Pareja Officially Out

The Rapids and Dallas just made it official 20 minutes ago.  Dallas buys out Pareja's contract and send allocation money and their second 2015 first-round Superdraft pick to Colorado and hired Oscar Pareja as their coach.  The Rapids are now looking for a coach, and reports are they're going to take a while.

A decent return for a position the Rapids never should have been in.  This was poorly handled by everyone, the Rapids (who hired somebody with a reported buyout, then had no plan when that buyout was exercised)., Pareja (who told Colorado he wanted to stay, up until 2 weeks before preseason started, leaving the team without a coach), and Dallas (who couldn't help but leak information and stir the pot, though they probably handled it the best).

More on the staff additions today shortly, but while the Draft seems to be in capable hands it appears that we'll open preseason a week from Monday without a coach, which can't be spun as anything but bad.  I don't understand how the Rapids (assuming the report about Pareja's contract having a buyout is correct) didn't have a plan in the works the moment Hyndman announced he was leaving.  It appears they were caught completely flat-footed a week ago and they've been scrambling since then.  Even if they had a plan and saw this coming, the handling of this week with the complete silence except for spinning through well placed leaks makes it appear that they were bumbling through the saga.  An embarrassing week from the FO finally comes to an end.

Busy News And Rumors Day

Lots of news, lots of rumors.  We'll start with what has been reported.

• Wilmer Cabrera is hired as the new Chivas USA coach

No real surprise after the rumors of the last two days.  It does knock one name off the likely coaching list for the Rapids.

• Red Bull NY has not been asked about Fraser

A bit of a surprise since Fraser seemed to be the early leader for the Rapids job in rumors.  Take another one off the list.

• Colorado hires John Metgod as consultant

This one is more than a bit odd and came out of left field.  Rumors have him working with a future USL team that will be the Rapids affiliate, and possibly partly-owned by them.  Looking at his resume though, he'd make a good head coaching candidate.  Regardless, a good mind to have helping the Rapids.

Now on to the rumors, some of them stronger than the others:

• Jamie Smith hired as Academy coach 

This one seems the strongest of the rumors, with multiple people who know Smith confirming it.  A good move for a guy who was probably going to retire.

• Mullan to be re-signed as player/coach

Reportedly MLS has made a new player designation in recent years for veteran players transitioning to coaching where not all their salary counts against the cap.  Smith was supposed to be in that role last season but something happened, and Mullan will take it this season.  Great way to bring back and experienced vet.

• Pareja's buyout (which was in his contract) could be announced as soon as tomorrow.  The Rapids will get cash, allocation money, and a first round pick probably in next year's draft.

Solid, if not spectacular, package for all of this.  Reportedly the Rapids will turn some of that allocation money around to bring in some players on loan.  They may be using some of the cash for Metgod as well.

And a story I missed covering in the holiday last week, but Chris Klute and Shane O'Neill got callups to the January US National Team camp, and Dillon Powers was also called up but sadly had to pass due to ongoing concussion issues.  Scary to think that he's still dealing with the issue at this point, especially after Pablo's issues in 2012.  Hopefully he gets better soon.  Great to see 3 young Rapids getting the callup though, things are looking up on that front.

Pareja Leaving, Harris Traded, Cabrera Out?

First the coaching drama.  Newest updates from Chris Bianchi on Twitter:

Pareja is still officially #Rapids coach. But he’s not coming back. Zero chance. Zilch. Nada.

Not for sure, but I’d expect something by Friday. RT @jpatrickrosch: @Rapids_News any word on when this might officially be resolved?

Also today from Ives (who struck out on the last Rapids coach leaving rumor, so take with a grain of salt:

Sources tell me Chivas USA closing in on making Colorado #Rapids assistant Wilmer Cabrera new head coach. Final decision expected soon #MLS

So that pretty much tells us that Pareja is on his way to Dallas and Cabrera won't be his replacement.  At this point I figure that's going on is either Dallas and Colorado are still agreeing on the compensation for buying out Pareja or the Rapids are trying to get the deal done with the new head coach before letting Pareja go.

The only new "rumor" on a possible replacement beyond Robin Fraser (meh) or John Spencer (no!) is the idea that they might be looking at Julio and/or Jorge Dely Valdes.  There's been no leak of this information or anything but a number of different people are talking about how it would be a good move, so I think there's a little smoke here.  Most recently the Dely Valdes twins have been leading Panama (Julio as head coach, Jorge as assistant and youth coach) but Julio was fired and Jorge demoted just to youth coach after Panama failed to qualify for the World Cup.  Jorge played in Colorado for 2 years in 1999 and 2000 and was a fan favorite, scoring 17 goals in 52 games.  The twins were also reportedly influential in finally getting Gabriel Torres to Colorado.

This feel like a real long shot to me, but if the Rapids were to pull it off it would be the MLS equivalent of Washington losing Steve Sarkisian and signing Chris Petersen last month.  Either or both would be the first names I've seen to replace Pareja that I feel like might be an upgrade.

Also on the coaching front, Jamie Smith was spotted at the Rapids local combine the last two days on the sidelines with a clipboard helping to evaluate players.  Don't be surprised if he's added as an assistant coach or player/coach this year.

On to the actual news and not rumors of the day.  The Rapids traded Atiba Harris to San Jose for Martin Chavez.  The Rapids will reportedly also pick up some of Harris' 2014 salary.  Even with that this is a win for Colorado.  Its no secret that I thought picking up Harris last year was a bat move and that I think Harris is a hack, so getting a player like Chavez, who, when healthy, can be an all-star player is a steal.  Chavez had injury problems last year and apparently made it known that he wasn't happy with the coaches at the end of the season.

Both players make about the same amount of money and both have green cards, so the only real difference in cap and roster hits is the amount of Harris' salary we're eating.  Chavez is more of a true winger than Harris was so he'll slot right into Harris old spot on the wing and start whipping in crosses, taking on players on the dribble, and taking free kicks.

Bianchi also reports the following on the trade:

Bravo/FO. Not Oscar. RT @Kenton_Lee: @Rapids_News in charge? So did he make the Atiba-Chavez trade or was that Bravo or both?

So apparently the FO is already moving on.

Pareja Resigning(?): Day 3

Monday hit and brought nothing.  The only bit of news on the Pareja front was Chris Bianchi tweeting he was attending a Denver-area player combine presumably for the Rapids.  So apparently Ives report on Monday was a bit off as Oscar appears to still be the coach of the Rapids as of this morning.

My guess is that on Friday the decision was finalized that Pareja would go to Dallas but he did not resign.  Either the Rapids and Dallas are still working on the compensation to buy him out (and/or deal with any possible tampering charge) or Colorado is waiting to release him until they have his replacement lined up.

If I were Colorado I'd set up the new coach but not let Pareja go to Dallas until the end of next week, to prevent him from taking any scouting knowledge to Dallas prior to the Superdraft next week.  Let Bravo run the draft, possibly with the new coach present as a "special advisor" then the next day make the coaching move.

One other bit of news today was a rumor that a trade was going to announced by the Rapids this afternoon.  Nothing happened but maybe we'll see something on that front in the next day or two.  If so my money would be on Wynne or Pickens leaving.  It will be hard for the Rapids to keep both Pickens and Irwin, and probably a waste of salary.  Wynne is just a gut feel based on some talk floating around near the end of the season.

Radio Silence

Apparently the Rapids are using submarine tactics to deal with the on-going Pareja rumors this weekend.  Not a peep out of the Front Office on the report of Pareja stepping down despite repeated requests from every quarter stretching from MLSSoccer.com down to yours truly.  Tim Hinchey and Richard Fleming have been tweeting this weekend, but nothing about the Rapids.

Colorado will have to come out blazing tomorrow though, no more holiday weeks to hide behind for anyone and you have to assume Pareja or Dallas will be talking.  They need to get a handle on this story as its been a bad weekend for the club.  The fans (including myself) have spent the last two days reading the tea leaves and piecing together various leaks from both Commerce City and Frisco.  Generally the picture being revealed hasn't been positive for most fans.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Pareja Steps Down

Per goal.com, Pareja stepped down as Rapids coach yesterday.  No official word from the Rapids yet.  This is, obviously, now a worst case scenario with the Caribbean combine going on, the college combine starting late next week, and the Superdraft less than 2 weeks away.  I'm sure as the days go buy we'll get the "real" story as to what happens, but we still have a bunch of conflicting reports.  Regardless the Rapids should never have allowed themselves to get into this position.  The only way they are (relatively) blameless is if there was no official or unofficial buyout clause, Pareja truly wanted to stay in November, and they did give him the contract extension and raise.  That's what I would expect a competent Front Office to do.  If they failed to do any of that though, they drove themselves into this hole.

Looking forward, 3 names have been floated for coaches:

• Wilmer Cabrera, current(?) Rapids assistant coach: Reports are that his contract ended at midnight on New Year's Eve and he turned down an extension while Pareja's future was being sorted out.  My guess is then he doesn't want to stay, even as head coach, but he would be the best choice for continuity.
• Robin Fraser, current NY Red Bulls assistant coach: He was one of two finalists for the FSL job that went to Jeff Cassar and has been mentioned in other coaching searches in the last couple of years.  He has head coaching experience when he led Chivas USA, before being fired, and he will be a head coach again very soon.  He has Rapids ties, having played here from 2001-2003, and from 1990-1995 he played with the Colorado Foxes.  If Cabrera is out of the running he would be my next choice.
• John Spencer, currently unemployed: Before hiring Pareja the Rapids tried to sign Spencer away from Portland but were rebuffed by the Timbers.  Spencer was fired later the following season.  Obvious Rapids ties given his time playing here and was a fan-favorite.  That said he would be a horrible choice with our current roster construction.  In Portland he favored the English-style kick-and-run/route 1 football similar to how Gary Smith constructed the roster.  With Pareja's possession-oriented roster it would be a disaster.

More information as it becomes available, but the Rapids 2014 season just went into a tailspin.  time for Bravo and Hinchey to earn their money and get the ship righted ASAP.

Pareja Watch Day 2

Well, day 2 of me reporting on it at least.

A couple of fans with well placed sources int he Rapids FO have done some digging and separately both gotten similar stories (though they may be talking to the same people).  The highlights:

• Pareja was given a contract extension and raise through 2015 around the end of the season (this has been confirmed by other reports outside of fans as well)
• He is now the highest paid coach in Rapids history
• He's getting paid more in Colorado than Hyndman ever did in Dallas
• The Rapids have not given anyone permission to talk to Pareja
• There has been no conversation between the Rapids and Pareja about him being unhappy, or the Rapids being unhappy about any of his demands
• Dallas has gone to the press to drive a wedge between Pareja and the Rapids
• The Rapids are seriously considering filing tampering charges with the league over what Dallas is trying to do

If these sources are accurate it appears that Dallas has gotten desperate and are trying to force bad blood between OP and the Rapids FO, hoping it leads to the Rapids releasing OP or OP going to the FO and telling them he wants to go Dallas.  It probably also appeases their fans a bit to appear their making progress in signing him.

So we've got two contrasting stories, both serving the image each of the team's wants to have out there.  I doubt either one is 100% true, but what happens in the next week will go a long way to determining which one was closer to the truth.  There's a Caribbean combine in Antigua this weekend and the college combine (which the top players from the Caribbean will be invited to) starts a week from Friday.  Presumably this coaching tug-o-war will be played out one way or the other by then.

Of course if the sources above are accurate, the Rapids can quickly end this story by putting out a statement on Thursday similar to the one released in November.  That quashed the rumor fairly well back then.  Or Pareja could make a clear statement about where he wants to be in 2014.

Coaching Change Imminent?

First a bit fo housekeeping.  The Rapids season opener on March 9th in San Jose has been moved to May 15th to help San Jose deal with their CONCACAF Champions League schedule.  Personally I think the Rapids get screwed on both sides of this, losing their opener and accepting the make-up date in the middle of the week between two other games, but its the price you pay in a single-entity league.  The Rapids will now open the season on March 15th in NY.

Now on to the news of the day.  For the last couple of weeks the rumor of Dallas luring Oscar Pareja home to take their head coaching job have been picking up steam.  This subject first came up in early November when the Rapids squashed it pretty forcefully.  Lately though it appeared that Dallas may have come up with a good enough package to interest the Rapids into letting Pareja go, as the rumor has been floating around for 2 weeks or so and the Rapids haven't shot it down.  Also Dallas was reportedly about to name a coach from their final 3 candidates, then this rumor started and they haven't named a coach yet.

Tonight the Dallas Morning News soccer blog has published an article detailing what is reportedly going on.  I'm going to paste the link here but my virus scanner warned me that it was a high risk site.  Maybe it was a false positive or due to a random ad on the site but I don't want my readers going to it unwarned, but here it is(http:/soccerblog.dallasnews.com/2013/12/is-fc-dallas-dan-hunt-about-to-get-his-man.html/).

For those of you who don't want to read it, here are the highlights:

• While OP was an assistant in Dallas it was no secret that he was being groomed to take over for Hyndman
• Rumor has it that relations between the Rapids FO and OP went sour after Pareja asked for a raise and extension after Hinchey quashed the initial rumor of OP to Dallas
• There's a suggestion that when OP left Dallas there was an agreement between Hunt (Dallas' owner) and Hinchey that Dallas would have the option to buyout Pareja's contract if/when they wanted to bring OP back to Dallas
• The sticking point was, apparently, agreeing on what that buyout cost would be but that has been overcome and Dallas is now talking to OP about a contract offer
• Colorado could still squash the move, mainly due to having no replacement lined up
• Dallas could make an announcement this week of either OP or their backup, current interim manager Marco Ferruzzi

So in short, if this article is accurate, Dallas used Colorado as their AAA coaching affiliate and are now calling Pareja up to the big leagues.  Colorado could stop it but it sounds unlikely.  We are 19 days from the SuperDraft and we're not even sure who our coach is going to be.  Oh, and apparently after raving about our coach and saying he's going to stay for 2014, we got annoyed he asked for a contract extension and raise as he enters the last year of his contract.

What is this, the old Rapids FO?  Again, this is all rumor and such, but this sounds a lot like the old Rapids FO.  I thought we had turned a corner away from this level of mismanagement.  How do you even take on Pareja under (again, assuming the report is accurate) a scenario where you're essentially seasoning him for another team in the conference and probably the 2nd biggest rival to your own team?

If Pareja does leave the Rapids better have a coaching plan lined up and ready to roll out ASAP.  Given the report this should not have caught the Rapids FO by surprise.  As soon as Hyndman stepped down the Rapids should have known they'd probably need a new coach and they should have been lining one up.  Promoting Cabrera or having Bravo take over (the two most likely scenarios at this point IMO) don't lead me to believe that they were preparing for a change.

The Offseason Starts

Two pieces of news out of Commerce City today.

• The Rapids re-sign Nathan Sturgis

Good move to start the off-season.  Sturgis is the kind of player that every MLS team needs.  A solid capable player that can be plugged into a number of spots at a reasonable salary.  He's nothing flashy but he's one of the basic building blocks of a MLS squad.

• Reports are the the Rapids refused a team's request to talk to Pareja

Everyone assumes this is Dallas, since the only other team currently looking is Vancouver.  We knew that Dallas was interested but now it seems its official.  The good news is that either Pareja doesn't want to leave or Colorado is going to extract a pound of flesh from Dallas if he does.  I'm leaning towards him not being interested in the FCD job based on comments he's made and the general state of Dallas (not good) but we'll have to see how this plays out.

What's Happened To C+C Goal Factory?

Full game recap coming, but a post-game discussion got me to do some research.  Namely people were asking why Pareja seemed to be unwilling to play Casey and Cummings at the same time.  I wondered how much of that was by choice and how much was due to injury so I looked it up.

Only 9 times this season have they both been Probable on the injury report or better, and in each of those games at least one of them was listed as Probable, so they've never been completely healthy  (Casey has been on the injury report every game this season).

In those 9 games:

4/28 - Chivas: Casey makes his first appearance of the season as a last minute sub for Omar (fans there will remember Class VI screaming at Rapids players to knock the ball out so Casey could be subbed in before the final whistle)

5/2 - @NE: Casey was left in Colorado due to the turf in New England

5/6 - @Dallas: Cummings started but subbed out injured after 14 minutes, Casey subbed in at halftime

6/20 - San Jose: Casey was subbed off for Cummings in the 67th minute

6/30 - Portland: Casey & Cummings start and play 73/74 minutes

7/4 - Vancouver: Casey & Cummings start, Cummings subs off in the 61st

7/7 - @Seattle: Casey starts and goes 67 before Edu subs in, at the same time Cummings subs in for Smith

7/14 - Dallas: Cummings & Casey start and play the full game

7/18 - @Toronto: Casey & Cummings start, Cummings goes 72 minutes

So on 4/28, 5/2, and 5/6 Casey was still recovering from his Achilles injury and understandably didn't start, by the time he got serious minutes Cummings was injured.

On 6/20 Cummings was coming back from injury and only played 23 minutes, you could make a case that Casey could/should have been left in to play with him.

On 7/7 the team was playing its 3rd game in a week, on turf, and both players were probable. While playing both of them at once was possible, without knowing their injury and fitness status I can't fault Pareja for not playing them together.

When playing together Casey has both of his goals and 1 of his assists on Omar's only goal or assist when playing together.

So maybe you fault Pareja for not leaving Casey in on 6/20, a game we lost 2-1 on a Freeman own goal in the 83rd and a PK in the 92rd minute.  Colorado was up 1-0 at home when the Casey/Cummings sub happened.

I find it hard to make a claim that Pareja is resisting playing them together given these numbers though.  When they've been (reasonably) healthy, Pareja has played them together.

Fascinating Happy Hour With Rapids Executives

Tonight I was invited along with other bloggers and press to a happy hour with Rapids President Tim Hinchey, Rapids General Manager Paul Bravo, Rapids Head Coach Oscar Pareja.  Rapids Director of Media Relations David Lindholm organized the event and was also present.  There were 8-10 of us talking with the Rapids leadership trio.  Some of the other blogs and press included the Denver Post, Goal.com, ColoradoRapidsfan.com, and Burgundy Wave.

Most of this is going to be just a random set of impressions and information I got out of the gathering but I wanted to mention how interesting it was to listen to Coach Pareja speak.  I don't know if he's the long-term answer in Colorado yet but he is certainly passionate about his plans.  He talked about his time with the Colombian National Team in the 90's, the fact that parts of the game are "in his blood", and the mentality of players he wants playing for him.  I don't know what the result of his time in Colorado will be, but I'm glad I got the chance to listen to him talk.

Otherwise here's some of the random information and impressions I got out of the evening:

• Hinchey stated that he's put his stake in the ground, that there will be a shirt sponsor by the beginning of the 2013 season.
• The shirt sponsorship will probably make the Rapids profitable.  The average sponsorship in the league is 2.5 million a year, and the Rapids lost 2.2 million last year.
• The shirt sponsorship is not a requirement to sign a DP but it would go a long, long way to making it possible.
• Bravo's trip to Africa last month turned up two players they're working on getting visas for, a 17-18 year old striker and a 20-21 year old central midfielder.  It was unclear if they're just coming over for trials or the Rapids are actually signing them.
• It sounds like one of these players was on one of the Olympic teams eliminated before the semis, but Bravo may have been referring to a 3rd player they're pursuing.
• Pareja's system isn't just his system.  The whole club, from the 8/9/10 year olds up to the first-team, are using the same playing style and system.  This started even before Papi was hired when Bravo first showed up in 2009.
• The team has had to work hard to make in-roads into the Colorado youth system, but its finally starting to pay off.  They have to do very little recruiting now, the success of the youth teams is starting to drive talent to them.
• The biggest obstacle right now seems to be inertia.  Players who have played with Rush/Real/Storm teams since they were 6 years old tend to want to stay with their friends and club instead of moving into the Rapids system.
• OP seemed to be willing to go down with his system.  He's learned about the team and made tweaks, but the foundation of the system won't change.
• One of the tweaks started with the Swansea game, where he flipped the midfield triangle from one holding mid and two attackers in front of him to two holding mids and one attacker.
• Mullan playing right back in the second half last week after Nane's injury may not be a one-off thing.  It sounds like he spent some time training there this week.
• The door is open anywhere in the club for whatever Pablo wants to do.  If he wants to come back and play, coach, announce, get involved on the business side, whatever.
• All three of them admitted places where they had been wrong this season, and they weren't minor things.

I can't say my perception of where the team is or my opinion of any of the three leaders was changed significantly by spending time with them, but it was interesting to get their take on things.   When push comes to shove though, its still going to come down to results.  The one thing I realized is that this system that the team is using is coming from all the leadership, not just Pareja.  So if the system is the problem just changing Pareja isn't going to be enough, its going to take a complete change of leadership.  If the system is right though, the club's development is going to feed right into it for years.

Pareja versus Smith

Not surprisingly its been popular with our inconsistent start of the season to question if the coaching change was the right move.  I supported the move at the time and I continue to support it now.  Apparently I'm not alone as the Burgundy Wave blog has a great Hero Worship article about the flawed comparisons between Gary Smith and Oscar Pareja.

I really can't disagree with the article, but I can throw out some facts to show why I think some posters (particularly on the Rapids Facebook page) are being unfairly harsh when judging this season so far, especially in comparison to prior seasons.

First, let's start with our horrible injury issues this season.  A number of Gary Smith supporters think that the MLS Cup lineup is still our best lineup and the changes that have been made away from that have been a mistake.  So using that as a baseline, I counted the number of games lost due to injury by the starters in MLS Cup 2010 in the first 15 games of 2011 and 2012 .  I considered any game where the player was on the injury report and didn't play more than 15 minutes a game lost to injury.  In 2011 I also counted the game Omar Cummings missed due to his Nats team callup.

2011: 25 games lost to injury, 1.66 starters per game.
2012: 65 games lost to injury, 4.33 starters per game

Least number of starters missing:
2011: 0 (Games 1 & 3)
2012: 2 (Game 15)

Most number of starters missing:
2011: 3 (Games 9 & 12)
2012: 7 (Game 13)

So Pareja has been dealing with 2.5 times as many injuries as Smith did at this point last year.  Until last week's game against San Jose Papi's healthiest lineup was as healthy as Smith's most injured lineup.

According to a number of ranking systems the Rapids have played one of the toughest schedules so far this season.  ELO+ has the Rapids with the 2nd toughest schedule behind Houston, while Jeff Sagarin has them with the 3rd toughest schedule behind Houston and San Jose (by .01).

Since MLS dropped the Shootout after 1999 the Rapids have averaged exactly 19 points through 15 games through 2011.  Last year under Smith (actually all 3 years he was in charge) the Rapids had 22 points, the last three of which were gained when the Rapids scored an last minute goal in Portland that should have been ruled offside and the Rapids should have only gotten 1 point for a draw.

Right now the Rapids have 19 points, losing out on a point in the last game when the ref probably incorrectly gave San Jose a penalty kick for a last minute goal.  If the last minute calls in game 15 each of the last two years were made correctly then the Rapids would have had 20 points after 15 games in 2011 and 2012, pretty much dead on their average since 2000.

So with one of the toughest schedules in the league and an injury list 2.5 times worse than Smith had last year, Pareja has managed to lead the team to pretty much the same place Smith led the team after 15 games last year.  This while being a first-year coach trying to institute a new style of play and integrate a number of new players.  Call me crazy but I have a hard time understanding why people are calling for Pareja's job.  To me it seems like he's achieving essentially what Smith was able to achieve while dealing with greater challenges.

Head Coach Oscar Pareja

Today Colorado made it official and hired Oscar Pareja as the team's 7th head coach. The Rapids say 6th but I like to count Roy Wegerle's 1 game as player/manager at the end of the 1996 season. ;) There's been no details as to the amount or length of his contract other than "long" according to Tim Hinchey at the press conference. I'm sure those details will leak in the future.

Pareja is Colombian and started his career there, playing for two of the better known clubs in Independiente Medellín and Deportivo Cali (Carlos Valderrama also played for both clubs). In 1998 he moved to the New England Revolution but was quickly traded to the Dallas Burn, where he's been ever since. After retiring from playing in 2005, his last game being Dallas' PK playoff loss to the Rapids, he took a position as an assistant coach and was eventually put in charge of Dallas' youth academy. Dallas has the most successful youth academy in the league so far and everyone seems to point to Pareja as the reason. He also spent some time as an assistant coach to the U.S. U-17 team.

I like this move. Its grown on me during this week as more information has come out and the Dallas fans have been falling over themselves to say good things about Papi (As Pareja is known). I'm glad we didn't go with a re-tread like Soehn or Osario. I think Williams still would have been my first choice but I'm cautiously optimistic about Pareja. Certainly his experience with the youth squad in Dallas and the U-17 team should make him more willing than Smith to play our younger players, which has been lacking. Bravo is still going to be in charge of Colorado's youth program, as the head coach doesn't have time for that responsibility, but hopefully Pareja will be able to give some recommendations and help the progress of the Academy.

There's also been a rumor over the last couple of days that Pareja's friend and countryman, Wilmer Cabrera, will be joining him in Colorado. A couple of sources have confirmed this, but I haven't seen any word from normally reliable sources. For the last 4 years Cabrera has been the coach of the U.S. U-17 National Team, so it would be a big get for the Rapids if they've hired him.

Between Pareja and possibly Cabrera Colorado should have a good pipeline to young players in Colombia and the rest of South America. This has been somewhere Paul Bravo has said he wants to be looking for players so it would seem that everyone is on the same page now. Before that though, bravo and Pareja are heading to Ft. Lauderdale tonight for the MLS Combine this weekend and next week's SuperDraft.

Schedule Out, Coach Signed

More detail tonight, but two quick notes.

The 2012 schedule was released, see it here.

President Tim Hinchey tweeted that there's a 3pm press conference to unveil Pareja as our coach and he tweeted a picture of Pareja signing his contract.

Oscar Pareja To Be Named Coach Tomorrow?

Multiple sources are reporting that the Rapids have decided on Oscar Pareja as their new head coach. Some are saying the announcement could come as early as tomorrow. As mentioned yesterday Pareja had a long career at FC Dallas and then moved into the coaching ranks there, eventually being put in charge of Dallas' youth program, considered to be the most successful thus far in MLS (in admittedly a short 5 years since the youth initiative was announced). As this is just a rumor I won't go into too much detail now, I'll wait for the official announcement, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this choice.