Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Rapids' Injury Updates; Established Players to Fight for Places

The good news is that many of the injuries of the Colorado Rapids players are healing in time for the game this weekend against Kansas City. The bad news, for them anyway, is that it won't be that easy to regain their places. In reality, the performances of the younger players in the demolition of the Galaxy at the weekend give Fernando Clavijo a better dilemma than most. Apart from long-term absentees Mike Petke and Connor Casey (out for at least another month) as well as Ugo Ihemelu, the rest of the squad is either close to or fully fit. One exception to this is the very unlucky Justin Hughes. The young goalkeeper told me this morning at training that he injured a groin muscle in the Reserves game at the weekend due to probable overcompensation on an existing injury. He will probbaly be out for four to six weeks which is very tough on him given he has clearly established himself as the number two goalkeeper in the club. Maybe he will be able to cheer himself up if North Carolina take the basketball. Clavijo will make a decision on which one of the two league goalkeepers to take on the trip to KC closer to game time. Both of them looked very impressive along with Bouna in training this morning. Other players solidly on the mend include Dan Gargan and Herculez Gomez. Gomez reckons he is about 80% there. Gargan played his first full 90 minutes since injury in the Reserves on Sunday.

6 comments:

johncos said...

Good news. I figure the back line will stay intact from last game but we will see Pablo and Gomes in the midfield. At least that is what I would like to see. I was distressed to hear that Carlos Ruiz is actually really hurt. O'Brian's tackle was shameful, but I guess because over the years I've seen Ruiz rolling on the ground clutching his leg so often I just figured he was trying to draw the red card and he wanted off the pitch for the last 60 seconds of that increasingly ugly match. I feel kinda bad for booing him so heartily the other night. Sorry Carlos, get well soon :(

Anonymous said...

Johncos, I think you're way off in your characterization of the tackle on Ruiz. It was admittedly rough, but it wasn't intentional. The tackle perhaps merited a yellow, certainly not a red, and your use of the word "shameful" is perplexing. O'Brien was tracking back hard, and was trying to make a play; he came in rough and from an awkward angle, but it wasn't dirty, or "shameful" in the least.

Anyway, in terms of the KC game, I want to see what Rafael Gomes can do. Whatever happens, I don't want to see Jovan Kirovski playing.

johncos said...

No, O'Brian was not out to hurt Ruiz, but such a silly tackle in the 90th minute when you are up 4-0 against a team that had obviously packed it in is at best careless & amateurish and at worst ugly & shameful. Maybe I can call it a "rookie" mistake on O'Brian's part and hope he learns from it. I liked his hard play but i hate to see anyone get hurt at that point in a game.

Funny how I almost forgot that Jovan and Mehdi are even on this team! I'm still hoping to see some good stuff out of Ballouchy, but I've seen all of Jovan I hope to.

Nick Thomas said...

Good to see some spirited banter guys. I definitely would lean more to Joey's characterization of the incident. I was very impressed with O'Brien's energy from the moment he stepped on the field. It was a rash tackle and he knows that (I talked about it with him this morning) but he'll learn from it. What is important is that he clearly has the desire and heart as well as a fair amount of skill. I agree with you John that I don't like to see any player seriously injured. I think everybody, though, given Ruiz's reputation as a drama queen, thought his reaction was so typical. It's the wolf in sheep's clothing scenario. It's actually hard to believe when the serious injury really does happen. I agree, though, that the game wishes him well because LA will need all the good players they can get based on this performance.
I am very heartened by your contributions, believe me, so please continue to make your points and spread the word. Thank you, Nick.

JasonCU03 said...

I kind of felt bad booing too. But how many times have you seen Ruiz on the ground and told him to get up already. From my angle on that side of the field, I really thought it was a dive and was furious with the red card. It's kind of like the boy who cried wolf, nobody believes him when something really happens. However, it's obviously a serious injury and I do wish the best for him to make it back quickly.

By the way, moving from NC to CO this summer. I'm looking forward to more Rapids games.

Nick Thomas said...

Thanks for the comment Jason. You are right in that I mixed up my metaphors with the wolf and the sheep and the boy who cried wolf. That is what I meant as I am sure you worked out. Look forward to having you watching the mighty Rapids and making more comments. Nick