Colorado Rapids 4-0 New York Red Bulls, America Still Awesome
By: Kyle |
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Does anyone know who’s in charge over at the Rapids’ website? Check out this headline on the front page: Rapids completely destroy New York on Independence Day. They don’t seem to be to big on subtlety. You can’t really say they’re wrong, though.
Have you ever seen the And1 basketball competitions? They’re games of basketball with virtually no rules so that everyone can just do all kinds of basketball tricks. The game really isn’t the point. Well, watching the Rapids on the Fourth felt like And1 soccer (And Booking?). All four goals were absolutely filthy (I never thought I would say that about soccer until after last night).
The Red Bulls must be down in the dumps right now. They lost one of their best players to injury, another to Spain, get knocked out of the Open Cup by Crystal Palace Baltimore, and then get “completely destroyed” on the Fourth of July. Not good times.
As for the Rapids on the other hand, how about that 3-5-2? I say we keep it. In the past when Pablo was in the backfield, it was an act of desperation. Now it was a stroke of genius by Fernando (whom coincidently I saw stuck in traffic in the parking lot like everyone else on the way out of the stadium. Only in MLS). Look at our backfield: Facundo, Pablo, Ugo. Combine those three guys with having our right winger play back a little like they did with Terry last night, and we just don’t need that fourth defender. That allows for a five man midfield which results in the Rapids dominating the field. And think about that midfield: Mehdi to set it up, Colin and Terry to take it around the defense on the wings, and Christian and Nick between them to serve it up to the forwards (one of whom happens to be Tom McManus). Put Bouna between the posts (less then a goal a game allowed), and we’ve got one heck of a soccer club in Colorado. It’s kind of amazing that the Rapids are as low on the table as they are, but I guess four games winless will do that.
But that’s probably not something we’re going to have to worry about much longer from the looks of things last night. At this rate, how can the Rapids not take the West this year? This is the first time after a game where I’ve been high-fiving other fans and saying “all the way this year!” and was actually serious about it.
So now, thanks to a few other games going our way, the Rapids are back in the Western conference race, two points back from first place. Since the Rapids play the ‘Quakes next week, if Chivas come through against the Galaxy, we might have first place back sooner than we thought.
UPDATE: Upon further inspection of the standings, it would actually be impossible for the Rapids to get first place back next week. The best we can hope for after next week is a three way tie for first with a Rapids win and a Galaxy – Chivas draw. The good news though, is that there is a very real possibility of the Rapids holding first going into the All-Star break.
Category: Team News
Colorado Rapids – New York Billboards on the Best Day of the Whole Summer
By: Kyle | Add Comments
There seems to be some trepidation every time I tell someone I celebrate the Fourth of July at a soccer game. In a sense, I can understand this inclination. Fireworks on the Fourth, if they are to be associated with a sport, seems like they should be over a distinctly American sport, the obvious choice being baseball. Most who think soccer usually don’t then think USA, for obvious reasons.
So why go to Dick’s and watch soccer, the game which at first glance has as little to do with America as possible, in order to celebrate the United States? Because if you do, you’ll be going to see an American soccer game. This is no small difference.
You and I happen to be Americans who enjoy the sport of soccer. You and I are in the minority, for whatever reason. So, given that we like soccer, we have a choice to make. Which is more important to you: that you support the most popular club in the world or the club which has your city’s name on the crest? If you answer the same way I do, you see the significance of an American soccer game to celebrate America. You know the universality of soccer, and still identify with the American facet of it, whether you are in the minority or not.
If it does matter to you that your clubs are American clubs, I’ll see you Friday. If, you care that Spain won Euro 2008 because it means that the US might get a competitive rematch against them in the Confederation Cup, I’ll see you Friday. If you do a double take every time someone calls it “football”, I’ll see you Friday. Because on Friday, there will be a soccer game between two clubs with the names of American states on their shirts.
So, now let’s talk soccer. First off, it has to be noted that the Rapids are 10-1-1 on the Fourth, which is way too good to be a coincidence. As for the Red Bulls themselves, they are currently making huge signings left and right, but beyond that are having a worse then expected season thus far. While many expected them to be major MLS Cup contenders this year, they are currently in second to last place in their conference (man, I’d hate to be…oh, yeah). Even more of a downer, they got shut out and knocked out of the Open Cup by mighty Crystal Palace Baltimore of the USL-2 (for those who don’t know, this is the minor league’s second division. This is would be the equivalent the Yankees losing to the Bowie Baysox) while playing one man up past the 34′ (on a side note, which is more embarrassing: losing to Crystal Palace or Crystal Palace Baltimore?). I actually watched that game over the interweb to scout their depth and it was a confidence booster to be sure.
And depth is important right now with Angel and Reyna injured. As for the Rapids, the injury situation is still a problem, at the center of which is Christian still listed as doubtful. Pablo and Jacob are both also listed as probable, so hopefully that means we’ll see 90 minutes from Pablo at least. The Rapids are projecting that Pablo will pull back to defender (which, while bad for the team overall can be fun to see), with DiRaimando and LaBrocca in the midfield. The good news is we get to see Colin and Terry on the wings, which is my preference to begin with. As for defense, there’s Ugo, Facundo, Pablo, and Jordan. There’s a back four you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
I’m going to wrap up by emphasizing how awesome the Rapids Fourth of July celebration is. The fireworks alone are unbelievable. You might have heard the Rapids say they have the best fireworks show in Colorado. Trust me, that is not hyperbole. If you have never been to this show, you literally cannot yet conceive of a fireworks show as incredible as this. Before I saw one it was simply beyond my imagination. If you are planning on watching on TV, don’t. Get over to Dick’s on Friday. I’ll see you there.
Category: Team News3rd Kit on the Way
By: Kyle | 1 Comment
I’m timid to post this because I really have no news to report beyond what’s on the Rapids website, but the Rapids seem to be adding a third kit to their closet. According to the Rapids’ website, the new kit will debut in the friendly against Tigres next Wednesday, the 9th. They have a little teaser picture with just the shoulders of the shirts showing and then the rest shadowed out, and those look to be white with burgundy stripes, but who really knows?
In an effort to find out more, I even delved into the depths of the Big Soccer message boards (I’m not going to link there. If you want to read a bunch of complaining, do a Google search at your own risk). Despite their apparent alarming amount of free time, even they hadn’t found anything out yet, but they did take time to complain about the team they claim to revere.
I do hope it’s not the shirt that Jorge el Mapache wears. It looks fine on a raccoon, but that’s probably as far as it goes.
UPDATE: Don’t believe me when I make fun of Big Soccer? Here is a three page thread discussing stadium food at MLS games.
Category: Team NewsColorado Rapids 0-0 Houston Dynamo
By: Kyle | Add Comments
Have you ever seen a 0-0 game that was so close to being a 3-3 game before? Between crossbars, narrow misses, great saves, and Brian Ching handballs, there couldn’t have been a more misleading scoreline.
The Rapids looked a lot like they wanted to use this home game as an opportunity to reverse their recent bad luck on the road. But it wasn’t to be. Now Colorado sits at a win percentage of 0.410. The worst part about this slump is the Rapids are now five points back from first. It could be worse, though (come to think of it they might be closer to first place than they were last week, so it’s not a total loss).
But three games winless is no fun to dwell on, so let’s look ahead. Next week the Rapids have what amounts to probably the hardest game of the season: The Crew in Columbus. I’ll have more to say about it latter, but I will say that I have been looking forward to that one for a while. It will be about the best test of how far the Rapids have really come so far this year. They also have one more home game before the All-Star break and it comes on July 4th, so that should help.
Category: Team NewsPablo’s Coming Home
By: Kyle | Add Comments
US Soccer has published a list of players who have been released from international duty. It looks like we’ll have our captain back for the game against Houston. That should help with Houston’s midfield. It was good of Bob Bradley to do this considering the pointlessness of Sunday’s USA match.
Canada on the other hand, is taking its second leg match seriously, and has called up both Houston’s midfield star, Dwayne De Rosario, and goalkeeper, Pat Onstad. The bad news: they’ve also nabbed our best defender, Ugo, who, it turns out, is Canadian after all. He played one game for the US in 2006 against Norway, but has apparently changed his mind and wants to go back to the country of his birth to play at the international level (and more often, probably).
Category: Team NewsJuly 9: Colorado Rapids – UANL Tigres
By: Kyle | 2 Comments
I’ve been waiting for this match a long time. I’ve really been looking forward to the Rapids participating in the USA – Mexico rivalry. For those who don’t know, UANL is actually a collegiate club who participates in Mexico’s Premier Division. It’s been a long time since they’ve won the Mexican Championship, even with two chances a year to do so. It is worth noting that they won the Interliga Championship in 2005 and 2006, and even progressed to the quarterfinals of Copa Libertadores.
But that was then. Now, they’ve missed the Mexican Playoffs for the past three seasons. With the Rapids playing better then in the past and UANL playing worse, this should be a good shot for the Rapids to add a notch in the belt of the USA.
So props to KSE. They have three teams from other countries coming to play against the Rapids: Borussia Mönchengladbach, UANL, and FRIKEN’ EVERTON. This is one of the most fun parts of soccer (in my opinion) and and it’s nice to have it in Colorado.
Category: Team NewsToronto 3-1 Colorado Rapids
By: Kyle | Add Comments
If the Rapids play all of the game without Pablo and half of it without Christian and we can expect this kind of thing to happen. At least there was a good reason that Pablo was out (in my book, he scored that goal for the USA), but I’m really not sure why Christian didn’t start. There are lots of reasons for the potential that the Rapids have shown throughout the higher points of this season, but all of them are based around Christian. Why he wouldn’t start is beyond me.
I know Fernando has been really into trying different things with the lineup this year, and most of them have been pretty good ideas, but I’m not sure about this one. Once Kosuke went out for Christian, the team’s midfield focus came back and they became contenders again.
All said, this was a dark week for the Rapids. Here’s the list of reasons:
1) The Rapids usually play like a good team or a team that should be playing like a good team but aren’t for some reason. They didn’t look like either this week. They looked like a mid-table team.
2) And look at that: they are now mid-table. For the first time this season, the Rapids are now more than one game back from first place (5 points behind LA). They’re even behind…Houston (what?).
3) We probably won’t get Pablo back next week. Word is he’ll be going to Barbados with the US. I was able to stand him leaving for a World Cup Qualifying match, but it’s really a bummer to have him leave the country for one that is meaningless (unless anyone thinks Barbados will be winning this weekend’s game by nine).
4) The Rapids have a tough schedule ahead of them, so getting back to first place will be a chore: Houston at home, Columbus on the road (should be an incredible game, though), and then New York at home. That’s a strength of schedule of 0.501, pretty high for soccer. On the other hand, Houston still isn’t back to championship form and New York is on the Fourth of July, so it is doable.
5) MLS has found someone worse then the characters who performed at last year’s All-Star Game to perform at the upcoming one. Then again, with my taste in music, I probably shouldn’t talk.
Category: Team NewsWestern Conference Ramblings
By: Kyle | 3 Comments
I feel a bit like splitting hairs today. So here goes:
The Rapids have been in first place in the West for a good portion of the year. I have little doubt that they will finish the season there, unless something big changed. But a question comes to mind when thinking about the postseason: do the Rapids want to finish first in the West?
Here’s why: there’s no real secret that the East is far better than the West this year. There’s a very good chance that the playoffs will feature five teams from the East, in which case the first place West team would face the fifth place East team. Would it be easier to beat the third place West team or the fifth place East team? I honestly don’t know. The point is that the second place West team faces another team from the West and the first place West team probably faces a team from the East. Considering the depth of the East, does this penalize the first place Western finisher?
On the other hand, the first place team guarantees home field for the whole of the conference playoffs, and probably gets SuperLiga and Champions League spots next year, so it’s probably still better to be in first place. So let’s put it this way:
Reason 10,002 to love MLS: If the only reason you’re the best is because your conference stinks, you probably won’t make it through postseason. You can’t say that of a certain Boston team in another sport right now.
Category: Team NewsLA Galaxy 3-2 Colorado Rapids
By: Kyle | Add Comments
…without Landon. That’s a lot of for a team to score without someone who scores about a third of their goals. That was a midfield battle if I ever saw one. There’s no two ways about it: we need Pablo, even with the brilliance of Christian in the central midfield.
Pablo’s presence might have even resulted in a Rapids win. Seriously. Here’s why: two of the Galaxy’s goals were set up by Beckham. Becks flat out beat our club, twice. Those are the kind of maneuvers Pablo shuts down well. Yeah, Beckham plays on the wing, but his assists were from the center if memory serves. The moral of the match: never play 10 v. 10 with David Beckham on the other team. The field just gets too open.
As for the Rapids’ side of the ball, it looked great for what it’s worth. Beyond keeping up the differential, those two goals didn’t do anything for the club, but they were phenomenal. Even though that doesn’t mean a whole lot, there’s nothing wrong with your club scoring great goals. Tom McManus also kept up his aggressive ways, and if you recall, he almost had another beauty to add to his recent list.
The oddest thing about the match was probably the Captain situation. Terry was supposed to be our vice-captain this year, but he doesn’t start now, so it went to Facundo. He was red carded, so then it goes to McManus. Good choices I guess, but I would probably have opted for Ugo before either of them. It was nice to see Fernando award the armband to who fills a leadership roll rather than who plays the best. I know that there are those who disagree with that idea, but I guess I’m just old fashioned.
So the curse of 0.500 remains, but the Rapids are within one game of first. Maybe someday they will win two games in a row. Come to think of it, their next two games are vs. Toronto and Houston. Interesting…
Oh, and sorry for the shoddy posting over the past week (pretend you noticed, please). I’ve been a bit preoccupied. I won’t bore you with the details, just summarize: it involved my illegal employment in the seedy underground of Thai restaurants. What can I say? I live an exciting and dangerous life.
Category: Team NewsKansas City Wizards 2-2 Colorado Rapids (5-3 pens)
By: Kyle | Add Comments
No Open Cup matches this year for the Rapids. They crashed out of qualification on penalty kicks last night. It’s a little disappointing, as the Wizards played one man down during extra time. Even so, it went to penalties and Erpen hit the crossbar on the fourth kick (wouldn’t have guessed that). As no one in Colorado saw or even heard the game, that’s about as much as I can gather.
All in all, this is a little disappointing, but it shouldn’t be too bad considering how well the MLS season’s going this year.
Category: Team News
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