USOC Qualification Announced

MLS announced the qualification format and hosts for this year's U.S. Open Cup. As in the past 4 years some MLS teams, including the Rapids, will have to qualify for the U.S. OPEN Cup. The top 6 teams in last years standings qualify automatically. Colorado, by virtue of the meltdown to FSL in the last 5 minutes of the final regular season game, finished 7th (but probably got an easier road to their MLS Cup victory).

The Rapids will play Chicago in the second round, after getting a first round bye, then if they win they'll play the winner of San Jose and the winner of the Portland-Chivas first round match-up for a spot in the true U.S. Open Cup.

As int he past 3 years, the hosts for the play-in games were determined by a "coin flip". I put coin flip in quotes because for the 7th and 8th straight time, the Rapids lost the coin flip to host either possible round this year. The odds of losing 8 straight coin flips are 1 in 256, or 0.39%. Only one of the eight coin flips was filmed for public viewing. Not only that, but a majority of the prior coin flip losses occurred when it would be convenient for the Rapids to play on the road since they had a league match in their opposition city scheduled that same week. I was actually hoping that would work in our favor, since Chicago is here in May, but I guess not.

Given what Gary Smith said 2 years ago about "back room deals" in deciding the sites of the game, I don't think anything has changed. Now that we have a MLS Cup though, I don't mind nearly as much. While I still want to win the U.S. Open Cup, at least we have a trophy in our case already.

Folan Signing Imminent?

The BBC is reporting that the transfer of Caleb Folan from Hull City to the Rapids could be completed this weekend. Hull City has agreed to let him go on a free transfer and all that's left is to work out the details of the contract.

At the same time Nick Thomas has reported that the Rapids are working on a new contract with Omar Cummings. That's an indicator that he's likely not leaving this summer unless a big offer comes in.

Combining those two pieces of news i'm guessing Folan is not being offered a DP contract. Casey and Cummings are clearly the starters, and Smith was quoted last week that he doesn't expect to move to a 4-3-3 or to push Cummings back to midfield in order to start all 3 of them. So Folan would be a bench player and you don't sign a bench player to a DP contract.

At best he'll be offered league max of 335K a year, but that's even high for somebody likely to be a bench player. It will be interesting to see what happens.

News and Notes 2/21

The Rapids posted an article by Nick Thomas today that gives some insight into the last few roster spots. Assuming that Emory, Ababio, and Holody accept their contract offers that leaves 4 roster spots. Smith says that 2 of them are senior spots and 1 of them is a developmental spot. The team is still hoping for Folan to fill one of the senior spots, and the second is believed to be for a English defender playing in Greece. That would most likely be Jordan Stewart.

Stewart spent his career in the English Championship, with one season in the EPL with Watford. Stewart is primarily a left-back but can play center back in a pinch. He's currently on loan from Sheffield United to Skoda Xanthi in Greece.

The last developmental spot is being left open to let Josh Janniere, a Canadian from Toronto's academy, compete for it. Janniere is a right winger who has already been in camp with the Rapids and will be returning this week. I'm not sure how this works with the MLS Academy rules, but I'm assuming Toronto has decided he doesn't feature in their plans and/or the Rapids are possibly willing to make him a full player right now and Toronto isn't. Either way, he's being brought into camp this week to try to claim that last developmental spot.

There should be a 4th spot available as that would only be 29 contracted players. I don't know if Smith has something in mind for the 30th spot or if he wants to leave a spot open to start the season.

In unrelated news there's a good interview with Smith in the Arsenal magazine.

Roster Update

The Rapids have given an update on the status of the 8 trialists that traveled with the team to Arizona. First-round draft pick Eddie Ababio, Metro State trialist Steven Emory, and former Rapids player Michael Holody have all been offered contracts. The team has also started negotiations with Irish international Caleb Folan. Andy Lorei, Adrian Leroy, JT Murray, and Logan Emory have completed their trials and left the club.

That gives us 23 rostered players, 3 players with contract offers, and 1 player in contract negotiations. With a roster limit of 30 that gives us room for at least 3 more players. Here's the breakdown right now:

Under Contract:

Goalkeepers:

Steward Ceus

Ian Joyce

Matt Pickens

Defenders:

Kosuke Kimura

Tyrone Marshall

Drew Moor

Scott Palguta

Anthony Wallace

Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:

Davy Armstrong

Ross LaBauex

Jeff Larentowicz

Pablo Mastroeni

Brian Mullan

Joseph Nane

Sanna Nyassi

Jamie Smith

Wells Thompson

Forwards:

Andre Akpan

Quincy Amarikwa

Conor Casey

Omar Cummings

Macoumba Kandji

Offered Contract Or In Negotiations:

Defenders:

Eddie Ababio

Michael Holody

Midfielders:

Steven Emory

Forwards:

Caleb Folan

Schedule Changes

MLS announced a new deal with FOX Soccer Channel today. The good news is that Colorado will have 7 games on FSC this year, tied with LA for the most in the league. The (possible) bad news is that this has forced MLS to move 3 of the Rapids game dates.

Friday April 8th, Colorado is at Dallas. This game was moved from Saturday April 9th.

Friday July 29th, Colorado is at Philly. This game was moved from Saturday July 30th.

Friday August 5th, Colorado hosts Columbus. This game was moved from Saturday August 6th. THIS IS A HOME GAME CHANGE

The other 4 games on FSC (Portland, Seattle, @Seattle, and @LA) did not require a date change.

Only the Portland home game to start the season is non-exclusive and could be picked up by local TV. The other 6 are exclusive to FSC only.