Predicting a team’s lineup is sometimes very easy, but with the Colorado Rapids in recent seasons, it’s been tricky. Pablo Mastroeni’s willingness to replace one player with another or put a square peg in a round hole meant a lot of the normal logic went out the window. The formation and style of play D.C. United could expect against his teams? That part was consistent. The players implementing that plan? Not so much.
Of course, Mastroeni is no longer in charge in Colorado, having been fired this week after 15 years of nearly non-stop association with the club as a player and coach.