Doyle Retires

To quickly dispense with the mess from last night Dallas beat us in the first 10 minutes and then just ran the remaining 80 minutes off the clock with no threat they would ever lose.  The Rapids are now officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Moving on to more important news, Kevin Doyle announced his retirement today, effective immediately.  Continuing issues from his second concussion of the year combined with what we now know about CTE and the effects of on-going concussions has made him realize its time to step away before permanent damage is done.

Doyle was possibly the most professional player the Rapids have had the last couple of years.  Regardless of what was asked of him or what he felt about it he showed up and put in 100% effort to do what was needed.  He was probably a better player than anyone gave him credit for, stuck in a system that revealed his weaknesses without ever playing to his strengths.

Doyle was also a member of the Irish National Team up until the moment he retired as he was called in for Ireland's qualifiers next week.  National team manager Martin O'Neill has already said he wants to honor Doyle at a match in Ireland when the time is right, if that's not in next week's games I'm sure it will be in the near future.  Hopefully Doyle feels up to coming out to the Dick on Saturday so us fans can give him the send-off he deserves.

As far as what this does for the Rapids its not that much different than what was expected.  Most people (me included) felt that Doyle wouldn't be back next season or if he was it would be at a significantly reduced number.  Obviously now we know he won't be back so that frees up abput $450k in cap room for next season.

International Duty Report

Three Rapids were out on international duty over the break:

• Tim Howard - USA: Howard started both World Cup qualifiers for the U.S.  After not being particularly challenged in a shutout against Honduras he had more to do against Panama last night.  While he did allow one goal there wasn't much he could do about it and otherwise he put in a man of the match contending performance the rest of the way.  With the 4 points the Yanks are in 4th place in the Hex. 

• Mekeil Williams - Trinidad & Tobago:  Williams also started both qualifiers for T&T.  Reportedly he had a solid performance in both games.  With the 1-0 win over Panama and the 1-0 loss to Mexico T&T is currently in last place in the Hex.  Next up, T&T will travel to the U.S. to face the Americans in a game that is highly rumored to be held at the Dick.  Easy travel for Howard and Williams.

• Kevin Doyle - Ireland: Doyle was an unused sub in Ireland's scoreless qualifier against Wales.  He then started their friendly against Ireland where he had a good 90 minutes.  Ireland loss 1-0.

Euro and Copa Wrap-Up

Now that all the relevant Rapids teams have been eliminated from the Copa and Euros lets see how it went.

We'll start with the easy one, the Euros.  Albania was 3 and out, being the worst third placed team with one win and two losses.  Still, not bad for their first ever major tournament and their win over Romania was a major victory for them.  The whole team has been given diplomatic passports in honor of their victory (if your wondering they just get the passports, not diplomatic immunity.  Essentially they can now speed through customs and the TSA.  Not a big deal for most of the players as they play in Europe where there's a lot of free movement but I'm sure Gashi appreciates it).

Gashi only got 8 minutes in the tournament, in the opening game against the Swiss, and I'm guessing he'd kind of like to forget them.  He had a great chance 1v1 with the Swiss keeper to level the score late in the game but his shot was nothing special and the keeper made the save.  After that he watched the last two games from the bench.  Based on his twitter Gashi returned to Albania with the team for the celebrations this weekend but I'm sure he'll be heading back to Commerce City in the next couple of days.  He may fly straight to Dallas and meet up with the team there for Wednesday night's USOC match.

The Doyle-less Ireland squad finished as the 2nd best third placed team after beating Italy and drawing Sweden.  This got them into the Round of 16 where they faced France earlier today.  Despite leaving the match for over 55 minutes they were eliminated 2-1.

Now over to the Copa which was much more interesting from a Rapids POV.  After a lackluster match by the whole team (including Jones) against Colombia Jones roared back with the Yanks against Costa Rica.  After a 4-0 win JJ was named Man of the Match as the U.S. rescued their Copa chances.  Another strong match against Paraguay with a surprise win by Costa Rica put the U.S. on top of the group and in a quarterfinal against Ecuador.  Jones went the full 90 against Paraguay playing well.

The quarterfinal against Ecuador was eventful.  Shortly into the second half, with the U.S. up a goal, a double red was handed out putting both teams at 10.  JJ was the recipient of the red card and while it might have been light it wasn't unfair.  He brought his hand up and (possibly unintentionally) made contact with the face of the Ecuadorian player which is a textbook red under the new rules.  Both sides traded goal and the U.S. moved on to the semis but with 3 suspended for the match.

Missing those 3 (including Jermaine) cost them as they never looked like they were in the game against Argentina, who blew them off the field 4-0.  This sent them to the 3rd place game which was a replay against Colombia.  As it was the last game of the tournament Klinsmann gave Tim Howard a chance in the nets and he didn't disappoint.  While the Americans lost 1-0 (and improvement from the 2-0 loss to Colombia ins the group stage) but Jones and Howard played well.  An argument could be made that Jones was one of the best 3 Americans at the tournament alongside Wood and Dempsey.

Total game time:
Gashi: 8 minutes on Jne 11th plus heavy international travel
Howard: 90 minutes yesterday
Jones: 388 minutes in 5 games over 22 days which is equivalent to a busy MLS schedule but not overwhelming.

Depending on when Gashi returns he could play on Wednesday just to knock some rust off.  Jones will probably get a break to have him at full strength for the home game on the 4th of July.  Howard won't be eligible until the 4th and I'm sure he'll play.

Kevin Doyle Possibly Seriously Injured In Friendly

Bad news out of Dublin.  After getting a surprise start for Ireland Kevin Doyle was strechered off with what appears to be a serious leg injury.  Early reports are calling it a possible broken leg.

Sentana tweet here

Independent article here

More info as it come in.

Positive news from Irish News Sport:

Kevin Doyle has a deep gash on his leg but apparently nothing broken. 

Loans & International Call Ups

A little bit of mid-week roster news:

• Appiah and Calvert have been loaned to Charlotte.  This was fairly predictable.  Calvert spent most of last year with the Independence while Appiah as a draft pick will be more likely to get time there than in Colorado.  We'll see if anyone else makes the trip to the East Coast.  ?Unless their loans are full-season loans with no recall clauses they still count against the 28 man roster cap.  As reserve players they already don't count against the salary cap so no change there.
• Kevin Doyle was called up for Ireland, Marco Pappa for Guatemala.  They'll both leave after the DC game.  With (most of) the league taking the following weekend off due to the FIFA dates they won't miss any Rapids games.  We'll wish Doyle great success and no injuries in Ireland's friendlies against Switzerland and Slovakia.  We'll wish Pappa no injuries and no success as Guatemala will be playing the U.S. in back-to-back World Cup Qualifiers during the window.
• Oddly enough Gashi was not called up for Albania for their pre-Euro friendlies against Austria and Luxembourg.  I don't know if this was due to his illness and fitness level, just giving him a chance to adjust to his new team, not needing to see what he has pre-Euros, or not needing him any more..

Rapids Get Reinforcements

Two reinforcements for Colorado today.  The big news was the official arrival of our new DP, Kevin Doyle.

By all reports Doyle is now available for selection for any games.  His readiness to play, especially at altitude, is still up in the air.

The other piece of news is that Joseph Greenspan has been cleared by the Navy to play in MLS this year.  Greenspan is a center back and was the Rapids 2nd round pick in this year's draft out out the Naval Academy.  He graduates Friday and was expected to join his ship, the USS Sampson, in San Diego.  Instead the Navy has stationed him as a recruiter in Denver for the remainder of the MLS season where he'll train with the Rapids in the morning and do his recruiting in the afternoon.  After the season he'll join his surface warfare ship to begin what's expected to be at least 2 years of active duty.  After that he hopes to petition the Navy to let him serve the rest of his 5-year obligation as a reservist and return to the Rapids in 2018.  Of course this is all up to the Navy so he may not be allowed to return, or the Navy may decide there's more PR value in letting him return early.

With these additions the Rapids are now at 29 players against a roster limit of 28.  Greenspan has not signed his contract so the team doesn't have to make a move yet, and with Alvarez, Berner, Calvert, and Hairston in Charlotte they may be allowed so go over the 28 limit, the rules about USL loans as part of the partnership have not been made public.  We'll know more once the team makes an official announcement about Greenspan's status.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive!

Last night's post about wanting Doyle early was on-target.  The Rapids just sent out a press release announcing they will get him registered before the May 12th deadline and he'll join the team at the end of May.  Well done Front Office!

Get Doyle Signed Now

A week from now the MLS transfer window closes and the Rapids won't be able to bring any other players until the secondary window opens July 1st.

Last weekend Wolves played their last game of the season, missing out on the Championship playoffs on goal differential.

Currently Kevin Doyle's contract with Wolves run through June 30th and his contract with Colorado starts July 1st.

Colorado should move heaven and earth to get Doyle signed and on their books by the close of the MLS window on May 12th.  I believe there are two ways to do this:

• Wolves releases Doyle on a free (essentially tears up his contract) and the Rapids modify or sign him to a new contract starting May 12th instead of July 1st.
• Wolves loans Doyle to Colorado for the remaining ~ 2 months of his contract, then he becomes a Rapids player on July 1st.

Without knowing FIFA's, MLS's, and the Championship's exact rules I don't know which option works better and either option would require Doyle to agree so there are three sides to the negotiations.

That said the Rapids have to get this done.  They're biggest hole right now is the ability to finish and they need reinforcements.  Wolves doesn't need Doyle anymore and (you would think) would be willing to work with Colorado to get it done.  The sticking point would be Doyle himself.  I don't know how Championship contracts work but I assume he's going to get paychecks from Wolves from now until June 30th and he probably doesn't want to give that up, unless somehow the Rapids are paying him more money (unlikely).  There should be some sort of creative solution to that though, like the Rapids agreeing to pay him the same amount per week/month/whatever as he'll be getting after June 30th and then Wolves only have to make up the difference or something.

Even assuming this gets done, I don't think its reasonable to expect to see Doyle suited up for the KC game on May 16th.  After a season in England I'm sure Doyle wants some down time, plus he needs to get his family moved across the Atlantic.  But even if he shows up in Colorado on June 1st, trains with the team for a couple of weeks, and makes his first game-day roster against Dallas on June 19th that's still 3+ games earlier than he'll be ready in July.  Given that right now our playoff hopes are very slim, those 3 games might make the difference.

Rapids Sign Kevin Doyle As 3rd DP

The Rapids just announced that they have signed Kevin Doyle as our 3rd DP.  I never thought we'd see 3 DPs at once this season and this is a quality third one to add to the mix.  It fills a huge hole we have at target striker and should be somebody Torres and Ramirez can play off of.

However there is a but.  He won't join until July 1st after he finishes the season with Wolves.  That will be 18 games into the season and may be too late for 2015, especially with Brown now gone.  We'll have to see if Badji, Eloundou, or Torres can step their game up and keep the Rapids in the race for the first half of the season.

Hot Stove Season Hots Up

Before we get to the player rumors, one piece of coaching news.  Brian Mullan was named an assistant coach yesterday,  Its good to see the team rewarding core players after retirement like this.  Two-thirds of the MLS Cup winning starting midfield are now coaching at the club (Pablo, Mullan, and Smith with the Academy).

Now onto the player news.  Off an on over the last couple of days we've seen confirmation tweets from South America that the Rapids have actually signed Juan Ramirez for a $2 million transfer fee as has been rumored.  Nothing official from the club yet but some connected fans have also heard similar rumors.  So this sounds like a done deal just waiting for the i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed.  Its a big move for the club.  Dropping that kind of money on an essentially unknown attacking mid/winger will either pay of huge when we sell him on or blow up in their face.

Then this morning stories out of Ireland linked the Rapids to signing Wolves striker Kevin Doyle.  Later in the morning ESPN picked up the rumor, which made for some good discussion fodder for the fans but nobody knew if all the stories linked back to the same source in Ireland or if there was more to it.  Then about 10:30 the Denver Post confirmed the Rapids interest with the news that Doyle is actually in Denver and took in the Nuggets game with Rapids brass last night.

This appears to be the "goal scorer" Hinchey has talked about this offseason.  Doyle was with Reading when they were promoted to the EPL and then relegated from the Championship, scoring 55 times in 157 appearances with the club.  He joined Wolves before the 2009-10 season as they had just been promoted to the EPL.  He scored 9 goals as the loan striker in a 4-5-1 formation that season.  Wolves then went through back-to-back relegations and loaned him out, first to QPR and then Crystal Palace but he got little playing time at either club.  He also has returned to the Irish National Team for recent friendlies against Costa Rica and Oman, scoring in both games.

Doyle has been compared to Conor Casey in style of play, which is exactly what the Rapids need.  Somebody to hold up the ball, maintain possession in the attacking third, and play through balls for Brown and Torres (and maybe Ramirez) to run on to.  Of course at 31 years old and with a history of minor but annoying injuries the specter of Caleb Folan still looms large.

The interesting thing about both Ramirez and Doyle as DP signings is that neither one look like sure bets.  While Torres has been hit or miss in hindsight its hard to blame the Rapids for jumping on a young striker who just shared the Golden Boot in the Gold Cup.  Hinchey has talked about small teams like the Rapids having to get their DP signings right to compete.  These two might be right, but its not immediately obvious that they will be.  We're certainly going to find out if that money they talked about spending on scouting this offseason went to good use or not.

One final note, pictures from training last week show that defender Patrick Slogic is in camp.  Slogic was in the Rapids youth organization and then went to Cornell.  He was in camp with the Crew last season after graduating but failed to make the team.  He played with Rochester last year and was signed by Charlotte for 2015.  He grew up in the Springs so this may just be a chance for him to get some training in before Charlotte opens its preseason or the Rapids may be taking a look at him as something more.

Below is an updated roster.  I've added Doyle, Ramirez, and Slogic into the unsigned list for now since there are solid links between them and the Rapids.

(* = international):

Goalkeepers:
John Berner
Clint Irwin
Zac MacMath

Defenders:
Marc Burch
Bobby Burling
Brandon Fricke
Michael Harrington
Drew Moor
John Neeskens
Shane O'Neill
Axel Sjoberg*

Midfielders:
Sam Cronin
Marlon Hairston
Nick LaBrocca
Lucas Pittinari*
Dillon Powers
Marcelo Sarvas
Dillon Serna
Jared Watts

Forwards:
Deshorn Brown*
Caleb Calvert
Charles Eloundou* (not yet in camp)
Vicente Sanchez
Gabriel Torres*

Unsigned:
D Joseph Greenspan (draftee, on Naval duty through 2017 probably)
D Matt Jeffrey (draftee)
D Wes Knight (trialist in camp)
D Ben Newnam (trialist in camp)
D Patrick Slogic (confirmed to be in camp)
D Grant Van de Casteele (confirmed to be in camp)
M Carlos Alvarez (confirmed to be in camp)
M Juan Ramirez* (multiple reports of signing with the Rapids)
F Dominique Badji* (draftee)
F Kevin Doyle* (in town negotiating)