a league-low 36 goals in 2018. One of the two (or both) is going to get double digits. Gotta have that as you wait out the final year of Shkëlzen Gashi’s DP deal.
What about right back? Keegan Rosenberry’s got decade-plus MLS starter written all over him, and the trade price is mitigated by the $175,000 in allocation Colorado landed from Houston for Marlon Hairston. Other than forward, fullback was the Rapids’ biggest hole. Left back still is, by the way.
Yeah, but what about a No. 10? Nicolás Mezquida isn’t the answer, but he’s not bad in spurts. That’s where Benny Feilhaber comes into play. Benny played every single regular-season match for Bob Bradley in 2018 (32 starts). I don’t expect 2015 Benny (10 goals, 15 assists) to show up at DICK'S Sporting Goods Park, but he’s got plenty to offer, either box-to-box or at the point of the diamond if needed.
Are there any young players ready to make an impact? Colorado sure hope so. They know Andre Shinyashiki well. He played down the road at Denver, spent time with the Rapids PDL team and trained a bit with the first team. There’s a possibility (key word) that he could be a Julian Gressel-type. HomegrownCole Bassett is ready to push for a spot in the midfield, too.
I still have questions about center back, but let’s not get greedy just yet. There’s still plenty of offseason to go.
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