Catching Up On News

There's been a few pieces of news this week:

• First, Azira has been loaned to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks.  Considering Wilson has been crap as a dmid I don't know why we're doing this but so be it.
• Secondly, we sent our extra international spot back to Minnesota for $50K in General Allocation Money (GAM).  We got this spot from Minnesota in the Nicholson trade.  They send us Nicholson and the international spot, we sent them Miller and $50K in GAM.  So really we gave up Miller for Nicholson and an international spot for 3 months at this point.  Still a decent trade.
• next Thursday at 6:30pm Padraig Smith will be doing another online town hall.  Questions can be submitted in the Rapids subreddit.  More details here.

Callup and Suspension

Some surprise news today as Michael Azira got his first ever callup for Uganda.  They play Burkina Faso in back to back World Cup Qualifiers during this international break.  Add him to the list with Kevin Doyle and Pappa.

A less enjoyable surprise also was revealed today.  Gashi is suspended for Sunday's game in DC.  As you can see from the video in the link he's suspended because he entered the field to celebrate Pappa's goal at the end of Saturday's match.  The suspension is technically correct but its a weak call from the MLS Disciplinary Committee.  "No harm no foul" seems to apply here.  I don't remember any of the subs from the U.S. who piled on Donovan at the end of the Algeria game in 2010 being suspended.

Again the DisCo has set a standard and we have to see if they live up to it.  My guess is they won't, but that's typical.  The only thing consistent about the DisCo is their inconsistency.

Colorado Adds Two

Today the Rapids added two to the current roster.

First they signed a new deal with Sean St. Ledger.  Good move, he was solid last season and we need the central defense support.

Second they made the only pick in today's waiver draft, picking Michael Azira from Seattle.  Azira appears to be a defensive midfielder but I don't know much about him.  In 2 seasons in Seattle he's played 1333 minutes over 25 games.  There is a rumor that Vancouver was interested in him so this may be a pickup with hopes to trade.

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Clint Irwin
D March Burch
D Joseph Greenspan (his primary contract is still with the U.S. Navy though)
D Marlon Hairston
D Axel Sjoberg
D Sean St. Ledger
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Juan Ramirez
M Marcelo Sarvas
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji
F Caleb Calvert
F Kevin Doyle
F Luis Solignac

With Drew Moor still negotiating.