No Rapids At The World Cup

For the first time in team history* it appears there will be no Colorado Rapids at the World Cup. Conor Casey was left off the roster for the pre-World Cup training camp that was just announced by Bob Bradley. Instead Robbie Findley, who's done less than Casey on an individual level in both MLS and with the Nats, was called up. There's a slight chance that Casey could be called up if someone were to be injured between the naming of the 23 man roster on June 1st and the start of the World Cup but that chance is so slight its not really worth talking about.

*In 1998 Marcelo Balboa represented the Rapids. In 2002 and 2006 Pablo Mastroeni represented the Rapids

News & Notes

Some tidbits to get us through this bye weekend:

• Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of the last regular-season league game the Rapids won when the opposition scored first. While its been a little over a year since we came from behind to win its been 4 years since we won after giving up the first goal. In that time we have won 32 games, 23 of them by shutting out the opposition. Obviously we don't play well when we let the opponent score.

• The Wednesday July 21st home game against Philadelphia has been rescheduled for Wednesday Sept. 29th at 7pm. This was done to allow the Union to host Manchester United on July 21st. Previously our game in Chicago on May 22nd was rescheduled for June 9th so that Chicacgo could play the championship of their Sister Cities Cup which includes Paris Saint-Germain, Red Star Belgrade, and Legia Warsaw. When does one of our games get rescheduled so we can play a big European team?

• Backup goalkeeper Steward Ceus, on-loan to the USL-2 Charlotte Eagles, broke his wrist this week. That's a picture from his Twitter feed above. He said he got good news today, so hopefully he won't be out long.

Rapids Felled Again By Their Kryptonite, Set Pieces

The LA Galaxy showed why they're the class of MLS this year, but the Rapids also showed that they could hang with them. The only problem was that our forwards left their shooting boots in the locker room.

LA came out and looked dangerous from the opening whistle, generating two good chances int eh first 5 minutes. For the first 20 minutes the Rapids were back on their heels, but could have changed the game. Ballouchy sprung Cummings with a 1 on 1 and nobody close. Rickketts charged out and somehow Cummings couldn't even get a shot on target despite Ricketts not getting a touch on it. That set the tone for the rest of the game.

In the 21st minute Baudet reached around PrimaDonnavan and caught his elbow with his leg, which Landon sold for everything it was worth and got the foul call. On the ensuing free kick the combination of Wynne, Moor, and Baudet only managed to cover 2 of their 3 men, leaving Alan Gordon free to put a diving header past Matt Pickens. Once again, as we've seen in 6 of the 7 goals we've given up, we got burned on a free kick.

After this point though the game was much more even, and I would say that the Rapids controlled the game more after that. The problem was though that most of our dangerous chances either went off target or right at the LA keeper. Ricketts only had to work for 2 saves. That was the difference in the game as while LA got a couple of good chances the defense was up for them.

My key to the game was Edson Buddle, and the defense did a great job keeping him off the board. He had one good chance that he bottled, but otherwise he wasn't much of a threat. The only other team to stop him this season was KC.

Other Observations:

• LA is now 9 points ahead of everyone in the West. We won't be seeing them get close to us for a while.
  
• Kimura was a pregame scratch from the lineup, which might explain the confusion on the free kick.
• Earls started in Kimura's place, and I hat to say it since I love Koz, but I think that Earls has taken his spot int he starting XI
• Can we end the Thompson over Clark experiment? For the whole first half I don't think Thompson made a single run when Earls had the ball.
• Casey played well, when he had help to play off of. Too often he got the ball with nobody around.
• Lopez didn't look great in his 20 minutes. At one point Clint Mathis made him struggle.
• Just under 10K in attendance was a surprisingly high number.

Player of the Game: Julian Baudet. Even though he committed the foul that set up the goal he was a Beast in central defense last night. Not only that but he got forward a couple of times and was a dangerous man on corner kicks.

Shootout At The DSG Corral

The two best striker duos in MLS, Donovan and Buddle for LA and Casey and Cummings for Colorado, face off at the Dick tomorrow night. Its a big game for both teams as LA is currently 6 points clear at the top of the West, with Colorado tied for second. A win by LA will make it difficult for them to be caught any time soon, while a win by Colorado puts the Rapids right back into it. Game time is at 7:30pm, and the best tailgate in MLS starts in the East VIP lot at 5:30pm.

Injury Report:

OUT: MID Ciaran O'Brien (L hip sprain), FWD Ross Schunk (R ACL tear)

DOUBTFUL: MID Jamie Smith (R hamstring strain)

LA has 4 players questionable so they're hurting a bit. They also have another game in Seattle on Saturday, while the Rapids are off for a week and a half after this game. I don't expect many changes from Gary Smith:

Pickens

Kimura - Wynne - Moor - Earls

Pablo - Larentowicz

Cummings - Ballouchy - Clark

Casey

The only change I expect is the return of Colin Clark in place of Wells Thompson. Thompson has had a good run, but its time for Clark to get back into the starting XI.

Key To Look For: Edson Buddle. Buddle is on fire, with 9 goals in the first 6 games. The rest of the Galaxy have 1 goal between them. Nobody has been able to stop Buddle yet, and its going to take good team defense for the Rapids to shut him down tomorrow night.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Conor Casey. I can actually see the Rapids losing this one, with as hot as the Galaxy are. Still I think being at home again will be enough to get the Rapids a point. Buddle will get one goal, but Casey will match his competitor for a World Cup roster spot.

Earthquakes Leave Rapids Calling Mayday!

This week's game looked much like last week's game, except last week two of our midfielders scored and this week they didn't.

The Rapids came out in the same 4-5-1 lineup from last week, and once again it helped their possession game. Unfortunately Colorado could not convert the possession into goals. San Jose would take advantage by scoring against the run of play, with some help form the refs. Chris Wondolowski either beat the offside trap barely or was a half a step offside, took a ball out wide, and pinged it off the crossbar and into the net past Matt Pickens. A great shot, but helped by the flag not going up on a very close decision. The Rapids had a hard time generating shots the rest of the match. Colorado outshot San Jose 12-8, but they only forced Cannon to make two saves, one form Danny Earls and one from Wells Thompson. That was their downfall as the Rapids could not find a way to break through and lost a game they probably deserved to get a point from.

My key to the game was midfield dominance, and it wasn't as strong as last week it was still an improvement from the early season play. Dominance is nothing without goals though.

Other Observations:

• Colorado is now tied for 2nd in the West and 3rd overall. We're 6 points behind LA already, which makes Wednesday's game a big one to not fall 9 points back.
  
• Colorado finally gave up a goal form the run of play, our first this season.
• Kimura may have reached the end of his rope. He had a hard time syncing up with the rest of his team.
• Ballouchy regressed somewhat this week. His passes weren't bad, but there was no spark like last week.
• Wells Thompson over Colin Clark? Thompson has been playing well, but Clark is the long-term solution at left mid. There's no reason not to play him if he's not injured.
• I don't get the subs. Defender for defender down 1-0. Young attacker for our best offensive threat over the last two seasons down 1-0. The Lopez on with only 15 minutes to gel with the team. If anything those subs should have been reversed.
• That said, good to see Lopez finally playing. Hopefully he can work up to a starting spot.
• Casey had moments, but needs to do more if he wants to go to the WC.
  
• Worst game we've seem from Cummings in a long time. That will happen from time to time, but its disappointing nobody stepped up.
• I'm glad the small fields of San Jose and Kansas City are in the rear view mirror for the season, barring a playoff matchup. It really changes the style of play, and not in a good way for Colorado.

Player of the Game: Pablo Mastroeni. Back to back MOTMs, for completely different reasons. Last week he got it for his game winning goal. This week he gets it for locking down the defense and stopping any serious San Jose attacks.