Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Colorado Makes Coaching Staff Official

The addition of Wilmer Cabrera as Pareja's right-hand man has been the worst-kept secret in Commerce City for some time.  Today the Rapids made it official, along with the rest of the coaching staff (all of which had been leaked prior to today).  The new additions:

Wilmer Cabrera - Assistant Coach
Former Men's U-17 coach for the U.S. and former teammate of Oscar Pareja on the Colombian National Team.

Paul Caffrey - Assistant Coach
Cabrera's assistant coach with the U-17 team.

And the returning staff:
David Kramer - Goalkeeper Coach
John Ireland - Fitness Coach
Erik Carlson - Team Administrator
Jaime Rojas - Head Athletic Trainer
Carlos Garcia - Equipment Manager

The Rapids also announced that Paul Bravo has signed a new contract as Technical Director for the next 3 seasons.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Trialist Comings And Goings

The Rapids have sent out an update on some of the trialists in camp.  Sam Archer is still with the team while Issac Cowles was injured during training and he will be sidelined for a couple of weeks.  Edrissa Jarra, Daniel Navarro, and Steve Cronin have been cut from camp.  Joining the team is defender Draymond Washington, who's played for George Mason University the last 4 years.  There's no update on draftee Joel Helmick and trialist Aaron Pitchkolan.  The updated camp roster:

underline = unsigned trialist

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Joel Helmick (draftee)
Ian Joyce
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Eddie Ababio
Issac Cowles - out injured
Hunter Freeman
Kosuke Kimura
Tyrone Marshall
Drew Moor
Scott Palguta
Anthony Wallace
Draymond Washington
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon
Steven Emory
Josh Janniere
Ross LaBauex
Jeff Larentowicz
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Joseph Nane
Aaron Pitchkolan
Jamie Smith
Wells Thompson
Kohei Yamada

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Quincy Amarikwa
Sam Archer
Conor Casey
Omar Cummings
Caleb Folan
Macoumba Kandji

Friday, January 27, 2012

Player Status Updates

The Rapids had an article today about the trialists where they mentioned that Cascio and Yamada were signed to contracts with the league before the draft. Their statuses have been updated in my master list.  I've also changed the list so unsigned players are all in one group but I've added a note next to Helmick to note that he was drafted (as our only unsigned drafted player).

underline = unsigned trialist

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Steve Cronin
Joel Helmick (draftee)
Ian Joyce
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Eddie Ababio
Issac Cowles
Hunter Freeman
Kosuke Kimura
Tyrone Marshall
Drew Moor
Daniel Navarro
Scott Palguta
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon
Steven Emory
Josh Janniere
Ross LaBauex
Jeff Larentowicz
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Joseph Nane
Aaron Pitchkolan
Jamie Smith
Wells Thompson
Kohei Yamada

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Quincy Amarikwa
Sam Archer
Conor Casey
Omar Cummings
Caleb Folan
Edrissa Jarra
Macoumba Kandji

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Colorado Completes Jaime Castrillon Signing

The Rapids signed Jaime Castrillon this morning, their first major player move of the offseason.  As is typical terms were not released but those will leak out eventually.  Castrillon is expected to be an immediate starter in the midfield, and Pareja has talked recently about playing a 4-3-1 or 4-2-1-3.  Presumably Larentowicz and Mastroeni would be the other two midfielders while Mullan would push up to one of the 3 forwards.

Some other odds and ends from the first few days of training:

  • Pareja named Pablo Mastroeni captain again
  • Colorado is reportedly still pursuing a possible young DP player as a creative #10, with the idea that Castrillon will be more of a box-to-box midfielder
  • Cabrera is expected to be named Pareja's deputy and Paul Caffery, Carbera's assistant coach with the U-17s, will be added as an assistant coach
  • There are 4 other trialists in camp.  Former Dallas defender/midfielder Aaron Pitchkolan, former LA keeper Steve Cronin, defender Daniel Navarro, and Gambian trialist Edrissa Jarra.
So here's the updated camp list, as promised:

italics = unsigned draftee, underline = unsigned trialist

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Steve Cronin
Joel Helmick
Ian Joyce
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Eddie Ababio
Issac Cowles
Hunter Freeman
Kosuke Kimura
Tyrone Marshall
Drew Moor
Daniel Navarro
Scott Palguta
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon
Steven Emory
Josh Janniere
Ross LaBauex
Jeff Larentowicz
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Joseph Nane
Aaron Pitchkolan
Jamie Smith
Wells Thompson
Kohei Yamada

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Quincy Amarikwa
Sam Archer
Conor Casey
Omar Cummings
Caleb Folan
Edrissa Jarra
Macoumba Kandji

Friday, January 20, 2012

Trade, Trialists, and Camp Roster

The Rapids made a trade late today, sending an international roster spot and our 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft to Vancouver for allocation money. I'm guessing the signing of Castrillon is imminent. The Rapids now have 3 open international spots and 3 filled ones.

Colorado also invited two players from their open tryouts earlier this week into training camp with the team. Central defender Issac Cowles played at Faith Christian High here in Denver before playing at North Carolina for 4 years. Forward Sam Archer played with RBNY's U-18 team before going to college at Rutgers.

With those two trialists we have a pretty good idea of who's going to be in camp when it starts on Monday. Here's the list so far, and as I have in past years I'll keep updating it as statuses change. Unless otherwise noted I believe everyone on the list is under contract.

italics = unsigned draftee, underline = unsigned trialist

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Joel Helmick
Ian Joyce
Matt Pickens

Defenders:
Eddie Ababio
Issac Cowles
Hunter Freeman
Kosuke Kimura
Tyrone Marshall
Drew Moor
Scott Palguta
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong
Tony Cascio
Steven Emory
Josh Janniere
Ross LaBauex
Jeff Larentowicz
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Joseph Nane
Jamie Smith
Wells Thompson
Kohei Yamada

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Quincy Amarikwa
Sam Archer
Conor Casey
Omar Cummings
Caleb Folan
Macoumba Kandji

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Rapids Re-Sign Emory

Colorado announced that they've re-signed Steven Emory to a new contract today. They also announced that Miguel Comminges, Danny Earls, and Michael Holody will not be returning to the team this season. This gives the Rapids 27 players under contract and the rights to 3 players from the recent drafts.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Stop SOPA And PIPA

































Find out more here.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Colorado Selects Two In Supplemental Draft

The Rapids had two picks in today's 4 round Supplemental Draft, in the 3rd and 4th rounds. In the 3rd round they picked Kohei Yamada, a Japanese midfielder who was an international invitee to this year's MLS Combine. He was considered one of the standouts of the first combine game but his play faded in the other two games. For the last two years he played with Thespa Kusatsu in the Japanese J-League Division 2 where he made 34 appearances.

On a side note, I find this pick quite a coincidence. MLS's past history of steering some players behind the scenes combined with the fact that a player that stood out at times in the Combine just happened to fall all the way down to the third round of the Supplemental Draft where the team with the only other Japanese player in the league had their first pick since the first round is enough to at least raise my eyebrow. Not that I'm complaining mind you. ;)

With their second pick the Rapids took goalkeeper Joel Helmick out of Longwood University in Virginia. He was a 4-year starter in goal in college and trained with Sporting KC last summer. He'll be battling and/or replacing Ian Joyce for the 3rd goalkeeper spot on the roster.

Colorado also clarified the international statuses of some players. Joseph Nane got his green card in December so he no longer takes an international spot. Earls and Comminges are not expected to be part of the team's preseason plans so their international spots are open. The Rapids start preseason with only 3 spots in use, Folan, Janniere, and Smith. Colorado has a total of 7 spots, having already traded away one of their spots.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Palm Trees And Sand For Rapids Preseason

The Rapids released their preseason plans today. They'll be making two trips, first to Oxnard and San Luis Obispo in California and second to Hawai'i for the Hawaiian Islands Invitational Tournament. In between the trips they'll be training out at the Dick. The first day of training is a week from today, though players report on Thursday for physicals and fitness assessments.

While in California they'll have matches against Chivas USA and the Earthquakes. In Hawai'i they'll play Yokohama FC of the Japanese J-League Division 2 and the winner of the match between the Melbourne Victory of the Australian A-League and Busan I'Park of the South Korean K-League.

Here's the full schedule for preseason and the match schedule:

Jan.19: Players report, physical examinations
Jan. 20-21: Fitness assessment and testing
Jan. 22: Day off
Jan. 23: First day of training, 10:00 a.m., Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (open to media)
Jan. 24-Feb. 3: Training in Denver
Feb. 4-12: Training in California (Oxnard, San Luis Obispo)
Feb.13-18: Training in Denver
Feb.19-27: Training in Honolulu, Hawaii (Hawaiian Islands Invitational)
Feb. 28-March 9: Training in Denver
Sat., March 10: First Kick: Colorado Rapids vs. Columbus Crew, 4:00 p.m. MT, Dick’s Sporting Good’s Park

Matches:
Tue., Feb 7: vs Chivas USA (TBD)
Fri., Feb. 10: vs San Jose Earthquakes (San Luis Obispo, CA)
Thu., Feb. 23: vs Yokohama FC (Honolulu, HI), 8:30 p.m. HST
Sat., Feb. 25: vs Busan I’Park/Melbourne Heart (Honolulu, HI), TBD

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Colorado Drafts Tony Cascio

The Rapids only had one pick in today's two round Superdraft, their first pick at #14 (The second was traded for Quincy Amarikwa). They used it on UConn midfielder/forward Tony Cascio. He's a senior who played for 4 years with those other Huskies (go Washington!) and last year he was a first team All-American and the Big East offensive player of the year. He is was also a 2-time All Big East selection.

Reports are that he can also play defense, but he's a natural winger which is what we need the most. With Jamie Smith out until probably midyear Cascio will have a shot at a starting spot right away.

Tuesday is the 4-round Supplemental Draft but Colorado doesn't pick until the 3rd round. Their 1st and 2nd round picks were traded in the Anthony Wallace and Joseph Nane trades.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Jaime Castrillón Coming To Colorado?

The Denver Post has confirmed a rumor that came out of Colombia this weekend, Independiente Medellín midfielder Jaime Castrillón is in talks with the Rapids. He was also in talks to join Colombian side Millionaires but has decided to set his eyes on MLS. Some sources are reporting that he's already signed, but the Rapids told the Post that discussions are still on-going.

Castrillón is a 28 year old central midfielder with 5 goals in 31 appearances with Once Caldas in 2010. in 2011 he re-joined Independiente Medellín where most of his career has been spent with 53 goals in 276 appearances. He's also been capped 29 times for the Colombian National Team and was part of their 2007 Copa America squad. He was last capped in 2009.

It looks like the expected Colombian migration to Denver might be underway already!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Colorado Signs Hunter Freeman

Today the Rapids announced that they had signed Hunter Freeman to a contract. As normal, terms and length were not revealed but I'm sure we'll find that information out down the road. Freeman started his career with the Rapids in 2005 before he was traded to NY before the season. Hunter has some versatility to play in defense or midfield, but he's primarily an outside back. He'll probably compete for the starting spot at left back with Anthony Wallace but he'll get time at right back spelling Koz as well as possibly seeing time at outside wing or center back. Freeman is the first new signing of the off-season but surely not the last.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Head Coach Oscar Pareja


Today Colorado made it official and hired Oscar Pareja as the team's 7th head coach. The Rapids say 6th but I like to count Roy Wegerle's 1 game as player/manager at the end of the 1996 season. ;) There's been no details as to the amount or length of his contract other than "long" according to Tim Hinchey at the press conference. I'm sure those details will leak in the future.

Pareja is Colombian and started his career there, playing for two of the better known clubs in Independiente Medellín and Deportivo Cali (Carlos Valderrama also played for both clubs). In 1998 he moved to the New England Revolution but was quickly traded to the Dallas Burn, where he's been ever since. After retiring from playing in 2005, his last game being Dallas' PK playoff loss to the Rapids, he took a position as an assistant coach and was eventually put in charge of Dallas' youth academy. Dallas has the most successful youth academy in the league so far and everyone seems to point to Pareja as the reason. He also spent some time as an assistant coach to the U.S. U-17 team.

I like this move. Its grown on me during this week as more information has come out and the Dallas fans have been falling over themselves to say good things about Papi (As Pareja is known). I'm glad we didn't go with a re-tread like Soehn or Osario. I think Williams still would have been my first choice but I'm cautiously optimistic about Pareja. Certainly his experience with the youth squad in Dallas and the U-17 team should make him more willing than Smith to play our younger players, which has been lacking. Bravo is still going to be in charge of Colorado's youth program, as the head coach doesn't have time for that responsibility, but hopefully Pareja will be able to give some recommendations and help the progress of the Academy.

There's also been a rumor over the last couple of days that Pareja's friend and countryman, Wilmer Cabrera, will be joining him in Colorado. A couple of sources have confirmed this, but I haven't seen any word from normally reliable sources. For the last 4 years Cabrera has been the coach of the U.S. U-17 National Team, so it would be a big get for the Rapids if they've hired him.

Between Pareja and possibly Cabrera Colorado should have a good pipeline to young players in Colombia and the rest of South America. This has been somewhere Paul Bravo has said he wants to be looking for players so it would seem that everyone is on the same page now. Before that though, bravo and Pareja are heading to Ft. Lauderdale tonight for the MLS Combine this weekend and next week's SuperDraft.

20120 Schedule Notes

The big story of the day is of course our new coach, but I wanted to throw some notes about the schedule out first.

Teams we play at home only:
Columbus (season opener)
Chicago
KC
Montreal
Houston (season finale)

Teams we play on the road only:
Toronto
Philly
DC
NY
New England (no Jameson's night this year)

Teams we play at home twice and on the road once:
Portland
LA
Chivas
San Jose

Teams we play on the road twice and once at home:
Vancouver
Seattle
FSL
Dallas

So FSL has the edge in this year's Rocky Mountain Cup, which will be decided by August, the earliest ever. All 4 Eastern trips involve going all the way to the East Coast (or almost there in Toronto's case) while our closer neighbors (Chicago, KC, Houston) come here.

We deal with some fixture congestion, here are the times we play more than one game a week:

April 28th - May 6th: Chivas, @NE, @Dallas
then we get a rest until we play @DC and KC on May 16th and 19th

June 16th-20th: @Vancouver, SJ
then we get a rest until we play the Cascadia 3 between June 30th and July 7th: Portland, Vancouver (4th game), @Seattle
then a week later, between the 14th and 21st we play: Dallas, @Toronto, @FSL

We get almost a week between Aug 25th and 31st where we play @SJ, @Portland, followed by Portland at home on Sept. 5th.

That 8 game stretch between June 16th and July 21st could be brutal, especially since we have to fly to Toronto during it.

Schedule Out, Coach Signed

More detail tonight, but two quick notes.

The 2012 schedule was released, see it here.

President Tim Hinchey tweeted that there's a 3pm press conference to unveil Pareja as our coach and he tweeted a picture of Pareja signing his contract.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Oscar Pareja To Be Named Coach Tomorrow?


Multiple sources are reporting that the Rapids have decided on Oscar Pareja as their new head coach. Some are saying the announcement could come as early as tomorrow. As mentioned yesterday Pareja had a long career at FC Dallas and then moved into the coaching ranks there, eventually being put in charge of Dallas' youth program, considered to be the most successful thus far in MLS (in admittedly a short 5 years since the youth initiative was announced). As this is just a rumor I won't go into too much detail now, I'll wait for the official announcement, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this choice.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Coaching Search - AKA The 2011/12 KSE Debacle



















Now that we're through the holidays its time to get back to business. Hopefully KSE will make a coaching choice this week, as this debacle of an off-season can't go on much longer. More on that in a moment. First, the current rumored list of candidates. The general belief is that the Rapids have pared the list down to 4 names (in order pictured), Denis Hamlett, Oscar Pareja, Tom Soehn, and Richie Williams. A brief bio of each:

Denis Hamlett - Denis was an original Rapid, being taken by Colorado in the 2nd round of the inaugural 1996 draft. He won the BIC Tough Defender of the Year award that year and was expected to be a cornerstone of the Rapids defense. In the off-season though he suffered a stroke from a blood protein deficiency. Hamlett then went into coaching as an assistant to Bob Bradley in Chicago, where he also served under Dave Sarachan and Juan Carlos Osorio. In 2008 he got the top job and led the Fire to two straight second place finishes in the East and two losses in the Eastern conference Championship. He spent 2011 as an assistant in Vancouver, and was fired after the season.

Oscar Pareja - Oscar had a long MLS career in Dallas after playing a season in NE, making 170 appearances for the Burn/FC Dallas. he was part of the Dallas team that lost their first-round playoff series in PK's to the Rapids in 2005, after which he retired. After retiring form playing he moved into an assistant coach role in Dallas, where he's been ever since. Pareja is the only rumored candidate with no head coaching experience.

Tom Soehn - Tom is another MLS original, playing the first 2.5 years of MLS in Dallas, and the next 2.5 in Chicago before retiring. Prior to MLS he played for the indoor Denver Thunder team and the Colorado Foxes. After retiring from playing he joined Denis Hamlett as an assistant with the Chicago Fire for 3 seasons before moving to DC United as an assistant, eventually taking over the head coaching role in 2007. In his first year as DC head coach he won the Supporters Shield but lost int he first round of the playoffs. The next two years DC finished 10th overall and failed to make the playoffs, but they did get to the USOC final each year, winning one. After stepping down as DC's head coach after the 2009 season he was named the Director of Soccer Operations by the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps. Vancouver's head coach was fired in May and Soehn took over for the rest of the 2011 season, with Hamlett as his assistant, leading the Whitecaps to the worst record in the league as an expansion team. After the season he stepped down from the head coaching role and returned to his Director of Soccer Operations role.

Richie Williams - Well known to long-time U.S. soccer fans as the Ankle-Biting Munchkin Of Death (ABMOD), Williams has the mot impressive resume as a player of the candidates. Williams was also an original MLS player, part of the dynasty of DC United teams in the 90's. After 5 seasons in DC he bounced back and forth between NY and DC for the next 3 years before finishing his playing career with 2 years in the USL. He also had 20 caps for the U.S. national team. After retirement he was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Virginia, for two years before taking the same role in NY for 5 years. Twice in his time in NY he was named interim head coach, first when Mo Johnston was fired and the second when Juan Carlos Osario resigned. Shortly before the 2011 season Williams was surprisingly fired for unknown reasons. In October he was named the coach of the U.S. U-18 team.

So, that's the run down. If it were up to me I'd probably go with Williams. Everyone that worked with or for him in NY has nothing but good things to say about him and its a bit surprising that he hasn't had a head coaching job yet. Hamlett is the safe pick for the Rapids, and that's where I expect them to go. A former Rapids player and a guy without much of a track record who wants another shot at a head coaching job. The only question mark around him is the rumors of problems between him and some players when he was in charge in Chicago. Pareja is the wild card. He seems to be a hot pick for somebody to give him a chance but I can't see the Rapids going out on that ledge. Though, with a lack of experience, he may be the cheapest option which is always appealing to our front office. The less said about the idea of hiring Soehn the better. In almost 4 years of coaching he's made the playoffs once. That's not an upgrade from what we've had.

*******************

That's what will (hopefully) happen. Now let's talk about what should have happened. I've made it clear that I had no issue with not giving Gary Smith a new contract. I expected the Rapids and KSE to have a better plan to handle the coaching search though. The season starts in less than 10 weeks. The MLS Combine, where college and youth players get scouted for the draft, starts on Friday. The draft is a week from Thursday, 10 days from now. Its kind of important to have a coach for these events! Even if the Rapids name a coach tomorrow that give the coach a day to do the press, a day to get settled at the Dick, and a day to travel to Ft. Lauderdale for the start of the combine. That's not much time to confer with Bravo and Hinchey to figure out what the team needs and what he needs to be looking for.

So far this off-season the Rapids have lost Nyassi in the expansion draft, cut 4 players, re-signed Mullan to a new contract, and claimed the rights to Husidic (who decided to go to Sweden) and Freeman. That's 5 players out and, if Freeman signs, 1 player in. Meanwhile we've seen MLS teams making trades and foreign signings and generally bolstering their roster. Obviously there's always going to be a delay on these type of things when you change coaches, but we've burned almost a third of the off-season trying to find a coach. Unacceptable.

KSE clearly had no plan for this off-season. They were either unaware or unconcerned that Plush was not going to re-sign Smith. That's fine, except as Plush was interviewing candidates and getting rid to make a decision, then KSE decided to get interested and Plush left. Its still unclear as to if Plush was fired, chose to resign, or it was a mutual decision but signs are pointing to it being a firing. If KSE wanted Plush gone they needed to make that decision before Plush made his decision on Smith. Its stupid to let Plush make that decision, interview replacements, and reportedly be close to making a replacement decision before KSE made their move. By doing that KSE set the coaching search back weeks, putting us in the position of , if we're lucky, barely getting a coach hired before the combine.

This whole off-season is in disarray now because of the lack of leadership from KSE. Since we've gotten 10 of our 11 starters under contract hopefully it won't affect the play in 2012 too much but I have my doubts. KSE needs to hire a coach now and give him extra resources to make up for KSe putting him behind the 8-ball. Of course, this being KSE, I don't expect that to happen.