YMCA Alert!

The Eastern Conference leading Crew sail into town tomorrow night to face the Rapids. The Rapids are finally back at full strength after the international absences of the last two months. Game time is 7:30pm at the Dick, and the supporters groups will be tailgating starting (officially) at 5:30. I will not be in attendance for the second time in a month as my company's summer picnic is tomorrow night. The DVR's all set up though so I'll see what happens when I get home.

Official Injury Report:
OUT: DF Julien Baudet (L forearm fracture); PROBABLE: FW Conor Casey (L thigh sprain); FW Omar Cummings (L hip tightness), MF Pablo Mastroeni (lower back tightness)

Official Discipline Report:
TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: Mehdi Ballouchy, Pablo Mastroeni, Scott Palguta

Columbus is missing league and MLS Cup MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto to injury along with 2 other players and they have a couple of other players just returning form injury and probably not match fit. My best guess on the Rapids lineup:

Pickens

Ihemelu - Gibbs - Palguta - Harvey
Mastroeni

Smith - Ballouchy - Clark

Cummings - Casey

If Jamie Smith is not ready to start I assume Jacob Peterson would start in his place. Kimura and LaBrocca will probably be the super subs off the bench along with new signing Facundo Diz.

Key To Look For:

Defensive battles. Both teams are tied for 2nd on goals scored this season, so the back line that protects the goal better will be the team that comes out on top. The Rapids will be returning to the back line they used before the Baudet signing, so the players should be fairly familiar with each other (if a bit out of practice). That back line was usually good for one mistake a game, so hopefully they bring their A game this week.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Omar Cummings. Given the Crew's strike power, even without GBS, I don't think the Rapids can keep them off the board. At the same time the Rapids offense is still trying to get back into sync (Red Bulls aside) after all the international absences. I'm sure they'll find a way to score one, but I'm not sure they can do more than that.

Terry Cooke Waived

Reports are trickling out that Terry Cooke, as expected, has been waived by the Rapids. I expect the official announcement will be made at the same time as the signing of his replacement, Jamie Smith, is made. This move is hardly a surprise as its been obvious that Cookie has been out of favor for a while. I'm a little surprised that they couldn't find a taker for him in some sort of trade. If Pat Noonan is worth a first-round draft pick Cooke has to be worth something.

I still think this is a bad move based on our current roster, but if Smith can step in and claim the right midfield position it may be a move for the better. If Smith is a bust though, this is a very bad move by the Rapids.

Red Bull Gives (Opposing Teams) Wings!

Red Bull is apparently just what the doctor ordered for the Rapids. In a game the Rapids controlled from start to finish they never took their foot off a pedal and did exactly what a team is supposed to do when facing weaker opposition by giving them a 4-0 beat down.

The first half started with a bang as Cummings took a Ihemelu pass deep into the corner and crossed the ball in front of the net where Jacob Peterson beat former Rapids keeper Bouna Coundoul for the early lead. After that RBNY had 2 good chances that Pickens had to come up big against, plus a third that Pickens forced to go off the post. It looked like RBNY was going to get back in the game until two different incidents involving NY striker Sinisa Ubiparipovic changed the game. First in the 34th minute a ball was served over the top to him and as he went to make a play on it Rapids defender Julian Baudey came flying in to clear the ball. In the process he slammed into Ubiparipovic, knocking his tooth out. Baudet got the worst of it though as as he tumbled to the ground he fell onto his left arm and had to leave due to injury. 12 minutes later Ubiparipovic lunged into a studs up tackle on Scott Palguta and swept Palguta's plant foot out with his trailing leg. He was properly shown a red card and RBNY played the second half a man down. Colorado would make them pay.

1 minute into the second half Pablo Mastroeni played a through ball to Pat Noonan who broke the offside trap to go in 1v1 on Bouna Time! Noonan got Bouna to go to ground and pushed the ball past him for his first goal as a Rapid and a 2-0 lead. The game was over at this point as the fight went out of the Red Bulls. Colorado wasn't done though. 15 minutes later Coundoul saved a shot from Ballouchy but gave up a soft rebound and Nick LaBrocca was in place to put it away. At this point both teams just played out the game, with the Rapids having long spells of possession (When the fans get tired of the Ole! chant in the 70th minute, you know the other team has quit). A minor foul outside the box in the 67th minute was expected to amount to nothing, but Ballouchy hit possibly the best free kick of his career and bended the ball around the wall for a 4-0 lead. At that point the game was truly over.

My key to the game focus. I was concerned the Rapids might overlook a historically bad Red Bulls side. Clearly the Rapids didn't do that and came out firing.

Other Observations:

• The bad news for the Rapids was the injury to Baudet. Reports today say that he broke both bones in his arm when he fell on it. I have to assume that will put him IR for quite some time, if not the rest of the season.
  
• The silver lining in the injury, if there is one, is that players on IR don't count towards the roster limit, so if he does go on IR the Rapids won't have to move a player to sign Jamie Smith.
  
• We got goals from unusual places in this game. Combined the 4 goalscorers had 3 goals on the season going into the game. It was the first goal of the year for Noonan and the second goals of the year for Peterson, LaBrocca, and Ballouchy.
  
• Cummings deserves an honorable mention in the MOTM voting. He was setting up balls all night. He only got one assist officially, but his was his dangerous play that opened up the opportunities for everyone else.
  
• Cooke looked pretty dejected after the game. Its obvious that he thinks his time in Colorado is over.
  
• It was good to see new signing Facundo Diz get 20 minutes or so. The game was so dead at that point it was hard to see much, but he didn't embarrass himself.
  
• We're going into a rough set of 4 games against Columbus, Chivas, Chicago, and Houston. At least Chicago is the only game on the road.
  

Player of the Game: Matt Pickens. he kept us in the game when it was still 1-0. If RBNY had found some hope by tying the game it may have been a very different result.

Rapids Try To Find Their Wings Against Red Bull

A closeup of my cousin's new baby daughter Abigail. One thing Rapids fans and Sounders fans can agree on is that NY is crap

Red Bull New York Red Bulls are in town tomorrow to take on a Rapids side that needs to right itself. The game is at 7:30 tomorrow night at the Dick, to be followed by the rescheduled fireworks for the 4th of July. The supporters groups will be tailgating as always starting at 5:30.

Official Injury Report:
NONE

Official Discipline Report:
SUSPENDED: Conor Casey (Caution Accumulation)
TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: Mehdi Ballouchy, Pablo Mastroeni, Scott Palguta

International Absences:
Colin Clark (U.S. National Team)

New York has two players out injured and two players listed as questionable. They aren't missing anyone to discipline or international duty. Facundo Diz will be available, but recent reports don't have him in shape to be starting for the Rapids yet, so I'm guessing he'll be on the bench. My guess on the lineup:

Pickens

Kimura - Gibbs - Baudet - Harvey
Mastroeni

Peterson - Ballouchy - LaBrocca

Cummings - Noonan

I've heard from a good source that Cooke will be starting on the bench (continuing to indicate that he's the odd man out when Jamie Smith signs). This is the first time that all 5 defenders that have gotten significant play time and Baudet are available, so picking the back line is fairly difficult. I think Palguta is one of the two unlikely to start, but the second could be any of the rest of the group.

Key To Look For:

Focus. There's a big game coming up next week against Columbus, and its easy to overlook RBNY. New York is working on a historically bad season and this could be a seen as an "easy" win by some players. If the Rapids do that though, they'll let the Red Bulls sneak out of a town with a point, or maybe 3. They need to focus on putting RBNY away and worry about Columbus starting Sunday.

Prediction: 2-0 win, both goals by Omar Cummings. Red Bull is an awful team and its just the type of team the Rapids need to right the ship. Omar's due for a multiple goal game and a disorganized defense like New York's is a good team to score against.

Facundo Diz Signed

The Rapids announced the signing of Argentine forward Facundo Diz today. He'll provide depth up front behind Casey and Cummings, and competition for Noonan to be the first striker off the bench. With this signing the Rapids are at the limit of 20 senior-roster players, so any more moves (Like adding Jamie Smith) will require somebody be traded or cut.