Lamine Diack’s momentum-swinging play late against Miami impressed, competition will ramp up as other defensive mids become healthy
With five minutes left in a game the Colorado Rapids trailed 2-1 last week at Inter Miami, the decision to sub out forward Rafael Navarro for defensive midfielder Lamine Diack raised a few eyebrows, to say the least.Colorado needed some sort of defensive presence to break Miami’s run of play, and the Rapids head coach called on his Senegalese six to deliver it in Diack’s debut with the Burgundy Boys.
With Ronan coming off of a team MVP season, Colorado signed three candidates: 2023 MLS NEXT Pro MVP finalist Oliver Larraz from Rapids 2, Jasper Löffelsend from Real Salt Lake and Diack on loan from French side FC Nantes.Diack is the most pure defensive mid of the bunch. The other three are better attacking players. Löffelsend, a bit more skilled than Diack, packs a strong defensive punch in his 5-foot-8 frame, but Diack is 36 pounds heavier, five inches taller and noticeably stronger.
Ronan and Löffelsend both picked up injuries more than a month ago in the Rapids’ comeback win against Real Salt Lake. Löffelsend should be back as a sub this coming weekend or next, but Ronan still has a ways to go.
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