30 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Bryce Jamison, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Rob Holding was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
SquadTomás Parmo is the division's best young player this month
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 32 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tomás Parmo did not need any: 9.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Colorado Rapids know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against LA Galaxy? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with San Jose Earthquakes the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Colorado Rapids will enjoy reviewing.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Arouca moved on, Rafael Navarro reports back to Colorado Rapids, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colorado Rapids, and 1 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 8.39 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colorado Rapids have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colorado Rapids, and 6 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Rob Holding at his very best
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 45 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
28 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The phone has started ringing about Rafael Navarro again, and this time the name on the line is Arouca. Colorado Rapids are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bryce Jamison did not need any: 8.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Dante Sealy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑2 to Minnesota United FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Reggie Cannon falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Keegan Rosenberry.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tomás Parmo did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafael Navarro. 2‑1 against Houston Dynamo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.98 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Paxten Aaronson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.82. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafael Navarro provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colorado Rapids have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Colorado Rapids has been clear about where Noah Cobb stands, which is more than many ever get.
The fee is $960.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Remo Stars drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Olalekan Adeleke is living that version at Colorado Rapids, and it tends to show in the first month.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reggie Cannon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Colorado Rapids, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Paxten Aaronson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.20 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I watch every Colorado Rapids game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at San Diego Football Club runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colorado Rapids, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Hamzat Ojediran has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Jackson Travis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Rob Holding
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rob Holding has come out of that comparison in the side, and Colorado Rapids have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
SquadZack Steffen has become a man the manager trusts
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colorado Rapids have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Rob Holding was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colorado Rapids heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
In brief
SquadWords at Colorado Rapids training over how hard people work
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Rob Holding falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bryce Jamison did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
25 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Colorado Rapids game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at San Diego Football Club runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad31 May 2027
Rob Holding falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colorado Rapids have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
In brief
SquadWords at Colorado Rapids training over how hard people work
Player ratingsRafael Navarro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tomás Parmo did not need any: 8.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Salischiker Rucci is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 2‑1 win over Real Salt Lake, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I watch every Colorado Rapids game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Philadelphia Union runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rafael Navarro provided it, and the 8.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rob Holding is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Rafael Navarro will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Colorado Rapids escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colorado Rapids have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad3 May 2027
Rob Holding falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Colorado Rapids game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Charlotte Football Club runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Navarro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The fee is $2.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Los Angeles Football Club drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Orlando City pay $480.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rob Holding is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
38 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hamzat Ojediran and Colorado Rapids agree another 4 years.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Rob Holding falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Zack Steffen: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Rob Holding was at the centre of it, Los Angeles Football Club were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
31 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Takalani Mazhamba has just signed for Colorado Rapids, and for once the answer mattered.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 win over Los Angeles Football Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Rob Holding falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 9.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Colorado Rapids has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Rafael Navarro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The goal that put St. Louis CITY SC ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Colorado Rapids equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bryce Jamison and Colorado Rapids agree another 4 years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Compensation agreed, contract signed, and a manager gone who was never for sale. Colorado Rapids begin the search from behind, which is the only place a club in this position ever begins.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Sam Brooks recited it perfectly.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Keegan Rosenberry and Colorado Rapids agree another 2 years.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. George Acosta has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ryan Steffen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Colorado Rapids have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed Brandon Acosta. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paxten Aaronson and Colorado Rapids agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sydney Wathuta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colorado Rapids the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dante Sealy and Colorado Rapids agree another 4 years.
In brief
SquadWords at Colorado Rapids training over how hard people work
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Colorado Rapids, and it is not being withdrawn.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Donavan Phillip has his answer from Colorado Rapids; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Dante Sealy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kosi Thompson and Colorado Rapids agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colorado Rapids is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sydney Wathuta has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colorado Rapids they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
SquadZack Steffen has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colorado Rapids they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Dante Sealy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadTed Ku-DiPietro falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colorado Rapids have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colorado Rapids they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colorado Rapids they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Loïc Williams and Colorado Rapids agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadTed Ku-DiPietro falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colorado Rapids they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Harris will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colorado Rapids the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kimani Stewart-Baynes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colorado Rapids the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Harris will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colorado Rapids the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.73, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Paxten Aaronson's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Zack Steffen knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Dante Sealy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Sep 2026
7 new faces, and Colorado Rapids are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colorado Rapids is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kimani Stewart-Baynes has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Paxten Aaronson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Zack Steffen's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Zack Steffen: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
0‑3 to Real Salt Lake, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
29 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Harris will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colorado Rapids the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alex Harris did not need any: 8.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
23 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sydney Wathuta did not need any: 8.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paxten Aaronson and Colorado Rapids agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Paxten Aaronson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafael Navarro. 2‑1 against Houston Dynamo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The name of Kimani Stewart-Baynes has come up in conversations Colorado Rapids were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reggie Cannon is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Harris will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colorado Rapids the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alex Harris has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafael Navarro and Colorado Rapids agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ted Ku-DiPietro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 2‑1 win over Seattle Sounders, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Zack Steffen has his answer from Colorado Rapids; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Alexis Manyoma was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.85. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.