The Argentina legend appears ready to play his first game in a month
Lionel Messi has been named to Inter Miami’s matchday squad for Saturday’s match against the Colorado Rapids, with the Argentine legend potentially set to play his first game in a month.
Messi has been sidelined for six matches now with a hamstring issue, most recently missing out as Inter Miami fell 2-1 to Monterrey in a Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday.
Following that match, head coach Tata Martino said that Miami was evaluating Messi on a “game-to-game” basis.
Ahead of next week’s return leg in Mexico, the 36-year-old has taken his place on Miami’s 20-man matchday roster for a MLS clash with Colorado at Chase Stadium.
With nagging injuries plaguing Messi and a jam-packed schedule for Miami, the 36-year-old has played in just five of the Herons’ 10 competitive matches in 2024. This year, Miami has not lost a game that Messi has appeared in, but has just one win without him.
The club’s update on Messi’s status noted that the superstar is not listed at all on an updated injury report for the weekend. That’s welcome news, as Miami confirmed that seven players will miss out against the Rapids.
That includes winger Robert Taylor, who exited early against Monterrey on Wednesday, as well as highly-rated young midfielder Federico Redondo.
However, Messi isn’t the lone player to come off the injury report. U.S. men’s national team prospect Benjamin Cremaschi is also on the gameday roster after coming through a 25-minute appearance for Miami’s MLS Next Pro side on Tuesday. Cremaschi, 19, has yet to appear for Miami this season after suffering a sports hernia in January.
Put on your boots, because we’re about to wade into a mess
The race for the MLS playoffs is promising that Decision Day will be as bonkers as it ever has been.
The final day of the regular season is less than a month away, with 28 of the league’s 29 teams set for two breathless rounds of simultaneous kickoffs, one for each conference (sorry D.C. United, you’re just going to have to follow along at home).
There’s an old MLS truism that a team just needs to stay in touch until late August or so, and that if said team can start to heat up around Labor Day, you’re looking at a major threat coming from what on paper is a low playoff seed. Plenty of teams with multiple MLS Cups in their trophy case have at least one season where they followed this plan to a tee.
However, in 2023 it’s not so much about getting hot at the right time as simply ending up next to an empty seat during a poorly-played game of musical chairs. Seven teams have clinched their playoff berths already, and two more are simply abysmal.
That leaves 20 teams vying for 11 postseason spots in what is an extraordinarily forgiving set-up. The problem is that almost none of this group seems able to get a solid hold on their invite to the big dance.
Put on your boots, because we’re about to wade into a mess:
The club’s biggest fan group charged that the Rapids are “nothing more than an afterthought of ownership”
With their club sitting dead last in MLS, fans of the Colorado Rapids have trained their ire towards owner Stan Kroenke.
Kroenke is the founder of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE), which in addition to the Rapids, also owns Arsenal FC, the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche.
Barely over a week after the Rapids fired head coach Robin Fraser, the club’s biggest independent supporters group, Centennial 38, released a scathing statement on X (formerly Twitter) in which they accused KSE of failing to invest in the club and its facilities, saying their stadium Dick’s Sporting Goods Park has fallen into disrepair, and that the Rapids are “nothing more than an afterthought of ownership.”
“The common denominator of the Rapids’ many problems is Kroenke Sports & Entertainment,” read the statement. “Winning seasons are infrequent, and the few good years are followed by multiple consecutive years of poor results. The organization’s record off the field also speaks for itself: talking down to fans and providing no meaningful connection to the club outside of token press releases; persistent issues with security and stadium staff; raising season ticket prices while the stadium experience and team underperform; general mistreatment of press and bloggers covering the team, among many, many others.”
It continues: “These are the results of an ownership group that has failed to properly invest in this club. KSE seems perfectly comfortable investing in their other endeavors yet proportionally less so with our Rapids. Stan and Josh can count on their four hands the number of games they’ve been to. [Team president] Padraig Smith claims they are ‘categorically’ involved, even though there is scant evidence of this over the 19 years they have owned this club.
“Our club is given minimal resources, and the resources it does have been used ineffectively as evidenced by the results on the field.”
The statement did not go as far as to call on KSE to sell the team, but instead concluded that “this indifference from ownership must stop.”
“The Colorado Rapids, and the fanbase, are nothing more than an afterthought of ownership. KSE seems more concerned with other ventures, and taking advantage of a loyal fanbase, over producing a Rapids product that could be considered even average compared to other teams in Colorado and across MLS. The way the club has been handled is an utter embarrassment and a total abandonment of its fiduciary duty to the badge and the paying fans,” the statement said.
Rapids fans are hardly the only supporters to have expressed their discontent with KSE recently, with Arsenal fans protesting their club’s owners two years ago amid the failed European Super League project.
In response to Centennial 38, Stan Kroenke’s son Josh released a statement of his own detailing the club’s desire to improve on and off the field, which included planned improvements to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, as well as plans for several open forums with supporters.
“We respect our supporters and are grateful for the passion they demonstrate for the club, while also acknowledging and understanding their frustrations,” Kroenke’s statement said. “We are committed to the Rapids’ long-term success within the core principles of the club and to being a club that our fans and all Coloradans can be proud of.”
The Colorado Rapids, who currently sit three points adrift at the bottom of the MLS standings, have dismissed head coach Robin Fraser.
Fraser, 56, was let go on Tuesday with Colorado having won just three times in 26 league matches in 2023. Per the Rapids, assistant coach Chris Little will lead the team on an interim basis while the team seeks a new full-time manager.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Robin for his commitment to the club and for what he achieved during his time here as head coach,” said Rapids club president Pádraig Smith in a statement announcing the move. “This was a difficult decision but one we felt was necessary to best position the club to return to the playoffs and ultimately compete for trophies. We thank Robin for his four years of dedicated work and we wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
Colorado has endured a season that can only be described as miserable. Despite a more or less average defensive record — the club’s 39 goals against are the joint-20th best figure in the league — the Rapids’ struggles in front of goal have wrecked any hopes of a playoff spot. Colorado has just 16 goals in 26 matches, and has been shut out nine times in 10 matches.
The club’s current goalless streak sits at 478 minutes, stretching back to a 2-1 win over FC Dallas on July 8. That’s a major reason why Colorado has won just once since mid-May, a stretch of 15 games.
MLS teams losing patience
Fraser is the sixth head coach to be dismissed in MLS this season, and like the Rapids, every team to make that choice currently sits outside of the playoff places.
That tracks with a 2022 season that saw five bosses get their marching orders, and a chaotic 2021 that was the end of the road for 11 different coaches through either being fired, mutual termination, or resignations.
Fraser’s path to this point is somewhat instructive. His previous head coaching job was in 2012 at Chivas USA, a club that was such a notorious mess that MLS folded it in 2014. After spending most of six seasons as an assistant coach with the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC, Fraser got another shot as a head coach when hired by the Rapids in August 2019.
The early returns were good: a struggling Colorado side won five of its final seven games after Fraser took charge, and followed that by making the playoffs in the shortened 2020 season. In 2021, Fraser’s Rapids won the Western Conference, posting a club-record 61 points, only to be stunned by the Portland Timbers in a playoff upset.
2022 was not as good, with the Rapids missing a playoff berth by four points. However, at that point Fraser’s record in MLS play with Colorado stood at 41W-24D-28L, a 1.58 points-per-game pace that would generally be more than good enough to make the postseason.
In years past, the Rapids — normally seen by league observers as the club most neglected by ownership in MLS — may have pointed to that record as a reason to forgive a season as dismal as this year. With coaches getting less time than in past seasons, though, perhaps even Colorado felt some pressure to signal that a run like this requires change.
Allegedly getting paid to get a yellow card? That’s a no no
The Colorado Rapids have removed an unnamed player from all team activities amid a MLS investigation into unlawful sports gambling.
Multiple reports have stated the player in question is Max Alves, who is alleged to have been paid $12,000 to receive a yellow card in a match against the LA Galaxy on September 17, 2022.
Alves was booked for a foul less than two minutes after entering the game in question.
On Wednesday, prosecutors from the Brazilian state of Goias charged 16 people, including seven professional soccer players, with alleged match-fixing.
O Globo reported that Alves was part of that investigation, which saw five players suspended by Brazilian clubs on Wednesday. The Brazilian outlet also obtained texts showing former Houston Dynamo defender Zeca was in touch with an organization over possible match manipulation on October 8, 2022 — the final day of the regular season.
Zeca left the Dynamo at the end of last season and is currently with Brazilian second-tier side EC Vitória.
A statement from MLS said that the league was aware of reports linking a current and former player with alleged unlawful gambling, adding that “the integrity of the game is critical to the league and MLS takes seriously these allegations.”
Alves joined the Rapids in January 2022 from Flamengo in his native Brazil. The 21-year-old has made 38 total appearances for the Rapids since joining, 16 of which have been starts.
MLS was, even by MLS standards, completely bonkers Saturday night
Summer in MLS can be a rough time. You’re too far away from the real pressure of making or missing the playoffs, it’s hot and humid everywhere, teams are figuring it out after transfer window moves. It can feel very much like everyone’s biding their time for September and October.
Not August 6. MLS Madness™ took hold in nearly every corner of the country, with goals galore, teams scoring and conceding in the deepest depths of stoppage time, big-name stars scoring bangers, and everyone basically went bananas. It was a perfect advertisement for the league: fun, flawed, weird, and inexplicable.
For one thing, MLS broke a league record for goals scored in one night. Across 13 games Saturday night, teams combined for 57 goals, an average of well over four per game. The old record of 46 was left in the dust.
⚽️Record-Setting Saturday⚽️
In 13 @MLS matches played on Saturday, August 6, a total of 57 goals were scored.
The 57 goals scored are the most in a single day in the history of Major League Soccer, besting the previous record by 11 goals. pic.twitter.com/pyoPRt7pcv
MLS has been On One lately, and the league’s latest bizarre chapter was a 5-4 Colorado Rapids win over New York Red Bulls Tuesday night.
The Rapids trailed 2-0 less than ten minutes after kickoff, and 3-1 before the 30th minute, but scored three times from the 77th minute onward to somehow take the three points.
It might have seemed like the wacky weekend of MLS results was enough. Two different 4-4 draws and a 6-0 rout came Saturday, and then for dessert, D.C. United scored twice in stoppage time to turn Wayne Rooney’s MLS coaching debut into an extremely unlikely 2-1 win.
If only that were it! Instead, Tuesday coughed up a game that could seemingly be scored to Yakety Sax.
Dru Yearwood and Aaron Long both scored in the first 10 minutes, and while Diego Rubio pulled one back for Colorado, the Red Bulls emphasized their superiority, as Lewis Morgan blasted a penalty kick past William Yarbrough in the 28th minute (a sequence that saw Lalas Abubakar initially sent off, only for VAR to overturn that call).
3-1 inside a half hour. That’s wild enough, right? Not if you’re the rickety roller coaster that is MLS. Keegan Rosenberry struck to get the Rapids within a goal going into the locker room, and though both teams seemed happy to go end-to-end throughout the second half, it started to feel like 3-2 was as wild as things were going to get.
Just as it seemed that Colorado didn’t have enough in the tank to make the comeback complete, they naturally scored twice in three minutes. Collen Warner equalized in the 77th minute, and in the 80th Michael Barrios was wide open on the right to give the Rapids the lead.
17-year-old winger Dantouma “Yaya” Toure then thought he’d make it 5-3, only for his goal to be called back after a VAR check. Toure shrugged the whole thing off and scored again in the 89th minute, finishing after Rubio was able to dance away from a crowd of New York defenders to keep the play alive.
Surely 5-3, 89th minute…we’re done here, right? We can’t go further into the weirdness, it’s a weeknight.
Not even close. The Red Bulls got to the penalty spot deep in second half stoppage time, with Tom Barlow eventually converting with ease.
And yet, MLS still had a little more madness. Barlow’s penalty was taken in the seventh minute of stoppage time, which was all referee Drew Fischer had initially given. However, the game carried on, and with the clock reading 98:59 and red smoke wafting into the Rapids’ penalty area, the Red Bulls seemed to have pulled off a miracle: Barlow nodded Long’s headed pass in from close range.
5-5! The MSG Network broadcast even changed their score bug to read 5-5. Long peeled away to celebrate, Barlow popped up expecting to be mobbed by teammates.
But before Barlow had to dodge overzealous celebrations, he spotted the last twist in the tale: a raised flag from the near-side assistant referee. Replays shown on the broadcast were deeply inconclusive, but Fischer wasn’t called over to the VAR monitor, and Colorado staggered out of Red Bull Arena with a 5-4 fever dream of a victory.
It was a particularly galling nightmare for the Red Bulls, who gave up a goal on a set piece, then gave up another on a throw-in, and also got a taste of their own high-pressing medicine on Rubio’s opener. Two Colorado goals clipped a Red Bulls defender on their way past Carlos Coronel.
Tune in tomorrow, as MLS’s capacity for chaotic soccer continues with four more games on the schedule.
TFC is going to trade or sign every player on earth at this rate
Toronto FC keep wheeling and dealing, and the latest chapter is making a deal with the Colorado Rapids to bring Canada midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye to BMO Field.
The list of what’s going to Colorado, who only acquired Kaye in late July 2021 in another blockbuster trade, is long:
midfielder Ralph Priso
an international roster spot for 2023
Toronto’s natural 1st round draft pick in 2023
at least $775,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM), with $350,000 in 2022 GAM and $425,000 in 2023 GAM
Depending on Kaye’s status in 2023, the Rapids could be due another $275,000 in 2023 or 2024 GAM. Both clubs have maintained a share of future fees if either Kaye or Priso end up going abroad in a transfer.
“We are very excited to add Mark to our team,” said TFC head coach Bob Bradley, who is reuniting with Kaye after a successful spell for both at LAFC, in a team press release. “Over the past five seasons Mark has established himself as one of the better two-way midfielders in the league. He’s an intelligent player who likes to be around the ball, a good passer, ball-winner, competitor and teammate.”
It’s the latest eye-catching move from TFC, who were already set to have a big start to the summer window once Italy attacker Lorenzo Insigne became eligible to play. In under two weeks, Toronto has signed off on a trade worth over seven figures in MLS assets, signed Serie A veteran Domenico Criscito, traded former MLS Best XI playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo to Inter Miami.
That’s not it, either. The Reds are being strongly linked to a move for ex-Juventus winger Federico Bernardeschi, who is currently a free agent. Pro Soccer Wire has also reported that the club is trying to move Mexican international Carlos Salcedo to either another MLS club or to Liga MX.
Why so many moves for TFC?
It’s clear to see why: Toronto are in 12th place in the East and 24th overall in MLS, and underlying data says that they should be doing even worse. With ambitious ownership and a long-standing tendency to swing for the fences, simply letting 2022 drift away isn’t on the menu.
Kaye figures to walk right into the TFC lineup, which Bradley will likely move full-time into a 4-3-3 after toggling through several formations earlier this year. Kaye and fellow Canada midfielder Jonathan Osorio seem the favorites to set up either side of Michael Bradley, playing as dual No. 8s and supporting Insigne, Spanish forward Jesús Jiménez, and (if they complete the deal) Bernardeschi on the right.
Previewing Wednesday’s Minnesota United FC vs. Colorado Rapids sports betting odds and lines, with MLS betting picks, tips and best bets.
Minnesota United FC (1 win, 0 losses, 1 draw) and the Colorado Rapids (0-2-0) wrap up Group C play on Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET in a Western Conference tussle in the MLS is Back Tournament in the bubble at the Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. We analyze the Minnesota-Colorado sports betting odds and lines at BetMGM, while providing MLS betting tips and picks around this matchup.
Minnesota United FC vs. Colorado Rapids: Key injuries
MINNESOTA UNITED FC (+115) is the play here, as Colorado (+200) has had a brutal stay in the bubble and are yet to pick up a point in two matches. In fact, the Rapids have a dismal minus-3 goal differential and enter this match knowing that they’re eliminated from Round of 16 contention, so they’re unlikely to offer a ton of resistance. Meanwhile, Minnesota enters with plenty on the line, including a potential ticket to the Round of 16 and seeding.
A winning $10 wager on Minnesota United FC (+115) returns a net profit of $11.50.
UNDER 2.5 (+125) is worth a small-unit play here. The Rapids have struggled mightily on offense in this tournament. While they have conceded five goals, and that’s a bit of a concern, Minnesota has found the back of the net just twice through two matches. In addition, UNDER 2.5 goals has cashed in each of the previous three meetings between these clubs across all competitions, including a pair of 1-0 decisions in the past two matches.
Want some action in this one? Place a bet with BetMGM today. For more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
Previewing Friday’s Sporting Kansas City vs. Colorado Rapids sports betting odds and lines, with MLS betting picks, tips and best bets.
Sporting Kansas City (0-1-0) and the Colorado Rapids (0-1-0) both look to bounce back Friday at 8 p.m. ET in a Western Conference tussle in the MLS is Back Tournament in the bubble at the Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. We analyze the Sporting KC-Colorado sports betting odds and lines at BetMGM, while providing MLS betting tips and picks around this matchup.
SPORTING KC (-110) is a rather heavy favorite despite the fact it has to go with a backup keeper with Melia serving a suspension due to a red card in Sunday’s loss to Minnesota United. GK Richard Sanchez made his debut in the opener and was shaky, at best. Sanchez should be a bit more prepared seeing as he won’t be thrust into action in an emergency this time around.
A winning $10 wager on Sporting KC (-110) returns a net profit of $9.09.
OVER 2.5 (-154) is the play in this one. Colorado should be able to get at least one past Sanchez, and Sporting KC will be on a mission offensively to get rid of the bad taste from its 2-1 stunning loss to Minnesota.
Want some action in this one? Place a bet with BetMGM today. For more sports betting picks and tips, visit SportsbookWire.com.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
