Once Again, No Beckham in Colorado

The Rapids released their 2010 season details today. No Golden Balls at DSG Park again as he will still be in Milan shopping and playing soocer. At least it looks like a proper football season with 15 games at home and away. And September 11th in New York, interesting.

DATE OPPONENT
Fri, March 26 at Chivas USA
Sat, April 3 CHICAGO
Sat, April 10 at Kansas City
Sun, April 18 TORONTO FC
Sat, April 24 at New England
Sat, May 1 at San Jose
Wed, May 5 LOS ANGELES
Sat, May 15 at D.C. United
Sat, May 22 at Chicago
Sat, May 29 SEATTLE
Sat, June 5 COLUMBUS
Sat, June 26 at Houston
Sun, July 4 NEW YORK
Sat, July 10 at Toronto FC
Sat, July 17 KANSAS CITY
Wed, July 21 PHILADELPHIA
Sun, July 25 at Seattle
Sat, July 31 FC DALLAS
Sat, August 7 SAN JOSE
Sat, August 14 at Philadelphia
Sat, August 21 at Columbus
Sat, August 28 HOUSTON
Sat, September 4 CHIVAS USA
Sat, September 11 at New York
Sat, September 18 NEW ENGLAND
Sat, September 25 at Real Salt Lake
Sat, October 2 D.C. UNITED
Sat, October 9 at FC Dallas
Sat, October 16 at Los Angeles
Sat, October 23 REAL SALT LAKE

Beckham to Stay at Milan - No Trip to DSG Park

The saga is finally over. David Beckham will extend his loan stay at Italian giants AC Milan and won't therefore be back in the MLS with the LA Galaxy until July. That means no trip to DSG Park for the Galaxy game against the Colorado Rapids in April. The 4-0 thumping of LA by the Rapids on opening day last year could therefore be the only time the Rocky Mountain faithful will ever get to see the England superstar, one brief appearance at the 2007 All-Star game excepted.
What very few people seem to emphasize about this whole episode is that Beckham was on a very poor LA team. The chemistry was bad and the locker room atmosphere was reportedly terrible. Add to that a poor coaching choice in Ruud Gullit and it was a recipe for disaster. You can't really blame Beckham for wanting to stay at AC Milan with the likes of Maldini, Kaka et al. He is a very ambitious professional who remains super fit and wants to play for England at the World Cup next year. Playing with such greats at Milan clearly helps him with that. You just get the feeling, however, that, if he had been with a better run team in the MLS, the dilemma would not have been so difficult. It is going to be very tough for him to come back to LA because the fans may not be all that forgiving. Whatever the rights and wrongs of his decision, the perception with some is that he has turned his back on a signed contract and was only ever interested in money. I don't subscribe to that point of view but many do.
Here is a good link below on the BBC website. Steve Nichol, the New England coach, is clearly overstating the importance of Beckham to the MLS while Ivan Gazidis has to say what he does. He's not going to admit that Beckham's absence is a disaster for the MLS, is he? Check out the thoughts of Andrei Markovits. The aimiable professor (I met him once at DU) manages to combine academia and soccer. Not a bad combination.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7912670.stm

Rapids Beaten Before Late Comeback

Consistency continues to be the weak point for the Colorado Rapids and they now find themselves winning five and losing six games following last night's 3-2 loss to LA Galaxy. It was hard to take. The Rapids had the lion's share of possession for basically the entire game but all the huffing and puffing didn't really get them anywhere until the last quarter of an hour or so when they had left themselves too much of a mountain to climb. If we're honest with ourselves, I don't really remember them having any real chances until that last 15 minutes when they managed to net two goals in reply to LA's three blows, two in the first half and one right after half-time. Even at 2-0 down at half-time, you sensed that the Rapids were still very much in the game because of their dominance in possession but to let that goal in in the 48th minute was a major blow from which it proved too difficult to recover. Colin Clark in the 73rd minute and substitute Herculez Gomez in the 84th netted for the Rapids but it wasn't enough. We also had Facundo Erpen rightly sent off for kicking LA's Alan Gordon whose own retaliation on the Argentinian also earned him a red card. All very disappointing. Just when you think the Rapids may break out and play consistently good soccer, it all comes crashing down. LA are not as bad as everyone was so arrogantly saying when the Rapids stuffed them 4-0 on opening day but they are not a good team. Beckham and Donovan work very well together but the team's defense is weak and we should not have lost this game.
On to Toronto next week and maybe there will be some significant personnel changes. We missed Mastroeni. Erpen will clearly miss some games which should see Ihemelu back in center defense where he is more effective than at right back. Kimura would step in there and should be playing there anyway once fully fit. Terry Cooke, somewhat surprisingly, did not get on the field and his time may be coming back in place of Jacob Peterson. Clark was one of the more effective players on the night, scoring a good goal and creating chances. Casey andMcManus will stay as the preferred duo up front. We have to find a way to do better on the road. At least we are scoring goals but we are leaving them until too late in the game.

Henry to Seattle on $150,000 a Week?

Barcelona and France superstar, Thierry Henry, could be the next David Beckham as far as the MLS is concerned. According to that reputable rag, The Sun, Britain's top-selling daily, Henry will earn a staggering $150,000 a week, far more than most Rapids players earn in a year, when he becomes the face of new team, Seattle, next year. Everything that is written in The Sun must be taken with a huge pinch of salt but there's no doubting Seattle's ambition. For example, despite there being no team until next year, their ground is being used for an international game between China and Mexico later this month. It's interesting, this trend of staging international games in neutral countries. In the last round of international fixtures, Brazil played Sweden at The Emirates while Mexico played Ghana at Fulham's Craven Cottage. Anyway, here's the link to the Henry story.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article991497.ece

Rapids Reserves Draw 1-1 With Galaxy

Herculez Gomez continued his way back from injury with a good run-out for the Colorado Rapids Reserves as they tied with their LA Galaxy counterparts Sunday. Having played a small part in the first team game the night before (enough time, however, for an entertaining bit of argie-bargie with David Beckham, he played for 64 minutes in the Reserves game and managed to score the team's only goal. This is good news for all Rapids fans as the team struggles with a mounting injury list. The other notable fact about this game? The Galaxy started it with only ten men. I don't want to read too much into this but doesn't that seem like a club team? Could it be symbolic of a lack of organization in the organization? This is the second team of a professional MLS outfit, not a pub side. It's almost unbelievable that they would start a man down. I wish them well because I want to see Beckham do well this season for the sake of the game but it isn't exactly an auspicious start.

Youngsters Shine as Rapids Sink Galaxy

A sellout crowd, a beautiful Colorado evening and a performance to match. The Colorado Rapids ran out impressive winners 4-0 over the LA Galaxy, Beckham et al, in the season opener at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The England superstar duly made the trip and lasted the whole 90 minutes. He was impressive in the opening quarter of the game with some trademark crosses and setpieces but he and the whole team were totally deflated after the award of a dubious penalty kick for the Rapids in the 59th minute of the game, duly converted by new signing, Christian Gomez, to make it 2-0. After that, a combination of poor morale, altitude and relentless attacking by the Rapids saw off the Galaxy who now welcome a run of games at home in California. As Beckham and Galaxy coach, Ruud Gullit, repeatedly said at the post-match press conference, the penalty was the pivotal moment of the game. The players' spirits were sapped and the altitude drained them then of any remaining life. Omar Cummings and Colin Clarke made hay to score the remaining goals, this after Man of the Match, Terry Cooke, had opened the scoring for the Rapids in the tenth minute with a belter of a shot from the right side of the penalty area after Christian Gomez had rattled the post from further out.
Cooke, who for much of last season looked frustrated and maybe a bit lost, was absolutely outstanding tonight and fully deserved his MoM award. I think his partnership with the very offensively minded Jose Burciaga will do wonders for his confidence. He must have relished putting one over his old teammate Beckham. The two duly swapped shirts at the final whistle as they no doubt reminisced over their days in the Manchester United youth team.
All the big stars aside, though, it was the Colorado youngsters who really impressed tonight. Keel and Kimura were epic at the heart of the defense where Bouna Coundoul showed impressive bravery a number of times and managed to keep the attacking threats of Donovan and Ruiz at bay. As coach Clavijo said, there were seven players out there whom you could class as rookies given the Rapids' injury problems and they all acquitted themselves outstandingly well. One special mention also to sub Ciaran O'Brien who came on in the 70th minute for Christian Gomez, played his heart out and was sent off in the final moments of the game for a poor but unmalicious tackle on Ruiz who proceeded to make a drama out of a crisis. Beckham was manful enough to say that O'Brien should not have been sent off for the tackle; it was clearly a yellow card at most. I'm not a big fan of supporters cheering their ejected players but, in this case, such support was fully deserved. O'Brien may only be slight of figure but his tackling and heart were a joy to watch and he should not have been sent off. He will have a great season if he plays like that every time.
So, nice work all around by the team which now goes to Kansas City April 5 for their next game against the Wizards.

Beckham to Make Trip to DSG; Rapids' Injury Crisis

I have it on very good authority that David Beckham is indeed making the trip to Colorado tonight and will likely start the game against the Rapids tomorrow night. Like Rapids' captain Pablo Mastroeni though, he is very unlikely to play the full game. Speaking to Mastroeni this morning as the team went through their final paces before the season opener tomorrow, the skipper said he is not likely to play more than 20-25 minutes tomorrow night. He did spend a lot of time on his own this morning at DSG Park stretching and working on his injuries. His aim is to be fit for as much of the season as possible and not worry overly about the season opener. The Rapids really are struggling fitness wise and will have many top players unavailable for tomorrow's game. Let's hope the likes of Omar Cummings and Christian Gomez can knock in some early goals to calm the nerves.

Will He, Won't He? Beckham to Make Opener?

The countdown to the Rapids' opener against LA begins in earnest and we still have no idea if the MLS's biggest star will make the trip. David Beckham duly picked up his 100th cap for England in Paris as the national team went down by a goal to nil to the 1998 World Cup champions. Pulled off in the 63rd minute, maybe Ruud had had a few words with Fabio so his star player wouldn't be too exhausted before the game on Saturday. Can't be the best preparation for an opening game even if he didn't play the whole match aganist France. I think he will make the trip given last season's PR disaster for the Galaxy in Colorado but he may not make the starting line-up. Same with Landon Donovan who played in Poland this week for the US team.
What we do know is that the Rapids' line-up will not be what we might expect. There are a lot of injuries, especially in the defense. No Petke or Ihemelu for sure so, according to the Rapids' website predictions (http://www.coloradorapids.com/TheMatch/Matchup.aspx), Kimura and Keel will be in the back four with Burciaga and Erpen. The midfield is also somewhat unfamiliar with DiRaimondo and O'Brien taking their place alongside veterans Cooke and Mastroeni (doubtful). Omar Cummings will be the lone forward up front. The fact we don't have a full squad to choose from takes some of the excitement away from the opening day but true fans will behind the players whoever takes the field for Colorado's finest. Beckham or no Beckham.

Beckham to Miss Opener v Rapids?

Remember last season when the pseudo fans demanded their money back because Mr. Beckham wasn't able to play in the game against the Rapids because he had just played a game for England, flown back to play for the Galaxy the next day and, rightly, realized the schedule was ridiculous? Well, as we anxiously await the season opener in two weeks against LA, the talk seems to be that Beckham is very likely to play in the England friendly against France, just three days before the opener at DSG Park. Seems a bit too familiar a situation? Even if he escapes any injury in the game against France, the prospect of a potentially freezing day in the Rocky Mountains may not look too pleasing for him and the LA organization amidst all the jetlag. I don't doubt Beckham's professionalism and I think LA will do everything possible to play him but it does have eerie comparisons with last season even if there is no other MLS game in between like last time. Still seems a little odd to me that he would be selected for the national team given a lack of serious match practice but that seems to be the word on the street. I hope to see him play but not as much as I hope the Rapids run out comfortable winners and give us a warm feeling for the season ahead.

Why Capello is Right Not to Pick Beckham

And why McClaren was wrong to drop him after the World Cup. Fabio Capello, the new coach of the English national team, has not selected David Beckham for the upcoming friendly against Switzerland. Golden Balls therefore misses the chance to gain his hundredth cap for England, missing out on joining a select band of players to have done so. They said Capello was tough and this decision shows just how strong-minded he is. It is absolutely the right thing to do. Beckham has not played a competitive game since November. He is, no doubt, retaining his extraordinary fitness by working out with Arsenal but he cannot be match fit. Capello has promised Beckham he will continue to fit into his plans once he gets some games under his belt in the MLS season. What a contrast with McClaren, the previous coach. McClaren, in a pattern he would go on to consistently display, dropped Becks after the World Cup because the media needed a scapegoat for England's poor performance. Beckham was actually one of the better England players in that tournament and did not deserve such treatment. It's great to have Capello at the helm even if it's a couple of years too late.
I also really like his appointment of Stuart Pearce as assistant. Pearce will continue to concentrate on the U-21 team but will also be involved in the senior games. That should shut the Little Englanders up for a while. Pearce has the talent and the desire to be a national team coach and his involvement should be warmly welcomed.

It's Bouna's Time

Bouna Coundoul, the Rapids goalkeeper and all-round great bloke, has been called up to the Senegal national team squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, according to the BBC. Now, he just has to wait anxiously until January 10 when the squad will be further trimmed before the tournament starts January 20. Given that there are currently five goalkeepers in the temporary squad, there will naturally be some wastage in that area once the squad is trimmed from 38 to 23. Bouna appears to be competing with two others for a number three spot behind regular Tony Sylva and Cheikh Tidiane Ndiaye, both based in France. Still, given his recent outings for the team in friendlies in France last month and his emergence in Colorado as the go-to goalkeeper, he has a good chance of making that final squad.
We all wish him luck and hope he plays well if he gets the chance. Only not too well because we want him back at DSG Park come March 29 to face Becks et al. Realistically, Bouna is not going to play soccer with the Rapids for the rest of his career given his youth and his great skill and drive. He will get offers from European clubs, especially if he can perform on global stages such as the upcoming tournament in Ghana. Just one more season in Colorado would be nice though.

Arsenal Go Marching On; Thank God for Bungs

Another typical day in the Premiership. Chelsea win at home, Derby lose and Manchester United don't play when practically everybody else does. Arsenal come back from a goal down, not so typical, and forge a 2-1 victory away at Villa Park. They showed a lot of resistance against a wave of second half pressure, reminiscent of the days of Adams, Bould, Dixon and Winterburn. What price another unbeaten season in the league?
So Harry Redknapp thinks his arrest has ruined his chances of being the next England manager? Nice bloke that he is and fantastic club manager, this is not a person that England needs to head up a dispirited national team. Bungs and allegations apart, Redknapp is an old school type who has done wonders with underperforming clubs but where is the pedigree for leading the Three Lions? Same with Allardyce. A great manager in the small sea of Bolton, he is in big trouble at the ocean that is Newcastle. Another big defeat today at Blackburn. He doesn't have the record either for the England job. It didn't stop the suits at the FA appointing McClueless but Barwick and Gentleman Trev must be aiming higher. Notice how many England players have come out this week supporting the candidacy of Mourinho? A few calls have gone from the The Special One's people to the cellphones of some of the big England players, methinks, to help generate media discussion. Self-fulfilling phrophecy? You betcha. The Portuguese maestro may be playing his own denial games but it seems a lot more likely now than it did a few weeks ago that he could be the man to step in.

Beckham Down Under
Another meaningless tournament was announced this week. The Pan-Pacific Cup will be played in Hawaii next February with teams from Japan and Australia as well as MLS champion Houston Dynamo and, of course, LA Galaxy. The promoters can bang on all they want about how Hawaii has a "history of hosting top international sporting events.” ??? Couple of skins golf tournaments with ageing players, the ProBowl? Give me a break. Beckham can talk about top quality opposition before the MLS season. Houston, maybe, but this is a little too far. The truth is, and this isn't exactly going to endear as yet to be turned on US sports fans who are highly skeptical about soccer, it is simply another money spinner for the Galaxy. There is no problem selling out grounds to 80,000 fans in Sydney but the Galaxy is in danger of being seen simply as a glorified shopping mall unless it can get the MLS results next year. It's a very good move getting Cobi Jones on the coaching side but will Gullit's sexy football still be quite as alluring on a freezing day next April at DSG Park? My good friends at Class VI have been talking up the likelihood Beckham and Co. will be first up at the Rapids' award-winning complex next season. I wish the Galaxy and Beckham well, apart from against the Rapids of course. I really want them to have good results next season so that the MLS looks good to the rest of the world. The jaunt to Hawaii will then be seen as what it is, a pre-season warm-up in a nice sunny place good for Posh's tan. If the Galaxy fail to deliver on the MLS pitch, it will be more fodder to the skeptics.