Open Cup Draw & Injury News

The draw for the 16 team bracket that remains in the Open Cup was held today.  It didn't do us any favors.  Our regional pod was as expected, Houston, Dallas, and KC.  Houston was drawn into the #1 spot, which meant home field advantage for both rounds if they survive.  Dallas got the #2 spot, which means they host the next round and go on the road for the quarter-final if they win.  KC got the #3 spot, which means they travel to Houston for the next round but would host the quarter-final if they get through.  That left the #4 spot for the Rapids, which means we go on the road to Dallas and if we win we go on the road to the Houston/KC winner for the quarter-final.  Should we survive past that we would get the winner of the West Coast pod in the semi-final, made up of Seattle, San Jose, LA, and the Sacramento Republic.  Home field has not been determined yet for that possible matchup or the final.

This is a replay of last year, where we beat Colorado Springs at home and then went to Dallas and lost.  The most notable incident from that match was the season-ending injury to Dillon Serna.  Let's hope history does not continue to repeat itself.

Besides, we already got a significant injury from the Open Cup.  Burling went down right before halftime and was clearly unhappy about what happened.  He went straight into the locker room.  Today we found out its a left foot strain and he'll be out 4-6 weeks.  Our center back options for this upcoming 3 games in 8 days are looking very slim.  da Fonte and Watts look likely to start Saturday night, or Miller pushing in from the wing.  Sjoberg, Ford, and now Burling are all banged up.  Castillo would be an option if we could free up an international slot but that seems unlikely.

Burling Out Up To 5 Weeks

The Rapids announced today that Bobby Burling has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and will miss about 5 weeks.

If he had the surgery right after the Union game that means he could be back right after the 4th of July game.  If he had it this week that means he'll miss the July 11th game as well.  Either way we're looking at at least 3 more games (plus the USOC) game without him.

Pablo will probably turn to Jared Watts to fill the gap as he did to start the season.  Other possibilities would be Eric Miller or recalling Dennis Castillo from Charlotte.  It does show that if we make any move in the summer window (other than officially signing Howard) it needs to be a move for CB depth.  It was a weakness going into the season and we're desperately thin at that position now.

Bobby Burling Re-Signed

Today the Rapids re-signed center back Bobby Burling.  Not a real surprise but not real exciting.  If he were just a depth signing I'd be ok with it but right now I expect him to start alongside St. Ledger.  Burling is a card waiting to happen and that's not something I like to see in a center back.

The other "news" today was the president of Tigres stating that he expected Pulido to be suspended for 2-6 months due to his contract disputer with the club.  A number of Rapids fans took this as a statement of what will happen and not a wish of what he hast to happen.  Google Translate may be failing me but I see nothing in the article that lends any weight to the comments beyond one party trying to make their case in the media.  Still tis not a great spot for Pulido to be in.

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Bobby Burling
D Joseph Greenspan (when on leave from the U.S. Navy)
D Marlon Hairston
D Axel Sjoberg
D Sean St. Ledger
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Marco Pappa
M Zach Pfeffer
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

Unsigned draftees:

GK Chris Froschauer
D Dennis Castillo
D Bradley Kamdem
D Javan Torre
M Emmanuel Appiah
F John Manga

Trialists:

M Brian Ownby

Rapids Lose Two, Gain One In Today's Drafts

MLS had two drafts today, the expansion draft for NYCFC and Orlando and the Waiver Draft for all the waived players in the league.

In the expansion draft the Rapids, surprisingly, lost two players including the 3rd overall pick in Tony Cascio to Orlando.  Colorado pulled Marc Burch off the table after Cascio was selected.  Later in the draft Orlando also selected Danny Mwanga.  Overall probably a decent result for the Rapids.  Losing Cascio hurts but removing any chance of Mwanga returning is a huge plus.  We also kept Eloundou and Neeksens which I was concerned about losing.

After the expansion draft the Rapids had the 3rd pick in the waiver draft and selected center-back Bobby Burling, formally with Chivas USA.  Burling entered the league out of college in 2007 and played with Chivas through mid-2009 when he was traded to San Jose.  He was selected by Montreal in the 2011 expansion draft but was immediately traded to Chivas USA where he played through last season.  He averaged 16 appearances a season in his second stint with Chivas.  While in college he played with the PDL Colorado springs Blizzrd, so he's familiar with the area.

That gives us Burling, Moor, and O'Neill at CB, with a Knight signing presumably coming.  I wouldn't be shocked to see us pick up one more CB due to Moor's recovery from his ACL injury and the likelihood that he won't be 100% ready to start the season.  This would also give O'Neill some freedom to move up to his preferred defensive midfield position, especially if Jose Mari leaves.