Players Staying, Going, and Coaching News

A lot of news today.  First, as expected, no Rapids were taken in today's expansion draft.  Given how much interest was shown in projected drafts for Jared Watts I'm going to go with my theory that the deals on Sunday with the expansion teams included an agreement that they wouldn't take any players from Colorado.  One ex-Rapid moved, briefly.  Atlanta took Clint Irwin and then immediately traded him back to Toronto for Mark Bloom (who was born in Georgia) and general allocation money.

EDIT: In a tweet tonight the Post's Daniel Boniface has confirmed there were deals in place with Minnesota and Atlanta to bypass Raids on the expansion draft.

After the expansion draft the Rapids announced that they traded Jermaine Jones' rights to LA for their natural first round pick in next month's Superdraft and a conditional second round pick in the 2018 draft.  If you remember in March we sent our natural first round pick to New England along with general allocation money to get Jones' rights.  So essentially getting him for a season cost us nothing except his salary.  Not a bad bit of business.

News also broke today that Pablo has re-signed for 3 years.  This is technically a rumor until its confirmed (probably tomorrow) but we're going to call it confirmed unless there's something drastically different in the official announcement.  As I wrote two weeks ago I'm ok with re-signing him, I'm just concerned about getting into a long term deal without knowing which Pablo is the real Pablo, 2014-15 or 2016.  There's no news on if this contract has any option years so I'm going to assume for now that its a standard 3 year contract like his last one.  Lets hope we don't have a repeat of the 2007-08 Clavijo years.  Though I suppose KSE extended Jeff Fisher for two years to start this season and fired him yesterday, so maybe they've learned their lesson about keeping a bad coach (Go Hawks!).

Jones Back To Colorado, Greenspan To Charlotte

Steven Goff tweeted this afternoon that Jermaine Jones was heading back to Colorado after having his knee looked at by the National Team doctors and not being cleared to play.  Its the right move, I just don't understand why he was "called up" if it was really just about getting a second opinion on his knee.  Why not just announce that and avoid the bad optics?

Also the Independence announced that Joseph Greenspan is heading to Charlotte on loan.  As expected the load to the Switchbacks didn't last all season, I'm just surprised he's not staying in Denver.  I wonder if he's filling a roster gap left by the recall of Calvert (or possibly Berner if he was called back to back up MacMath this weekend).

Poor Optics From Jones

(We'll get to reviewing the debacle on Friday night tomorrow)

I want to start this by pointing out that I am an unapologetic Jones fanboy (as seen in my post announcing his signing).  That said, the optics of his weekend have been poor to say the least.

A couple of hours before kickoff on Friday Jones posted this photo to social media:

We already knew he was out for the Rocky Mountain Cup match so the only surprise was that he was headed to Jacksonville, which is coincidentally where the U.S. Nats are having camp for their World Cup Qualifiers next week.

Sure enough, earlier today Jurgen Klinsmann announced the 26 man roster for camp and Jones was included.

Tonight the Jacksoville Jaguars tweeted out this photo of their honorary captains for their preseason game:

The image here is not good.  It appears that after almost 2 months of being injured and just as he's on the cusp of returning JJ has prioritized getting to Jacksonville to play for the Nats over his club team.  Even if he couldn't play Friday night he could have been a team leader by being there and supporting the team, then he could have caught the same flight Tim Howard did to Jacksonville.  Instead he's spent the weekend in Jacksonville appearing at a NFL game instead of at a RMC game in Sandy.

In reality, it probably doesn't matter.  The way we played Friday night Jones' presence likely wouldn't have made a difference and I doubt he'd play next weekend coming back from injury due to the turf in New England.  Still its one thing to be in the situation where your healthy just in time to miss club games for your country, its another to throw it in the faces of your fans while doing it.

I don't want to think of the frustration from Rapids fans if JJ starts for the Nats on Friday or if he gets re-injured while with the Nats.  There's a report that he's really only in Jacksonville to get looked at by the National Team doctors but I don't think a player gets "called up" if he's at a point where he needs to be examined by more doctors.  We'll see if he makes the final 18 man game day roster for either game and how much he plays, if any.

Jones Out Another 1-2 Weeks

From an article on MLSSoccer.com:

He’ll be unavailable for this weekend’s match however, based on the results of a recent medical evaluation.

“It’s getting better,” Jones said of the injury. “But we talked to the doctors, the national team and the club about what we’re going to do and said ‘We need some more time.’ It will maybe be another one or two weeks.”

Not ideal but we're managing to get by without him.  I'd love to have him back for FSL next week though.

Some might see this timing as convenient given the World Cup Qualifiers two weeks from tomorrow.  I have a hard time believing Klinsmann is going to call up somebody who hasn't played a competitive game in two months for two qualifiers though.  Of course JK has done stranger things.

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.

Euro & Copa Preview

Two big tournaments kick off over the next 8 days.  Tomorrow we get the start of the Copa America Centenario here in the U.S. and then a week later Euro 2016 starts in France.  Surprisingly the Rapids have 3, but only 3, players involved in these tournaments when 5 months ago we thought we'd be lucky to have one (and sadly that one, Kevin Doyle, isn't involved).  Here's a schedule of when the teams featuring the Rapids will be playing and the TV coverage (all times MDT).

Copa America Centenario:

USA - Jermaine Jones, Tim Howard
Fri 6/3 - USA vs. Colombia - Santa Clara, CA - 7:30pm - Fox Sports 1
Tue 6/7 - USA vs. Costa Rica - Chicago, IL - 6pm - Fox Sports 1
Sat 6/11 - USA vs. Paraguay - Philadelphia, PA - 5pm - Fox Sports 1

If the U.S. wins the group (not likely):
Quarterfinal Thu 6/16 - Seattle, WA - 6:30pm - Fox Sports 1
Semifinal Tue 6/21 - Houston, TX - 7pm - Fox Sports 1

If the U.S. finishes 2nd in the group (could happen):
Quarterfinal Fri 6/17 - East Rutherford, NJ - 5pm - Fox Sports 1
Semifinal Wed 6/22 - Chicago, IL - 6pm - Fox Sports 1

3rd Place Game Sat 6/25 - Glendale, AZ - 6pm - FX
Final Sun 6/26 - East Rutherford, NJ - 6pm - FX

Euro 2016:

Albania - Shkelzen Gashi
Sat 6/11 - Albania vs. Switzerland - Lens, France - 7am - ESPN
Wed 6/15 - Albania vs. France - Marseilles, France - 1pm - ESPN
Sun 6/19 - Albania vs Romania - Lyon, France - 1pm - ESPN2

If Albania make the knockout rounds (possible but not likely) the Round of 16 matchup could be one of 3 on either June 25th or June 26th.  A quarterfinal matchup would be somewhere between June 30th and July 2nd,  a semifinal would be July 6th or 7th, and the final is July 10th.

Ireland - Kevin Doyle could be added next week if a player is injured
Mon 6/13 - Ireland vs. Sweden - Saint-Denis, France - 10am - ESPN
Sat 6/18 - Ireland vs. Belgium - Bordeaux, France - 7am - ESPN
Wed 6/22 - Ireland vs. Italy - Lille, France - 1pm- ESPN

If Ireland make the knockout rounds (not likely given their presence in the Group of Death) the Round of 16 matchup could be one of 3 between June 25th and 27th.  A quarterfinal matchup would be somewhere between June 30th and July 2nd,  a semifinal would be July 6th or 7th, and the final is July 10th.

Roster News and Notes

Cleaning up a few rumors and news items around the roster.

• Sports Illustrated reports that the Jermaine Jones contract is 550K for 1 year

If accurate that makes me like this deal even more.  Jones is nearing the end of his career and as much as I like him I didn't want to be on the hook for him for more than a year or two.  This allows him to show what he still has for a year and clear that suspension and it allows the Rapids a PR boost in signing him and some quality minutes from a good player.  Then at the end of the year if he's shown he still has it then we, or another team, can make him a new offer.  I predict that Jones wanted a 1 year deal as well to be available to be signed for the inaugural season of LAFC.  Its well known that he wanted to be closer to his family in LA.  If I had to bet money that's where I would expect him to play in 2017.

• Stephen Keel apparently is doing media for MLS, based on this Twitter.

Guess that means he didn't make the Rapids roster.  That surprises me.

• The Post's Daniel Boniface tweets that Dennis Castillo and brad Spencer are still with the team

I still expect Castillo to be signed, surprised it hasn't happened yet.  I wouldn't read too much into Spencer still being here, given that he's John's son.  We may be interested in signing him or he may just be taking advantage of access to keep sharp while he looks for other options.

• All quiet on the Tim Howard front.

My guess is that they want to ride the PR wave of the Jones signing and opening week for a bit longer, then we'll start hearing about Howard again.

If we assume Howard and Castillo will be signed we still have one open roster spot.  There's really no rumors out there about any signing coming soon so we'll have to see what happens.

Rapids Make A Couple Of Signings

Me right now

The Rapids started the day filling to their empty roster spots about how I thought they would.  They announced they signed draftee GK Chris Froschauer.  Then they announced they signed draftee M Emmanuel Appiah.

Then at 5:30 today they dropped the mic.  Colorado traded general allocation money and their  first round pick next year to new England for Jermaine Jones.  Yes, that Jermaine Jones.  Using that TAM they accumulated they've bought him down to non-DP status.

This idea was kicked around by the fan base and I was against it as a DP.  As a non-DP though?  All for it.  Jones is my favorite current Nat, though he dropped quite a bit with that playoff hissy-fit last year.  Because of that he'll miss the first 6 games as he serves his suspension for pushing the ref.  His first game will be April 16th against the Red Bulls at the Dick.

That suspension also explains/solves my concern about any big signing having to learn on the fly as the season goes.  He can't play for 6 weeks so he'll have the equivalent of almost a full preseason to work with the team in practice before he's eligible.

my assumption is that this "solves" the right wing issue by pushing Pappa out there so Jones can sit in the center with Powers and Cronin behind him.  Or maybe Powers will be in the center with Jones and Cronin behind him.  Either way it will be a midfield of Cronin, Gashi, Jones, Pappa, and Powers with Kevin Doyle in front of them when everyone is healthy and available.  That's a significant improvement over what we had last year.

The last notable game that Jones played in Colorado was the Snow Clasico which birthed the Sno Fro:

Current roster:

GK John Berner
GK Chris Froschauer
GK Zac MacMath
D March Burch
D Bobby Burling
D Marlon Hairston
D Eric Miller
D Axel Sjoberg - Inernational
D Sean St. Ledger - International
D Mekeil Williams - International
M Emmanuel Appiah
M Michael Azira
M Sam Cronin
M Jermaine Jones
M Marco Pappa
M Zach Pfeffer
M Dillon Powers
M Dillon Serna
M Jared Watts
F Dominque Badji - International
F Caleb Calvert
F Conor Doyle
F Kevin Doyle - International - DP
F Shkëlzen Gashi - International - DP
F Luis Solignac - International