Desert Diamond Cup Game 2 - Including Blast From the Past

Colorado lined up for the second of their four Desert Diamond Cup games this afternoon.  I only saw the second half, but here's the lineup for kickoff:

(D) = Unsigned draftee

MacMath

Miller - Ford - Sjoberg - Williams

Azira - Cronin

Callahan(D) - Powers - Badji

Calvert

This lineup gave up a goal 19 minutes in from a corner that managed to fall uncleared in the box.

After 30 minutes Callahan was subbed out for former Rapid Tony Cascio.  He's currently signed with Phoenix Rising FC (formerly Arizona United SC) of the USL but has been recovering from injury and this was his first real game minutes in 6 months.  Officially he was listed as a guest player, not a trialist, but everyone who gets game minutes for a team is on trial, officially or otherwise.  If he impresses the Rapids would probably be able to buy him out of his USL contract.

He got off to a good start with back-to-back assists just as the stroke of halftime, first to Calvert, then to Badji.  After the break the same 11 took the field and Calvert made it a brace with a goal in the 60th minute.  Right after all 10 field players were subbed for the last 30 minutes:

MacMath

Castillo - Watts - Burling - Burch

Hamilton(D) - Nana

Hairston - Perez - Gashi

Doyle

This was Gashi's first action of the preseason, so his recovery from the Achilles issue must be going well.  Not a whole lot of action after the subs and the game finished 3-1.

Next up is NYCFC on Wednesday night at 5pm MT.

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.

Ciao To Blank Uniforms!

This morning C38 sent out an email promoting a historic announcement at the tailgate this Saturday with special guests Pablo Mastroeni and Shane O'Neill.  A few hours later though the Rapids announced their first-ever jersey sponsorship with Ciao Telecom, a telecommunications company that has mobile, PBX, and soon streaming-television.  The deal is through the 2018 season at reportedly roughly $2 million per year.  The Rapids will be sporting the new jerseys starting on Saturday night against the Rapids.  There has been no picture of the new jerseys, but here's what the logo looks like on the jerseys of Italian Serie B club Reggina Calcio which they also sponsor:

The talk is that the Rapids were planning to make the announcement on Saturday but the Denver Post got wind of it and was going to run a story, so they had to move up the timeline.  The general belief is that they are still holding the unveiling of the new jersey for the tailgate (which would explain O'Neill being there to "model" it) as another show of support for C38.

This was a long time coming with a lot of false starts, including according to rumors at one point even the Ciao deal falling apart, but Hinchey and the FO finally got a deal done.  The $2 million/year will go a long way into putting the club into the black for the first time.  Hinchey has said that the money will also be used to improve the stadium (bring back the mini-donuts!) as well as the club.  We saw last year that a jersey sponsor wasn't necessary to sign a designated player, but more money to do something like that is always a good thing.

Great job by the Rapids getting a deal done to improve the club.  It appears to be a solid company (not a MLM like FSL or Dallas) and a classy logo that won't make the jersey look like an eyesore.  Ciao seems to be all in on the sponsorship, posting this on their home page today:

It links to this page where the Rapids and Ciao Telecom are both promoted.  All initial signs on this one are very positive.

I hate to end this entry on a bit of a sour note, but there was one other piece of news in the last couple of days.  Yesterday the Houston Dynamo announced that Tony Cascio had undergone surgery for a blown ACL and will miss the rest of the season.  Houston;s doctors preformed the repair and he will stay in Houston to rehab with the team.  Since he was on season-long loan from the Rapids to the Dynamo he will still count against the Dynamo's salary cap and not the Rapids cap this season.

Eloundou, Cascio, Rumors, and Draftees

Lots of roster news today not even counting the Superdraft.

• First, the news I'm most excited about, Charles Eloundou has signed a contract with the Rapids and will be with the team when they start the season.  He still needs his work visa (shouldn't be an issue) and ITC (gulp!) but he is currently under contract with Colorado and nobody else.  I've been following Cameroon for a few years now and I am really looking forward to having one of their young stars in Colorado.
• As rumored Tony Cascio was loaned to Houston for 2014 in exchange for an international spot.  Part of the loan stipulates he can't play against Colorado in any competitions.
• Chris Bianchi tweeted tonight that neither Thomas or Rivero are likely to return.  Thomas apparently wants DP money, and the million-dollar buyout is the stumbling block for Rivero.  Disappointing, but neither of these players are worth that investment so best for the team to move on.  It does leave quite a hole at defensive mid though that will need to be filled ASAP.
• In the 3rd round of the SuperDraft the Rapids took defender Tolani Ibikunle out of Wake Forest.  He can play anywhere in the back line, being comfortable both in the center or on a wing.  The 4th round (and final) pick was Australian defender Albert Edward out of NAIA Lindsey Wilson College.  Edward is mainly a right back, a spot where we could use some competition.

With camp opening on Friday I expect we'll see some more roster moves the next couple of days.  On Thursday night I'll do the first of my regular roster tracking posts to see where we are as we head into the preseason.

Rumored Move and SuperDraft Part 2

One rumor before  a quick SuperDraft preview.  Reports out of Houston and Chris Bianchi on the Colorado side are that Tony Cascio will become the first player in league history to be loaned inside the league.  He'll be sent to Houston for the 2014 season and in return the Rapids will get an international slot for some length of time (for 1 season as well would be my guess).  This is an interesting move as with Houston in the East we're really only directly hurting ourselves if Cascio plays in our one game against them, and we're getting a player (presumably) playing time that he probably won't get here.  Solid move as reported IMO.

Now onto tomorrow's SuperDraft part 2.  2 rounds just like Thursday but this will be a more efficient conference call and not the media event the first 2 rounds were.  Odds are we won't get much of a live tracker, just a set of results at the end.  The Rapids hold their natural picks in each round at #11.

As a Husky I hope we take a look at Michael Harris out of Washington.  He's a RB, which we need, and has an insane long throw (start at 2:15 in the video below).  Worth taking a shot IMO.

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

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.