Dillon Serna Done For Season

Sad news out of Commerce City.  That yellow card (borderline dirty) tackle Serna took in Wednesday night's USOC match that knocked him out of the game will cost him the rest of the season after having blown his ACL.

Really disappointed for him.  Hopefully he can come back strong next season.  In the meantime the Rapids have another open roster spot and a need for some depth on the wing.

Howard Announced Tomorrow?

So say former U.S. National Team player Heath Pearce on Twitter:

Been told that @TimHowardGK signing will be announced tomorrow. If true, @ColoradoRapids getting a great leader. #WelcomeBack

 This is the Rapids only appearance on ESPN this year so it makes some sense.  Along with the TransAmerica renewal signs point to it being likely but we'll see.

Also today Dillon Serna and Eric Miller (along with Boulder's Shane O'Neill) were called up for the U.S. U-23's Olympic Qualifying games with Colombia on March 23rd and 29th.  So that's 5 players now heading out on Nats duty after tomorrow's game (Doyle, Pappa, Azira, Miller, Serna).

Earth Day Roster Notes

Two roster notes for today.

First, Serna and O'Neill got a callup for tonight's U-23 National Team match against Mexico and both got the start (the game just kicked off).  They will be unavailable for Friday night's game against Dallas.

Secondly, due to injury and missing players the Rapids have recalled Eloundou from Charlotte.  He's already back in Denver and will be available Friday night.  No word on if he'll return to Charlotte once we're back and full strength.

Quick News and Notes

A couple of quick pieces of news.

• Dillon Serna and Shane O'Neill made the roster cut for the U.S. National Team's upcoming friendlies against Chile (in  Chile) and Panama (at the Stub Hub Center).  So while that will delay their joining of the Rapids in preseason its great experience for them.
• Dillon Powers tweeted that Grant Van de Casteele was with him for their first practice yesterday, so as we expected.
• I missed this before but Axel Sjoberg, our first round pick, tweeted before the draft that he had signed a MLS contract.

Updated roster:

(* = international):

Goalkeepers:
John Berner
Clint Irwin
Zac MacMath

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

Midfielders:
Sam Cronin
Marlon Hairston
Dillon Powers
Marcelo Sarvas*
Dillon Serna
Jared Watts

Forwards:
Deshorn Brown*
Caleb Calvert
Charles Eloundou*
Vicente Sanchez*
Gabriel Torres*

Unsigned:
D Brandon Fricke (draftee)
D Joseph Greenspan (draftee, on Naval duty through 2017 probably)
D Matt Jeffrey (draftee)
D Zat Knight*
D Grant Van de Casteele (confirmed to be in camp)
M Carlos Alvarez
M Nick LaBrocca
F Dominique Badji* (draftee)

Re-Entry Draft Phase 2 And Off-Season Training

The Rapids passed in today's Phase 2 of the Re-Entry Draft.  Also none of the Rapids trio of Ceus, Mullan, and Smith were picked in the Re-Entry Draft, so they are are all essentially free agents.  I would expect Mullan to come back to the Rapids in some capacity (player, coach, or player/coach) and possibly Smith the same way as well.  Ceus' time in Colorado, and probably MLS for now, is done.

Meanwhile a quartet of young Rapids are in England for some off-season training.  Chris Klute,, Clint Irwin, and Dillon Serna are training with Everton through Sunday, while Shane O'Neill is training with Fulham for a couple of weeks.  None of these are trials or loans, but any player training with another team is always being watched.  I wouldn't expect anything to come out of these trips but it does lay some possible groundwork for future years, especially in O'Neill's case.

The next big date on the off-season calendar is January 16th for the Superdraft in Philly.  Around that time the veterans will also be reporting to Commerce City for preseason physicals and fitness.

Vegas Roster Announced

The Rapids left for Vegas today before their preseason friendly Friday night against Chivas USA.  The Rapids took almost every player in camp.  The exceptions are:

• Rivero and Castrillon are both recovering from surgery and stayed behind.
• Dillon Serna departed for Mexico to join Shane O'Neill and the U.S. U-20 team in World Cup Qualifying.  Serna's addition to the roster means that the Rapids are the only MLS team with multiple players on the U-20 team.
• Trialist David Giraldo was not on the travel roster, presumably he's left camp.
• The only other missing players are Davy Armstrong and Charles Eloundou.  Armstrong missed the Arizona trip with injury, perhaps he's still dealing with that.  Eloundou joined the team over the weekend after being a 2nd half sub in Cameroon's loss to Tanzania last Wednesday, so its possible they're just letting him get settled in Denver instead of putting him right back on the road.

A total of 30 players are in Vegas for the match.

Also today Colorado announced an additional friendly next Friday in Santa Barbara.  They'll play the Galaxy at UCSB, preceded by the Rapids Reserves playing UCSB.

Serna Signed As Homegrown Player, Non-Roster Camp Invites

Today the Rapids signed their thrid homegrown player, Brighton's Dillon Serna.  He joined the Rapids Academy in 2009 and played with the U.S. U-17 and U-20 teams.  He spent this past fall at Akron University, starting regularly as a freshman.  He now leaves college to join the Rapids first team where he can play a number of positions in midfield and defense.  I think Serna will start out as a midfielder but I could see him moving to a wing back position based on need.  More home grown signings are always a good thing.  The only other one that I've heard might be close is James Rogers who's a sophomore at New Mexico, but there's some question if he's a Rapids product or a FSL product as he started in the FSL academy before his parent's move to Denver brought him to the Rapids academy.

Also today Colorado revealed a list of 6 non-rostered players who are trying to make the team in camp as trialists.  top on the list is Jamie Smith, who's option was declined after last season but is still trying to make the roster on a new deal.  I'd like to have Jamie on the team, but given his injury history, at something notably lees than the $150K he was making last year.  Former Dallas homegrown forward Ruben Luna is in camp, along with 2012 supplemental draft pick Joel Helmick, a keeper who lost out on the 3rd string keeper role to Ian Joyce last preseason.  Goalkeepers Jim Mauer and Clint Irwin and defender/midfielder Luke Vercollone round out the list.

So here's the full camp roster, with players noted for their current status.  The only player who isn't expected to be in camp or with a National Team by Monday is Eric Avila.  Rumors are that we've traded his righjts for Nick LaBrocca's rights but there's been no official confirmation.

Goalkeepers:
Steward Ceus
Matt Pickens
Joel Helmick - Unsigned trialist
Clint Irwin - Unsigned trialist
Jim Mauer - Unsigned trialist

Defenders:
Diego Calderon - International
Kory Kindle - Unsigned draftee
Chris Klute (Atlanta loan through late-Sept)
Drew Moor
Anthony Wallace
Marvell Wynne
Luke Vercollone - Unsigned trialist

Midfielders:
Davy Armstrong - Homegrown Player
Eric Avila - Unsigned Re-Entry draftee
Tony Cascio
Jaime Castrillon - International
Kevin Harbottle - International
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Shane O'Neill - Homegrown Player
Dillon Powers
Martin Rivero (Rosario Central loan through 2013) - International
Dillon Serna - Homegrown Player
Nathan Sturgis
Hendry Thomas - International
Jamie Smith - Unsigned trialist

Forwards:
Andre Akpan
Deshorn Brown - Generation Adidas, International
Edson Buddle
Atiba Harris
Kamani Hill
Ruben Luna - Unsigned trialist