Jones Back To Colorado, Greenspan To Charlotte

Steven Goff tweeted this afternoon that Jermaine Jones was heading back to Colorado after having his knee looked at by the National Team doctors and not being cleared to play.  Its the right move, I just don't understand why he was "called up" if it was really just about getting a second opinion on his knee.  Why not just announce that and avoid the bad optics?

Also the Independence announced that Joseph Greenspan is heading to Charlotte on loan.  As expected the load to the Switchbacks didn't last all season, I'm just surprised he's not staying in Denver.  I wonder if he's filling a roster gap left by the recall of Calvert (or possibly Berner if he was called back to back up MacMath this weekend).

Pfeffer To Israel?

There's a report today that (according to those who can read Hebrew) Zach Pfeffer is set to sign with defending Israeli champs Hapoel Be'er Sheva.  Assuming this happens the Rapids would get some allocation money out of whatever nominal transfer fee the league gets for Pfeffer.  I can't imagine a guy with no MLS team minutes this season will command a large fee, but every little bit helps.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva were eliminated in the playoff round of the Champions League y Celtic and dropped into the Europa League where they'll face Inter, Sparta Prague, and Southampton int he group stage.  I assume Pfeffer is interesting to them partially because he's Jewish and as such can almost automatically obtain Israeli citizenship and not count against the foreigner limit in the league.

Rapids Flatline In Sandy

A rivalry game usually results in the players playing with more drive, passion, and desire than normal.  After the first 5 minutes on Friday night we saw the opposite.  The Rapids, with one notable exception, were flat for the remaining 85 minutes and lost 2-1, which was a generous socreline to Colorado.

General Impressions:

• The game started well, with Gashi getting on a rebound of a Badji shot to give us an early 1-0 lead.  Most Rapids fans had to feel pretty good about a draw (and retention of the Rocky Mountain Cup) at worst at that point.
• After that, we ceded all possession to FSL.  We asked our defense to hold a 1-0 lead for 85 minutes.  No surprise it didn't work.
• In the first 65 minutes of the game the Rapids out-possessed FSL for only one 5 minute period, from 30-35'.  In that time we didn't get a single shot off.
• Not that our defense looked like it could have defended a lead for 15, much less 85 minutes.  The ball-watching was criminal.
• Yura Movsisyan was unmarked all night.  I don't know if the team was just falling down on their assignments or this was a strategic decision but whatever it was it was bad.  Not surprisingly he got both FSL goals.
• I'll say this about the PK calls.  Ball don't lie.
• The first call was a complete ghost call.  No foul there at all.  The second did have some contact from Miller but not any more that goes uncalled every week in this league.
• Miller had a particularly bad game BTW.
• How about that PK save from Tim?  High point of the game and I was hoping we'd ride that emotional boost to a tying goal.  Or not.
• The ref was letting a lot of gamesmanship from FSL go.  hope Solo would approve.
• Pablo takes blame for some of this.  Powers should not be starting over Azira.  The midfield struggles to control possession with a Powers - Cronin back 2.
• His like for like subs and stubborn dedication to the 4-2-3-1 is also on him.  Doyle is wasted up top with no help or a top flight midfield passer (like Jones) to feed him.  We need a second striker.
• That said, the players have to take a large chink of responsibility for this game.  I expect more, not less, from them in a rivalry match.  Nobody outside of Howard acted like they wanted to be there.
• An example of how casual they were playing.  In stoppage tie down a goal an attacking throw-in ended up being played all the way back to Howard.  That's pitiful.
• That's a bit unfair to Gashi I guess.  He was showing effort but you can't beat Rimando from distance without a lucky bounce like the first goal.
• Somehow we still had more shots on goal than them.
• This season was fun while it lasted but I'm pretty sure the bottom is about to drop out. If you asked me to make a prediction right now I'd say a 3rd place finish, win the home wild-card, lose to LA/FSL in the next round. The Front Office will call it a successful season since they achieved their goal of a home playoff game.

Man of the Match: Tim Howard.  The one guy who seemed to care about winning this game.  Sorry your teammates let you down.

Poor Optics From Jones

(We'll get to reviewing the debacle on Friday night tomorrow)

I want to start this by pointing out that I am an unapologetic Jones fanboy (as seen in my post announcing his signing).  That said, the optics of his weekend have been poor to say the least.

A couple of hours before kickoff on Friday Jones posted this photo to social media:

We already knew he was out for the Rocky Mountain Cup match so the only surprise was that he was headed to Jacksonville, which is coincidentally where the U.S. Nats are having camp for their World Cup Qualifiers next week.

Sure enough, earlier today Jurgen Klinsmann announced the 26 man roster for camp and Jones was included.

Tonight the Jacksoville Jaguars tweeted out this photo of their honorary captains for their preseason game:

The image here is not good.  It appears that after almost 2 months of being injured and just as he's on the cusp of returning JJ has prioritized getting to Jacksonville to play for the Nats over his club team.  Even if he couldn't play Friday night he could have been a team leader by being there and supporting the team, then he could have caught the same flight Tim Howard did to Jacksonville.  Instead he's spent the weekend in Jacksonville appearing at a NFL game instead of at a RMC game in Sandy.

In reality, it probably doesn't matter.  The way we played Friday night Jones' presence likely wouldn't have made a difference and I doubt he'd play next weekend coming back from injury due to the turf in New England.  Still its one thing to be in the situation where your healthy just in time to miss club games for your country, its another to throw it in the faces of your fans while doing it.

I don't want to think of the frustration from Rapids fans if JJ starts for the Nats on Friday or if he gets re-injured while with the Nats.  There's a report that he's really only in Jacksonville to get looked at by the National Team doctors but I don't think a player gets "called up" if he's at a point where he needs to be examined by more doctors.  We'll see if he makes the final 18 man game day roster for either game and how much he plays, if any.

Time To Retain The Rocky Mountain Cup

Need I say more?

The Rapids have gone west to face FaKe SaLt LaKe over in Sandy with the Rocky Mountain Cup and their standing in the Supporters Shield race on the line.  A win or a draw and the supporters will be bringing the RMC right back to Colorado again, a loss and not only do we lose the RMC but we have to really start looking over our shoulders at LA and FSL creeping up on us.  Game time tomorrow is an earlier 6pm and the game is on Univision Deportes and UniMas for national television.  No English broadcast that I'm aware of.  This is the kickoff of the second Heineken Rivalry Weekend of the season and Heineken and MLS are sponsoring a watch party at Stoney's.  There's also a C38 watch party for those of us who didn't make the road trip at the Celtic, which is where I'll be.

Player Availability:

OUT: M Dillon Serna (season ending ACL tear)

QUESTIONABLE: D Sean St. Ledger (knee); M Jermaine Jones (quad)

FSL has 3 players out, one questionable, and one suspended (Beltran) so they're in worse shape than we are.  Jones is not available tomorrow and I doubt we see St. Ledger.

Starting XI Prediction:

I'd prefer to see Azira over Powers but I bet Pablo sticks with the same lineup from the last couple of days.  This assumes that the rumored knock that Doyle had last week doesn't stop him from playing.  If it does I hope we see Gashi up front with Pappa behind him.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Hairston.  This feels a bit pessimistic to me as I think FSL and their shaky defense can be beaten but strange things happen in the RMC.  Given our lack of offense and our long-time frustration at Rio Tinto I'm going to think a draw is more likely, and something I'd be happy with.