Turmoil In The Front Office/All-Time Team Recap

I was just going to do a recap of my All-Time Team tonight but the Denver Post had an interesting article about tension in the Rapids Front Office this afternoon. It seems that Gary Smith is happy to sign a new contract for next year, but not if he has to continue to work with Technical Director Paul Bravo.

Apparently Paul and Gary don't see eye to eye on some of the decisions made this season. There's no details as to which issues have caused the conflict, but given some of the reaction I've heard from various points in the Front Office I'm willing to bet that some of it stems from the choices made for the CONCACAF Champions League. Needless to say this leaves Managing Director Jeff Plush a big problem he'll have to handle quickly to keep it from becoming a distraction.

If it were up to me I would tell Smith that Bravo's the Technical Director next year and he can either accept that and sign the contract offer or he can choose to leave. Its no secret that I have been less than thrilled with Smith's decisions this year and I'm not sure I want the Rapids to bring him back anyway, despite him being the best coach in Colorado history (unfortunately not a tough bar to cross). To add this on top of it means I wouldn't be all that interested in going out of my way to make Smith happy.

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On to better things. Over the course of the season I've been picking my Rapids All-Time Team, which I finished last night. For those who came in late or just to jog your memories, here's the full team:

Cannon

Vermes - Balboa - Kotschau

Limpar - Mastroeni - Paz - Henderson

Cummings - Casey - Spencer

Head Coach: Gary Smith

Bench: Hahnemann, Bent, Moor, Karanak, Ben Dayan, Valderrama, Bravo

Assistant Coaches: Glenn 'Mooch' Myernick, John Murphy

What do you think? Who would be on your team? Discuss in the comments or in the BigSoccer thread I created.

Rapids All-Time Team: Bench

The bench is kind of the "Honorable Mention" category of the All-Time team. Players (and coaches) that were in the running but didn't quite make the cut.

Marcus Hahnemann - GK (1997-1999): Hahnemann was the first player that developed at the Rapids and moved on to better pastures. Marcus stepped in after a bad 1996 season and gave the team a rock to build from.

Jason Bent - D (1998-2000): Bent has been the only player to really claim the left back spot for more than a season. While the skill level of the league has passed the level he played at, at his time he was solid player out wide and going forward.

Drew Moor - D (2009-present): Honestly if I had done this list next year Moor probably would have been a starter. He hadn't missed a game as a Rapid until late this season, and his goal-line clearance at the end of MLS Cup preserved our first championship.

Aitor Karanka - D (2006): Karanka had more skill than any defender we've seen on a Rapids uniform. The only 3-time Champions League winner to ever play for the Rapids he brought a wealth of experience, and even showed up at the start of training camp in 2007 hoping to work out a new contract even though the team didn't want him.

Dedi Ben Dayan - M (2005-2006): Ben Dayan was electric on the left side of midfield. He was dangerous every time he touched the ball. Eventually though he returned home to his family in Israel, making for a far too short career in Colorado.

Carlos 'El Pibe' Valderrama - M (2001-2002): Probably the biggest name (and certainly the biggest hair) not to make the starting XI. El Pibe was the best player in MLS in its first decade and even in his final year in Colorado he was still hitting pinpoint passes to the forwards. The one knock against him was that it seemed like he never moved outside a 20 yard circle all game, and played almost no defense.

Paul Bravo - F (1997-2001): The only member of the Gallery of Honor not to make the starting XI, Bravo was the closest thing the Rapids had to an offensive powerhouse in their first 5-6 years. Until Conor Casey arrived Bravo held most of the team scoring records. Now he serves as the team's Technical Director. If I could have figured out a way to put 4 forwards on the field I would have.

Glenn 'Mooch' Myernick - Coach (1997 - 2000): As I said in my post about Gary Smith, Mooch was the only other head coach even in the running for this list. Until Gary Smith's MLS Cup win last year Mooch was the only coach to take the team to a final, and his record is second only to Smith's. Sadly Mooch passed away in 2006.

John Murphy - Coach (2006 - 2008): Murphy was largely credited for the Rapids great draft classes in 2006 and 2007, and coaching the reserve teams to their Reserve Championships in 2006 and 2007. Those teams produced players like Omar Cummings, Kosuke Kimura, Nick Labrocca, Bouna Coundoul, and Jordan Harvey.

Rapids All-Time Team: Head Coach

The head coach for the Rapids All-Time Team is Gary Smith.

How Joined: Hired as a liaison for the Arsenal Academy.

Years In Colorado: 2008 through present

There have been 6 total head coaches in Colorado's history, but there were only two under consideration for this spot, Glenn 'Mooch' Myernick and Gary Smith.

Gary Smith joined the Rapids in February before the 2008 season through Arsenal with the idea that he would work with the Arsenal youth academy program based out of DSG Park. He was almost immediately promoted to assistant coach under Fernando Clavijo though, a move rumored to have been made by the Front Office and not Claivjo. When Clavijo's family issues forced him to leave the team Gary was given the title of interim head coach for the last third of the 2008 season, then had the interim label removed shortly after the end of the season.

He took over a Rapids side that was teetering on the edge of playoff elimination and kept them ion the race until the final day. 2009 played out similarly as Colorado was eliminated with their loss to FSL in the final game. In 2010 Gary finally had all the pieces and while the team only finished 7th overall they clinched a playoff berth with 2 games to play, and of course they took that momentum all the way to their first MLS Cup victory. This year the team has played very similar to prior years under Gary Smith, and once again we are on the edge of clinching a playoff spot or being eliminated with 2 games left.

In comparison to the rest of the coaches in team history only Mooch comes close. Myernick took over a worse team and let them to MLS Cup in his first year (losing to D.C.), and he also took the Rapids to their only U.S. Open Cup final (losing to Rochester). However Gary Smith's teams average 1.44 points per game in league play, the best in team history (Mooch's teams averaged 1.35). The MLS Cup combined with the best overall record beats Mooch's two finals for the all-time best coach.

Rapids All-Time Team: All-Around Forward

The starting all-around forward for the Rapids All-Time Team is John Spencer.

How Acquired: Transferred for free from Scottish side Motherwell.

Years In Colorado: 2001 through 2004

How Departed: Retired after the 2004 season.

For the final player pick on the All-Time team I went with possibly the biggest heart the team has ever had (though Kimura gives him a run for his money) the wee Scotsman John Spencer. The heart and soul of the Rapids in the early 2000s, Spencer was the face of the team under Tim Hankinson. His fiery play led the team and made him a fan favorite.

In his first season Spencer scored 14 goals in 22 games, a Rapids record for goals in a season (since broken by Conor Casey), and was named to the league's Best XI squad. After an injury-plagued 2002 he repeated his 14 goal total in 2003, once again making the league Best XI and becoming one of the finalists for the MVP award. Spencer scored the first hat-trick in Colorado history, and he still ranks in the top 3 in most of the Rapids goal-scoring records. He is probably the best international player ever found by the Rapids, with Anders Limpar being his only real competition for that title.

Beyond the numbers Spencer brought a level of emotion to the field rarely seen in Colorado. As a fan you knew that he was giving it all for every minute he was playing, and he would have nothing left when he came off the pitch. Not only that, but woe be to the referee or opposing player who Spenny thought had done him or his Rapids teammates wrong. Somehow he had a way of showing his...displeasure...with whomever ticked him off without looking like he was losing it like Pablo often does. He was rightfully named captain most of the time he was in Colorado and was the team leader on the field.

That wraps up the starting lineup for the Rapids All-Time Team. This series is not over though as there are other positions still to be named.

Rapids Learn You Wynne Moor With Good Defense

Sorry for the double pun. ;) Saturday night a solid game from Colorado resulted in a much needed 3 points. Much like MLS Cup (but not quite as bad) the game wasn't pretty but it was successful.

The Rapids had the better of the play for most of the first half, punctuated by 2 shots on goal between the 23rd and 26th minute. The first forced a big Hartman save off a Sanna Nyassi blast from about 25 yards out. The second was a header from Drew Moor crashing the box on a corner kick. That one was not saved and the Rapids had a 1-0 lead. Dallas wasn't going to go away quietly though and turned up the pressure at the end of the half. In the final 5 minutes the former Burn forced Matt Pickens into two huge saves to preserve the lead and a 3rd play right at the post that probably would have gone outside the post but better safe than sorry.

The second half was more even and much sloppier. Despite the ugliness of the play though, only one shot on goal was recorded. Jamie Smith blasted it from 30 yards out to force another save. That doesn't mean there weren't plenty of chances. Nyassi missed an open net from a wide angle 30 yards out. Dallas had a chance to hit an open net when Pickens came out and didn't get the ball but they put it over the crossbar. At one point a Dallas attacker had it on his feet at the 6-yard box but couldn't get a shot off. Things got really interesting in the final 15 minutes when Comminges (correctly) got his second yellow and the Rapids played down a man. At that point though it looked like Colorado outplayed Dallas for the rest of the game.

My key to the game was how well splitting the team worked. Well 2 wins in a week is about the best you can ask for.

Other Observations:

• Once again Gary Smith proves that what he says to the media and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar (to paraphrase the great Jayne Cobb) On Tuesday he was quoted as saying that anyone who went to Metapan would play no more than a sub role in this game, leading me and others to question why he was sending Omar Cummings. Saturday night Cummings started.
• Drew Moor's goal was a textbook example of a corner kick play. Perfect cross into the box from Nyassi and Moor crashed in to hammer it home.
• Pickens really showed the two sides to his game this season. Great saves at the end of the first half, but twice in the second half he looked indecisive on whether to stay on his line or come out. The first was cleared by Wynne, the second resulted in that chip over the bar mentioned earlier.
• Kimura may never turn out to be a great player, but he's turned into a good one. just another solid performance from him, especially after he had his bell rung.
• Along those lines, buy a Kimura shirt to support Japan relief!
• Comminges got two correct yellow cards. The first for time wasting when he grabbed the ball for a throw-in then wandered over to the bench for water. If he gets the water before grabbing the ball he probably gets away with it, but that was too blatant. The second was for clearing out a Dallas attacker that was going to beat him.
• Dallas was forced to make a sub in the first half to bring Jackson off before he was red-carded. The difference was that Jackson committed a yellow-card foul, and committed a second close-to-yellow-card foul a few minutes later. By not being as obviously a yellow card as Comminges foul it allowed the ref to give Jackson a stern talking to, which prompted Dallas to sub him out.
• Nyassi really should have hit the mark on his 30-yard miss. Hartman charged out but Nyassi beat him to the ball and Hartman slid to block a shot before Nyassi did anything. Nyassi could have taken an extra second to make sure he got it on target, touched it around the sliding Hartman and shot it on target, or with his speed touched it around Hartman and dribbled in closer before shooting.
• Great use of subs by Smith. Marshall came on for Mullan to restore the 4-man back line after the Comminges card, Thompson came in to spell Smith and add some defense to the midfield, and Kandji came in for Cummings to run at the tired Dallas defense.
• Kudos to Gary Smith for getting two wins with his strategy this week. I'm still not convinced we couldn't have done that with Smith coaching both games though.
• The 3 points gets us 2 points from clinching a playoff spot, and as teams below us knock each other out I'm feeling fairly confident that our current 45 points will be enough.
• Still, the next game is the Rocky Mountain Cup match against FSL. We need to win that to win the Cup back and as an added bonus we'll clinch a playoff spot. The Rapids have released the first of a Kings of the Rockies series of videos. you can see your humble writer holding the trophy at the 1 minute mark and again about 1:40.

Player of the Game: Marvell Wynne. Time and time again when a Dallas attack looked promising he was there to shut it down.