Sanchez Suspended Two Games

Today the MLS Disciplinary Committee announced a 2-game suspension for Vicente Sanchez after his tackle on Hector Jimenez last week against the Columbus Crew.  You can see the tackle here.  He'll miss the road games tomorrow in Philly and next Friday in Portland.

Its a fair punishment for what was, unintentionally, a horrible tackle.  Studs to the knee like that deserve a red and probably a further punishment.  In the long run its not the worst thing in the world either.  Giving our second oldest player (behind Mullan) a rest midseason and having him miss what amounts to a cross-country trip and back will keep him healthy and ready for the final run of the season.  Of course it would be better to make that choice ourselves.

Sanchez Out 4-6 Weeks

Bad news today as Sanchez's MRI yesterday revealed a knee sprain that will keep him out 4-6 weeks.  He sprained the knee in the 5th minute of Saturday night's game but played through it until halftime, scoring the winning goal in the process.

He'll miss the next 4, probably 5, games for sure.  If its the short 4 week recovery time he could be back for the game on 6/1 against Houston or more likely the 6/4 against Chicago.  If its the longer 6 week recovery time the team will almost certainly keep him shut down through the World Cup break and bring him back when the league restarts on 6/28 against Vancouver.  That would be 7 total games missed and probably the worst case scenario unless the injury turns out to be worse than they realize right now.

In his absence we'll need Powers back ASAP and players like Serna and Eloundou are going to have to step up and provide creativity and attacking chances from midfield.

Rapids Sign Vicente Sanchez

This afternoon the Rapids made the Sanchez signing official.  He joins the team from Nacional and he appears to be very interested in helping with the youth movement that Pareja is putting together.  He'll be available for selection as soon as his visa and ITC paperwork is done, possibly as soon as this weekend.  Personally he could go right into the lineup in place of Buddle and that would be fine with me.

Still no official word on what's going on with Torres.  Reports are that his current club, Zamora, a Mexican club, and the Rapids are still in  the running.  Deal has to be done by the end of business Thursday though as that's when the transfer window closes.

Rumored Signing Updates

Remember last Wednesday when the news broke that the Rapids were signing Panamanian striker Gabriel Torres?  That he would likely be the team's first Designated Player?  Well he was reportedly coming to Denver yesterday for a workout.  He's not here yet and tonight he tweeted this an hour ago:

Buenas noches señores hasta este momento nada es oficial se esta en negociaciones con diferentes clubes pronto se sabra el club oficial !

Which translated is:

 Good evening gentlemen so far nothing is official is in negotiations with several clubs soon will know the official club!

 To me, these aren't positive signs.  Maybe this is just a last minute negotiating ploy from his agent, but the Rapids have been fairly open about their plans to sign Torres.  There have been articles on MLSSoccer.com and the Denver Post confirming that he's being signed and talking about how excited the Front Office is about it.  If it were to now fall apart, there would be a lot of egg on the face of the Rapids with only a week to do something about it before the close of the transfer window.

Coincidentally or not there were rumors today, apparently confirmed by the player's Twitter, that the Rapids will be signing 33-year old Uruguayan striker Vicente Sanchez.  Sanchez has played for Toluca and Club America in Liga MX, with a stint at German side Schalke 04 in-between them.  He was with Nacional in Uruguay last season but is apparently fe up with them and ready to move North.

We'll see if the Rapids sign Torres, Sanchez, both, or neither.

UPDATE: Despite Torres' tweet, Chris Bianchi (Rapids beat writer for MLSSoccer.com) has tweeted tonight that he's been assured the Torres signing is still on, expected to be wrapped up this week.  Good news.