Niko traded

(Sorry about the lack of updates, a long weekend of travel combined with a week of training at work has diminished my blogging time recently)

The Rapids made a move today, sending Niko Hernandez to Columbus for Tim Ward and a 3rd round pick in the '09 Supplimental Draft.

This was a solid move by the Rapids. Niko showed nothing last year and for the amount of money he is going to get in 2008 he would have been a very expensive bench player. Tim Ward is a left back, a position we're already quite deep at, but he's Generation Adidas which means his salary does not count against the cap and he doesn't take up a roster spot. This gives us some freedom to either trade one of our left backs or try one of them out on the right side as both Ihemelu and Gargan are recovering from injury and may not be ready for Opening Day.

Rapids Simultaniously Defeat and Draw the U-17's

Tonight the Rapids played two simultaneous games against the U.S. U-17 team. Both games were played in three 30 minute periods and teams apparently switched players between games between periods. The Rapids defense in both games was perfect while one set of attackers managed to put a brace on the board while the others were held scoreless. Niko and Harvey got the goals with assists from Hilgenbrinck and Cummings.

Expected starters that played in either game consisted of Bouna, Erpen, Burciaga Jr., Cooke, and Clark, plus whomever ends up winning the battle for the forward positions.

The bad news is that Petke and Pablo have returned to Denver for further treatment of their injuries.

Tomorrow night the Rapids take on Rocky Mountain Cup rivals FSL in their final match before leaving Florida and stopping at home before heading to London to train with Arsenal. Hopefully Christian Gomez and Ugo Ihemelu will be good enough to get some time against FSL, they need to get integrated into the team as soon as possible.

Weekend Roundup

Queen of the South - Another week, another 3-1 win for Queens. This time the opponent was Stirling, currently sitting at the bottom of the table and looking at a future in the 2nd Division. Queens extended their winning streak to 7 games and 9 of the last 10. Queens started out quickly with 3threegreat chances, but only converting one of them. Stirling would get that one back, but right before half Queens took the lead for good on a Paul Burns strike. The second half was much quieter with Stirling never turely threatening and Queens getting the insurance goal midway through the period. QoS is still in 4th place in the table, 3 points back of St. Jonhstone in 3rd. They are now closer to the top than the relegation zone which I believe is a first for Queens in their current stay in the 1st Division.

Blackburn Rovers - Blackburn Rovers had the week off and the team travelled to Florida for a mid-season break.

Tenerife - Tenerife missed a great chance to move up in the standings against another team in the promotion hunt. Hercules proved too much for them as CDT gave up a goal midway through bolth halves, managing to equalize for a time right after the break but it wasn't enough. A win would have put CDT within 3 points of the last promotion spot, but with the loss they stay in 9th, 6 points from promotion.

Ebbsfleet United - Ebbsfleet faced Crawley Town in midweek play. It was a quick start to the match with both sides scoring in the first 15 minutes. This was followed partway through the first half by an own goal by Crawley Town. The own goal would probve to be the winner as both teams had numerous chances but couldn't convert.

43 hours later Ebbsfleet faced Torquay, again on the road. The short rest time between two road games proved to be too much for Ebbsfleet as they fell to a dominant performance by Torquay. One goal in the first half and a second soon after the break had Ebbsfleet back on their heels. The 'Fleet got one back, but in pushing for the equalizer Torquay got behind the defense to score the third 5 minutes before the end and stop any hopes of a comeback. With the split decisions this week Ebbsfleet remain in 9th in the table, 6 points from a playoff spot.

Next up is the FA Trophy Quarterfinal at Burton Albion on Saturday. This will be the first game with MyFC officially in charge as the handover was completed today.

Rapids Odds and Ends

We've got some player rumors and preseason results since last I updated.

• The Rapids are pursuing Brazilian forward Reinaldo from the Austrlian A-League. Reports are that they've filed a discovery claim on him, which would give them first shot at signing the target man. FSL is also pursuing the striker (and sorry about linking to an FSL news story ;) ). I'm all for a new target man who's good with his head, we need somebody to latch on to Cookie's crosses.
• Also from that same link the Rapids have former U-17 player Fernando Ayala in camp. He's been playing in South America and Croatia since his time with the U-17's in 2003. His agent says he's confident Ayala will make the squad. given the amount of crap that agents say and the ups and downs of Clavijo's personnel moves that probably means the odds are 50/50 at best. ;)
• The Rapids faced Florida Atlantic on Friday night, playing to a 0-0 draw over 3 30 minute periods. The only expected starters for Opening Day in the starting 11 were Erpen, Burciaga Jr., Cooke, and Clark. Peterson and Cummings played up front and with the fluidity of our forward situation they may or may not be opening day starters. Niko and Kirovski played the middle 30 minutes up front, otherwise it was a mixture of reserves and trialists that made up the lineup. Hard to take much away from this game.
• On Saturday the Rapids faced Honduran club Marathon in a 40 minute scrimmage, winning 3-0 on a Cummings goal and two own goals by Marathon. The starting 11 featured the same 4 expected Opening Day starters, with Peterson and Cummings up front. Again, not much to be drawn from this match.

News From Training Camp

The Rapids are in south Florida for preseason training this week. The newest journal shows the lineups from today's squad scrimmage. It looks like first team vs. second team, with some players held out for injury reasons. Looking at the first team squad gives us a good indication of what Clavijo is thinking at the moment;

Hughes
Kimura - Keel - Erpen - Burciaga Jr.
Cooke - Ballouchy - C. Gomez - Clark
Kirovski - Cummings

The players that didn't participate in the scrimmage due to injury were Petke, Pablo, H. Gomez, and Ihemelu, among others. Bouna Time! was also absent as he isn't expected to return from his national team duties (and hopefully some time off to see his family while he's in Africa) until this weekend.

I think its safe to assume that Pablo, Petke, and Bouna will be part of the starting 11, most likely taking the places of Ballouchy, Keel, and Hughes in this lineup. That gives us the look of a traditional 4-4-2 diamond formation, with the expectation that our outside backs will have to be focused on defending as Clark and cooke are almost purely attack-minded players.

It appears that the forwards and the outside backs are the most unsettled of the positions. Kimura showed well for his age at the end of last season and could challenge Ihemelu for the right back slot, while both Burciaga and Hilgenbrink are fighting for the open left back position. Up front nobody stood out last season, though H.Gomez looked the best before his season was cut short with an ACL injury. With Casey out for at least the first couple of months of the season H.Gomez, Kirovski, Cummings, Peterson, and Hernandez all have a shot at the opening day lineup. I think the most likely duo is H.Gomez and Kirovski. The first because he was the most dangerous player we had at forward last season, and the second because regardless of his play Clavijo seems to believe he brings something to the team.