Rapids Get First Win, Rocky Mountain Cup Lead

Colorado got its first win on Saturday night, holding on to an early goal to win 1-0.  The game started almost as well as you could hope.  Hendry Thomas played a great ball to Labrocca on the left wing, and he sent it in to Buddle in the box.  Borchers did everything short of mugging Buddle to get to the ball but Edson held him off as long as he could and as he was being pushed to the ground he poked the ball across to Harris who was busy fixing a sandwich on the other side of the box.  Wide open as he was he had enough time to put the sandwich down and knock the ball in for the lead before anyone got near him.  He then went with the 'rock the baby' celebration to honor his new daughter.

3 minutes later it looked like the Rapids gave the advantage right back.  Off a corner kick Dillon Powers was called for hauling down Kyle 'Rapids Reject' Beckerman in the box.  Rapids killer Alvaro Saborio who had hit 12 of 12 PKs for FSL stepped up but Clint Irwin was able to push the shot into the post and Powers redeemed himself by booting the ball down to the other end of the field to remove the danger.

The rest of the game see-sawed back and forth between the teams.  For the most part the Rapids were absorbing pressure and counter-attacking (FSL had 60% of the possession in the match) but both teams had good chances they were unable to convert.  The teams each had 3 shots on goal and 6 off target.  The Rapids got closest off a nice little cross on the ground from Chris Klute that DeShorn Brown redirected just off the post and a Jamie Smith shot that Rimando had to push around the post.  Clint Irwin had to come up big on two saves himself and Saborio had a couple of chances he couldn't put on frame.

My key to the match was defensive discipline and while things broke down occasionally (plus the PK) the Rapids were stout enough to get their first shutout of the season.  Can't ask for much more than that.

Special Rant:

Excuse me while I divert from the analysis of the game for a moment.  It was an embarrassing joke that the Rapids came out wearing their blue alternate kits for this game.  The biggest complaint many fans (including myself) had about the kits when they were revealed is that they looked too much like FSL kits.  So when FSL is the road team you allow them to wear their home jerseys while we wear kits that make us look like them?  Why?  The fans bleed Rapids burgundy, no more so than when we play FSL.  Especially this year when the burgundy kits carry the support of the fans through their names on the jersey and there's no game that the fans give their support to more than the Rocky Mountain Cup matches.

I asked the Rapids for an explanation today and they said that the team decided they would wear the blue kits at home once this season, but they asked the players which game they wanted to wear them for and the players chose the FSL game.  I'm not sure if they're just passing the buck to the players or that was the decision of the locker room but somebody in the Front Office should have stepped in and said "No, for FSL we wear burgundy, period."  I know there's some logic in the Colorado State Flag kit representing all of Colorado against Utah but that doesn't hold up IMO.

Random Thoughts:

• OK, back to discussion of the game now.  ;)  The win gives the Rapids a 4 point to 1 point lead in the Rocky Mountain Cup.  A win or draw in the final game at the Dick in August brings the Cup home (finally), a loss leaves it in Utah for another year.
• The PK was a technically correct call, but its nothing that doesn't happen on every corner kick.  Powers mistake was that he did it out in the open instead of in the scrum in the middle.
• Oh, and the fact it was Beckerman he was up against.  The instant Powers touched him Beckerman went rag doll to draw the call.  Diver.
• Clint Irwin is the first GK in MLS history to face PK's in each of his first 3 starts.  He's guessed right every time and this time he got there.
• Both teams can feel hard done by from the ref.  After he set the bar with that early PK call he let numerous obvious PKs go.  Both teams should have clearly had a PK call that he ignored.
• Not to mention that by the end of the game I had no idea what a foul was.  Big collisions would get no call, but breathing the wrong way on a player would draw a whistle.  Bad day from the center referee.
• Buddle absolutely made Nat 'Rapids Reject' Borchers look useless on the goal.
• Harris may have gotten the goal, but I could have scored it from there given how open he was.  Otherwise he didn't do anything to make me think he should be starting.  Dribbling the ball backwards out of bounds in the first 3 minutes was a wonderful start.
• There's no way DeShorn Brown has the energy to play the way he does for 34 games.  Eventually he's going to either learn to pace himself or have to sit down for a couple of games to recover.  He's fun to watch though.
• I hate to say it, but I'm not sure there's a place for Pablo once he's healthy.  He should start certain games where a stiffer spine is needed (like the final RMC match) but right now I think Powers (eventually Rivero), LaBrocca, and Thomas have got the midfield.
• Klute is raw but you can see what the various coaches have seen in him with their talk.  If we have an option to buy him from his loan we should really think about it.
• O'Neill is getting great experience while Moor is out.  He'll be a go to sub off the bench now and spot starter when other starters aren't available.
• I almost forgot we had Nathan Sturgis on the roster.

Player of the Match: Clint Irwin.  Saved a PK, made a couple of other big saves, and got his first shutout. Irwin's the man!

Doing The Double

We'll get to the Rapids first win tomorrow, but this morning Queen of the South completed the double by beating 1st Division leaders Partick Thistle in the Ramsdens Cup final.  This was the League Challenge Cup open to teams from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd divisions.  Queens won 6-5 on penalties after 120 minutes ended with the teams level at 1 apiece.

The 90 minutes ended 0-0, then the Doonhamers scored in the 101st minute.  They gave up a PK in the 118th minute, only to save it in the 119th which sparked a melee int he box that ended with a Partick player seeing red.  The referee added time on after the festivites and in the added time Partick Thistle found the equalizer to force penalties.  After Queens saved Partick's first penalty but missed their own 2nd penalty everybody made their spot kicks until the 7th round when Queens was on target and the QoS goalkeeper came up with his 3rd PK save in 15 minutes to seal the deal.

This is Queen of the South's 2nd win in the 22 years of the competition and 4th final appearance.  The latter is tied with Ross County, Hamilton Academical, and Falkirk for the most appearances and they are now one of 6 teams to have won it multiple times.  Falkirk has won all 4 of its appearances in the final, and the now-defunct Airdrieonians won it 3 times before folding at the end of the 2001-02 season.  Last time Queens won the Cup was in 2002.  At the end of the 2001-2002 season Queens won the 2nd Division and were promoted and that fall they won the Cup (the whole competition was played in the fall then instead of holding the final for the spring) giving them an "unofficial" double of winning both competitions in the same calendar year.  Now they've officially done the double, winning both competitions in the same season.

ALERT: FaKe SaLt LaKe Is In Town

 

This is the year we get it back

The second of three Rocky Mountain Cup matches today!  After a 1-1 draw on the West side of the mountains the Rapids have their best chance in a couple of years to claim the Cup with two home games remaining.  The winner tonight will take a huge step to winning the 2013 Cup.  Game time tonight is 5:30pm so the tailgate starts at 2:30.  Centennial 38 will have new scarves for sale at the tailgate.  For those of you who can't get to the Dick, this game is nationally televised on the NBC Sports Network (which will also be showing this year's Paris-Roubaix, aka the Hell of the North, cycling classic tomorrow morning).

Injury Report:

OUT:  DF Diego Calderon (R knee Surgery), MF Jaime Castrillon (R knee surgery), MF Kevin Harbottle (L strained MCL), MF Pablo Mastroeni (L quad strain), GK Matt Pickens (L arm fracture), MF Martin Rivero (R foot fracture),

Discipline Report:
SUSPENDED: DF Drew Moor

Ineligible:

FW Charles Eloundou - Still waiting on visa

That's an ugly availability report, with only 21 players to select from.  FSL has 2 players out and 8 players questionable.  My guess at today's XI:

This essentially the same formation we used last week when we jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Portland.  With Smith available he could play for LaBrocca or we could see Wallace in the back line but I bet Pareja sticks with what he did last week.

Key To Look For: Defensive discipline.  We can't seem to go 90 minutes without making a major defensive blunder, if we're going to win this we'll need to.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Brown.  They're healthier than they were 3 weeks ago, but their on the road now.  FSL hasn't won here in 5 years and that's not going to change tonight.  Colorado will do enough to get the draw and let everything be decided by the final game in August.

The Strange Story Of Charles Eloundou

Many weeks ago you might remember that the Rapids won a lottery for the rights of Charles Eloundou, a 18-year old Cameroonian striker.  So far Eloundou has been unable to join the team in Colorado due to "administrative issues".  Today a couple of articles were posted detailing some of these issues.  First Chris Bianchi of MLSSoccer.com posted an article discussing things from the Rapids point of view.  It doesn't have much detail as to what the problems are, but the Rapids feel MLS has all the contracts they need to bring Eloundou over and they are enlisting FIFA's help to get the process moving.  You might remember last season when the Argentine FA held up Rivero's paperwork and FIFA had to step in to clear him.  There's also clarification that Eloundou's signing is now a full signing, not a loan.  Bianchi later tweeted some clarification as to one of the major hold-ups

Cameroon FA tops the list. Clubs want more money.

This seems to match what was revealed in the second article found today but posted last week.  Cameroon-Info.net has dug into things from the Cameroonian end and they appear to be very interesting.  There's a couple of caveats here though.  I have no idea of the reputation of Cameroon-Info.net, I don't know if its the equivalent of NPR or the News of the World.  Secondly the article is in French, which I don't read, and I'm relying on Google Translate to interpret for me.  With those advisories in place lets take a look.

Th article states that the Cameroonian FA (FECAFOOT) is pressuring Eloundou to break the contract with MLS and stay in Cameroon by joining Coton Sport FC in Garoua.  The FA has threatened him with being left out of any National Team call-ups and have bribed his family members to convince him to stay.  Reportedly the head of the FA has even called his mother to try to pressure Eloundou, but his mother appears to say Eloundou is ready to fight to pursue his dream of playing in the U.S.  It appears that MLS took advantage of the fact that he was signed as a youth player until he turned 18 and there was a provision in his contract that allowed him to leave if he got a full professional contract offer.  The Cameroonian FA now wants to keep this talent at home, probably thinking of the transfer fees they can gain from a European club if he stays, while MLS signed him on a free transfer due to the age issue.  Reportedly MLS signed him in December, and Charles' 18th birthday (the earliest a player can be signed to a full contract by a team outside his home country) was Dec. 4th so MLS did their research and made their move as soon as they could.

MLS may be behind the curve in on-field talent, but they're second to none on the business side.  I'm sure that MLS crossed the t's and dotted the i's on their contract offer, just as they did with Martin Rivero last year.  Assuming that nothing was missed I would assume that FIFA would come in like they did with Rivero and officially transfer Eloundou's rights to MLS.  However this is FIFA so the right money in the right place could change the expected result.  The Denver Post said they'll have more about this tomorrow, we'll see if its anything more than what Cameroon-Info.net says.

Rapids Don't Have Enough Power To Fell Timbers

A banged up Rapids lineup looked good for 50 minutes and bad for 40, but that's all that was needed to drop 2 points.  As I predicted Portland didn't really start playing and Colorado got an early goal.  An absolute rocket from rookie Dillon Powers that goes right to the top of the early list for team Goal of the Year, put the Rapids up in the 18th minute.  That was after Colorado was unlucky on an early shot from Brown that hit the post and the follow up rebound shot hit the other post.  Colorado controlled most of the 1st half, though Portland did have a good chance right after the Rapids goal.

The second half started very well as Tony Cascio had a nice fake to beat two defenders into the box and as he took the shot he was clipped from behind.  The shot was saved but the PK was called.  Hendry Thomas(?!) stepped up and converted the spot kick for to give the Rapids a 2 goal lead 3 minutes into the half.  That's when, as predicted, Portland decided to start playing.  8 minutes later Ryan Johnson crossed the ball into the box and found Will Johnson unmarked to half Colorado's lead.  Johnson was one of 3 players unmarked on the play.  The Rapids kept the pressure up but couldn't find the 3rd goal, O'Neill in particular being denied by a Save of the Year candidate from Donovan Ricketts.  In the 77th minute Portland got the makeup PK you kind of felt was coming.  Atiba Harris stuck his boot into the midsection of a Portland attacker and the referee didn't hesitate.  The Timbers converted and defended the 2-2 draw to get out of town with a point.

My key to the game was scoring, and we did manage it and probably should have had more.  It just happened to be at the same time we chose to give up 2 goals to Portland for the first time.

Random Thoughts:

• We didn't even make it to game time without another injury, with Kevin Harbottle hurting his knee in Friday's training.  Rumors are he'll be out a month.
• That left the Rapids with only 18 players not injured, suspended, or ineligible.  Luckily despite being Questionable Buddle was able to start, giving Pareja 19 players to choose from.  That left Dillon Serna as the odd available player out who didn't dress for the game.  It may also have been injury related as he only made the subs list for the reserve game on Sunday.
• Buddle admitted after the game he wasn't ready to start, and it showed.  He was clearly overweight and not at the level of fitness he should have been at.  He also appeared disengaged from the rest of the team to the point that I'm wondering if he wants to be here.  I'm trying not to make a judgement on such a small sample size though.
• Both PK calls were somewhat minor infractions, but good calls.  Other refs might have let both of them go but the right move is to call neither of them or both of them.  Neither team should feel hard done by.
• Atiba Harris is a waste of a roster space.  The only memorable thing he did was give up the PK.
• DeShorn Brown really looks like he'll be good after some more seasoning.  Right now he's just pushing too much I think.
• On the first Timbers goal the reason 3 players were unmarked is that the backline was playing a pretty good offside trap.  Unfortunately Ryan Johnson spun Mullan around so much to get clear to make the cross that Mullan allowed his momentum to take him behind the line the defense set, putting at least 2 of the Timbers players back onside, including the goal scorer.
• O'Neill and Klute did fairly well for being thrown into the fire like they were.  Its hard to blame them on either goal.
• Clint Irwin looked good again, harsh to have to face PK shots in your first two starts.  He's given up 4 goals total and its hard to say he had any blame in any of them.

Player of the Match: Dillon Powers.  Even without the goal he would have been the choice.  He had a solid game distributing the ball and pressing the attack and the gaol was good enough to make Sportscenter's top plays.