Football In Paris, And A Rapids Move

Things have been quiet here largely due to the fact that I've been on vacation.  Part of that vacation included a chance to catch a match but before we get to that we do have one piece of Rapids news, namely a trade.

Colorado sent Andrew Gutman to Chicago in exchange for $450K in GAM and left-back Miguel Navarro.

From a bottom line that's a decent move.  We traded $400K of GAM plus an international spot for the rest of last season to Atlanta to get Gutman in July.  So essentially we broke even on GAM, got 1000 minutes out of him, and got Navarro for free.

Overall though, moving one of the few pieces that looked like a MLS starter is not the way I wanted to see the offseason moves start.  Our track record for using GAM recently isn't great, and Navarro seems like a bit of a loose cannon in defending so I don't see how this made us better.

Now on to a more interesting discussion.  I spent last week on vacation in Paris, and on Tuesday night I made time to go see Paris FC play Rodez.  Paris FC is currently the second most successful club in Paris metro, behind the powerhouse of Paris Saint-Germain (and the only other professional team other than PSG to be playing inside Paris' city limits).  Interestingly the original Paris FC merged with Stade Saint-Germain in 1970 to form  PSG.  Two years later Paris FC split off from PSG after the latter was not getting support from the city of Paris due to being based outside the city limits in  Saint-Germain-en-Laye.  Paris FC originally kept the first division status and the professional players, but in the 50 years since PSG has gone on to become a top 10-15 team in the world while Paris FC has struggled in the lower divisions.  Paris FC first started playing at Parc des Princes but surrendered that ground to PSG when they were relegated (at the same time PSG was promoted to Ligue 1).  Paris FC would get back to Ligue 1 for one season in the late 70's but has not seen the top-flight since then while PSG has never been relegated since they made it to the top tier.

Paris FC has been as low as the 5th division but has been in Ligue 2 for the last seven seasons.  This year they're sitting in 10th, 5 points from a playoff spot.  Their opponents last week were Rodez who sit right above them in 9th.  PFC play at Stade Charléty in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, a 20K seat venue that's best known for hosting multiple Rugby World Cup games.  There's also a venue below the stadium where Paris' top pro volleyball teams plays.

For this season Paris FC is the first European team to give away essentially all of its tickets.  In order to increase support everything but the VIP level tickets are free for all league matches.  About a week before the game I just went on the website and picked my seat and paid absolutely nothing.  It also worked out that where we were staying in Paris was around the corner from a bus route that terminated at the stadium so all I had to do was take a 12 minute bus ride to get to the game.  Here's the view walking up to Stade Charléty:

Once I got in the gates I found a nice stadium that had been recently renovated, but it was clearly a municipal stadium that PFC uses, not a PFC stadium.  Everything Paris FC related was in the form of things that could easily be put up and taken down as the stadium is used for other events.  There was no club shop, just a club van that sold kits, jackets, and scarves (I bought a kit and a scarf for my collections).  The pregame fan zone was all portable things that could easily be set up and taken down, and the banners and logos in the main arena weren't permanently attached.  That said it was a good family friendly environment and everyone was having a good time.  Plus I found somebody that clearly shares an ancestor with Rapidman:

Once I got to my seat I found that it had a similar feel to a midweek Open Cup game at the Dick.  A small but loyal fanbase in a much larger stadium.  With the exception of the travelling Rodez supporters all the fans were on one sideline (looking at the highlights later I realize we were all facing the camera used for the streaming coverage).  There's also a track around the field so fans are a bit of a distance from the field.  Here's the view from my 4th row seat:

There was a vocal supporters group in the second deck, as well as a decent travelling contingent from Rodez:

The game itself was enjoyable to watch, with the home side scoring in the first minute, then following up with one of the great goals I've seen live.  Pierre-Yves Hamel scored the first goal and in the 23rd minute he dispossessed Rodez at midfield, looked up and saw the keeper off his line, and took a shop from the midfield stripe.  He managed to place the ball just under the bar to give the Parisians a two goal lead, which they would hang on to through the end of the match.

This makes the third European country that I've seen a lower-league game in (Spain, Tenerife vs. Malaga; England, Blackburn twice and Wealdstone vs. Dulwich Hamlet) and I've enjoyed everyone.  Obviously the big spectacle is a PSG game (they didn't play at home while I was in PAris) but I prefer seeing the smaller teams.  Plus its cheaper!

Here's the highlights from the game.  If you pause it at 9 seconds that group of white seats on the right, 3rd row, I'm the one on the aisle.

Half A Game, But New Players

On Monday I gave it a 50/50 chance that last night's game would be played, and they played 50% of the game.  So I'm counting that as an accurate prediction.  After a 2 hour delay to start the game and a 90 minute delay at halftime they finally called the game and the second half will be rescheduled for a later date.  

The teams will start just like they were coming out of the locker room last night, with the same XI on the field for both sides.  If, between now and then, one of the players on the field is no longer available when the game restarts either due to injury or being transferred, they can be replaced with one of the players on the bench last night and that won't count as one of the subs/sub windows for the game.  If one of the bench players last night is unavailable then they can be replaced by anyone who was on the roster as of last night (so nobody who gets added to the roster now that the window is open).  The key is that a player who was not in the gameday roster (like say Rubio or Lewis) can not take the place of one of the XI in the game who's unavailable (there is an exception to this rule for goalkeepers if a team doesn't have any keepers who were in the gameday squad available).  The only way a player who wasn't in the squad last night could get into the game is to have somebody on the bench be unavailable when the game is rescheduled, have them be replaced by a player, and then use one of the game subs to bring them into the game.

As for the half that did get played, it was fairly lousy soccer.  The wet conditions and the general poor level of the teams led to a game where neither side could get extended possession, but if one team looked better than the other, the Rapids had that edge.

We have no game to talk about, but we do have roster moves.  The transfer window officially opened this morning and Colorado has already added two players and has a thirds in limbo.  The big move was trading for Andrew Gutman from Atlanta.  Colorado traded $300K in GAM this year, $100K in GAM next, year, and an international slot through the end of this season.  There's another $150K in gAM that could go to Atlanta depending on Gutman's play.

Gutman is a 26-year old left back with a very attacking mindset.  He already has 3 goals and 5 assists this season.  He's taken a rather confusing career, skipping MLS to go to Europe and being signed by Celtic only to be immediately loaned back to the U.S., first with USL's Charlotte Independence and then to FC Cincinnati, he was then picked by Atlanta in the Re-Entry draft and bought from Celtic without ever playing for them.  Atlanta immediately loaned him to RBNY for the 2021 season before he came back and played for Atlanta in 2022 and this year.

His drawback, which is a little concerning in a defender, is that his defense has not been good this season.  So he's similar to Lucas Esteves, though lets hope better on offense and not as bad on defense.  I expect we're going to see a pretty standard 5-man back line with Gutman attacking up the left and Rosenberry or Nicholson (or Galvan?) attacking up the right.  For the price this is a solid pickup by the Rapids, it should solve the left back problem in a way Gersbach clearly didn't, and at 26 Gutman can play in MLS and is under contract through next season.

The other move the Rapids made is signing Costan Rican national-team defender Daniel Chacon from Rapids 2 to the full squad, and then they loaned him to Costa Rican side Alajuelense until the end of the season.  So no help there until 2024 (he's signed through 2025).  Rapids 2 signed Chacon last summer and immediately loaned him back to his then Costa Rican side so he could compete for a spot at the World Cup, which he got and made one appearance.  He made 3 appearances for Rapids 2 this season, while battling injury.  This is starting to smell a bit like we're trying to flip him for cash sooner rather than later, I'd be surprised if he ever makes a significant impact with the first team.

The player in limbo is goalkeeper Marko Ilic.  His loan from Kortrijk was reported by the Rapids as "through July" but by Kortrijk as "through July 5".  Which means he might, technically, not be a Rapids player anymore as of the window opening.  Colorado included an option to buy in the loan deal, but there's been no report of them exercising the clause.  Of course, there's been no report that he's left either.  I figure we'll know around 6:45pm on Saturday at the latest, when the gameday squad for the Dallas game drops.  If he's on it then the Rapids bought him or negotiated an extension to the loan (or his team had the date wrong).  If he's not he's probably headed back to Belgium.