Bouna to Follow Herc Out The Rapids' Door?

There's a nice write-up about Bouna Coundoul in the Denver Post (link below) and how he is caught between a rock and a hard place both at home and with the Senegal national team. He's saying all the right things about being happy as a deputy to Preston Burpo but it is clear how frustrated he is at being on the bench both for the Colorado Rapids and Senegal. According to the article, Burpo looks set to continue in goal for the game on Sunday against Chicago. Burpo is a highly competent goalkeeper and arguably deserves a run in the team but I can't help but feel that this is a similar situation to the one with Herculez Gomez. Granted that both sides in the Gomez case wanted out in the end but there is a strong argument that it should never have got to that position. Gomez was left for far too long on the sidelines. He got frustrated and it became a fait accompli in the end that he would go elsewhere. The same will happen with Bouna if we are not careful. It's no secret that his ambitions are elsewhere, probably in Europe. He wants to become the number one choice in goal for Senegal and he is not going to do that in the Rapids' Reserves. When I discussed about how we could not afford to ignore Bouna in a previous post, that is no reflection on Burpo. It is simply the case that we cannot afford to underuse and eventually lose highly talented players. It's happened before with Herculez, I hope it does not happen with Bouna.
http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_10441200

I may be dogged but I could not get up to training today given the awful weather conditions. I write just as the sun is coming out. From Bryan Forbes' article, it looks a pretty much unchanged team from the one that beat Dallas other than that Conor Casey is out injured. Christian Gomez looks likely to remain on the bench. Talking of underusing talented players?

Guess Walcott's Not Available On Loan Then?

To those who spout cliches that football is a funny old game or that there are no easy games in international soccer, have a look at some of the results in the early stages of European qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Obviously, the easiest game was England away to FIFA fifth-ranked team Croatia. Cue wunderkind Theo Walcott's hat-trick and it did turn out to be a stroll in the park for the England boys. Not quite what was imagined as Croatia have dominated England recently and never lost a competitive game at home. This was the best performance by England since they dismantled Germany 5-1 in Germany back in 2001. Walcott was calm, quick and caused problems all night. David Beckham may never start another game for England again after this. I think it was all obviously down to the game Walcott played for Arsenal reserves against the Colorado Rapids on their preseason tour to the UK back in March. I'm sure we were thinking of picking him up on loan as he was not a sure starter for the Gunners but that might seem a little distant as a prospect now. The infamous Sun newspaper summed it up very nicely: "Walcott, 19, gave Croatia a real kick in the Balkans."
Elsewhere, the team of the moment appears to be Lithuania who have beaten both Romania (away) and Austria. Austria, themselves, beat France at the weekend. Fancied Portugal somehow managed to give three goals away to Denmark in the last eight minutes to lose at home, Finland drew with Germany and poor old Luxembourg, who basically never seem to win, got an away victory in Switzerland, hosts of Euro 2008. It's good that it's not as predictable as the Premier League. Thirteen teams will qualify for South Africa from Europe; the nine group winners and four of the runners-up. I'll try and write something periodically about the other qualifying zones.
Off to Rapids training tomorrow so will post something to preview the Chicago game on Sunday.

It's All in Our Own Hands, Kind of

I don't usually pay too much attention to what the other teams are doing. It only really matters to me how we are playing as to whether we will make the playoffs or not. However, it is getting to that point of the season when it will matter what our closest rivals are doing as the playoff fight refuses to get any looser. The victory over Dallas brought back some hope that the Rapids will possibly make the playoffs. Thursday night's victory in Texas was then somewhat dented by the wins for San Jose and Chivas. The Real Salt Lake draw against LA helped a little. So, now we stand four points behind Salt Lake, three points behind Chivas and a point behind San Jose. We remain one point ahead of both Dallas and LA Galaxy with all the teams having played 23 games. Can't get much tighter than that. Given that Houston look likely to win the Western Conference, that will leave two automatic playoff spots to fight over. Can someone explain to me how the other non-automatic playoff spots are decided on? I can't seem to find that anywhere, including on the MLS site.
Anyway, any one of the remaining six conference teams could win those two spots. Interestingly, we still have to play Chivas (away), LA (away) and RSL (home) so, theoretically, we can make up the point difference more or less by winning those games. What should be more of a concern right now is the two upcoming home games against tough opposition. Chicago and New England look very likely to be with Columbus as the three automatic playoff qualifiers from the Eastern Conference although the Revolution seem to like losing 4-0 these days. These will be difficult games for the Rapids. If we can get something very positive out of these two matches, the whole playoff picture could look a lot rosier.

Rapids Secure Vital Win Down Texas Way

Holy Crap! Victory is ours. The Colorado Rapids went all the way down to Texas and beat FC Dallas 1-0. The team's first away victory since April. In a week that saw us down in the dumps having lost another road game against Salt Lake and in which we said goodbye to a fan favorite, a header from Mike Petke (where was the Dallas defense?) of all people was enough to secure the win. We are, remarkably, back in playoff contention. There are many areas in this team that need fixing (Is Christian Gomez on the way out? Can we really afford not to play Bouna Coundoul when he is available?) but, for now, we should celebrate this much-needed win. The team, especially after the goal went in in the 59th minute, showed a resilience that has been sorely lacking by their own admission. Just go to the MLS website to see the comments from Petke and Cory Gibbs about how nobody showed up to play in Utah. (http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080903&content_id=185187&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp&partnerId=_PARTNERId__)
Tonight, however, you could see an intensity in the players to hold on to that lead and not let go and it was exciting to watch, if not exactly pretty.
Gary Smith, who has already been through some dodgy moments in his fledgling managerial career, showed a lot of guts in selecting Kosuke Kimura and Jordan Harvey to play in the backline, dropping Burciaga and the ever present Erpen. This is someone who is clearly not afraid to make the right choices for the team on any given day. Leaving Christian Gomez out is another tough decision and has to be respected even if you don't agree with it because it is not easy to leave out your most expensive, talented and experienced player. In addition, it was good to see Terry Cooke and Pablo Mastroeni back although Pablo was taken off early in the second half, hopefully more as a precaution with that hamstring injury.
The team now has a nice layoff after a seemingly very busy last couple of weeks. A few days off before preparing for two difficult home games in a row against Chicago and New England. Much needs to be done to secure the momentum gained from this improbable victory but, for now, let's get the beers in.

Where Are All The Good Guys Going?

Kansas City in this case. The Colorado Rapids today traded Herculez Gomez to the Kansas City Wizards. I am personally gutted because Herc was always approachable and a damn fine footballer to boot. I understand why he is making the move although it is still unclear just how much say he had in it. There is always pressure in professional sports, obviously, to perform but I don't think that I am alone in thinking that Herc had been put under too much pressure with the limited amount of gametime that he was getting this season. It can be unfair sometimes to expect someone to perform at their best consistently when their opportunities are so few. He had expressed his frustration to me a few times this season. We heard how he was still battling back from last season's ACL injury even though the player felt he was among the fittest members of the squad. He just wanted a good run in the team to prove he still belonged and he never really got that. I shall personally miss him both on and off the field but I wish him only the best.
Interim head coach, Gary Smith, said the following about the trade: "We certainly wish Herculez all the best and appreciate everything that he gave to our club. We wanted to give Herculez an opportunity where he could be productive, while we look for the right combination of players up top for us. I think adding several draft picks allows us to add some spice in the future as well." We shall see. Right now, I would rather have the tried and tested than the promise of something unknown. But sometimes things have to move on and maybe it was just one of those things. Everyone knows it was not personal and just another professional decision. But the Rapids have lost a fan favorite and that will take some time to replace.
As a token of respect, I am adding the link to the matchup for the game tomorrow night as per the Rapids website. It will be the last time you see Herc lining up for us. http://www.coloradorapids.com/TheMatch/Matchup.aspx

If It's Thursday, It Must Be Dallas

Crikey! Didn't we just play a game? The Colorado Rapids have a very quick turnaround this week and will be off tomorrow for the game on Thursday night against Dallas. Unfortunately, that gives me no time to get up to training due to work commitments to suss out camp mood and get an idea of the line-up. Most of you are pretty depressed about the latest defeat away at Real Salt Lake. The Reserves fared no better the following day when they were thumped 4-0, all the goals in the first half. Clearly, things aren't working too well. Unfortunately, the Rapids are hamstrung, literally, by some major injuries. Terry Cooke and Pablo Mastroeni are still recovering from their hamstring problems and will not make the trip, at least according to the Rapids website. It wouldn't surprise me, however, if Pablo did at least get on the bench. That may be a bit ambitious but he appears a lot further along with the healing process than does Cooke. Mehdi Ballouchy and Ugo Ihemelu are still listed as out with concussions but I am trying to find out how updated that injury list is. Ugo, at least, was on the verge of making the trip to Salt Lake last week. In terms of international call-ups, Bouna Coundoul is in Senegal right now before the national team flies off for its World Cup qualifying game against Algeria on Friday. Omar Cummings does not appear to have made it into the Jamaican team for its games against Mexico and Honduras. The Reggae Boyz have had to switch their weekend game against Mexico to Mexico City after Hurricane Gustav damaged the national stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.
So, what does that leave? You can't really make radical changes when so many people are out injured or are unavailable. But changes need to be made. Desperate times call for drastic measures. Surely, Christian Gomez must start and Kosuke Kimura deserves his chance. Tom McManus should maybe start upfront with Conor Casey. Thoughts?
INJURY UPDATE: According to the Rapids' press office, Pablo and Terry Cooke are listed as probable so they may play a small part in the game. Ihemelu, Greg Dalby and Ballouchy are all described as questionable.

Rubbing Salt Into Wounds

Confession. I only saw the last 20 minutes or so of this game due to other commitments and a need to change shoes. It's a long story. Suffice it to say I have very little intelligent to say about the game. I arrived when it was already 2-0 to Real Salt Lake, saw a bit of honest running from the likes of Omar Cummings and very little actual shots on goal. So, please do respond by sending in your observations on this latest Colorado Rapids' defeat.
I had the line-up almost right but Christian Gomez must be wondering what it takes to get into the team. The midfield is pretty much decimated and he still has to wait until the second half to get on. On the other hand, I do like the fact that all of McManus, Cummings and Herculez Gomez got gametime. I have always thought that Herc can play as an attacking midfielder rather than an out and out striker. Unfortunately, I missed the first half so please do comment on what you thought of his performance. I also liked the fact that Kosuke Kimura finally got on the field. After starting out so well this season with former coach, Fernando Clavijo, saying he had tied up the right back spot, Kimura was mysteriously subsequently left out and did not seem to be able to make it back into the team. He did put in one lovely cross for Cummings who headed well from a difficult position. Jose Luis Burciaga was another who started off the season very well but his recent performances have not been consistent and Kimura can state a case for making a start. The Rapids, sinking ever faster in playoff contention, face FC Dallas in hot and humid Texas next Thursday.