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?

Three or Four at the Back?

Our friends over at the Denver Post, aka my co-host this week on the From The Pitch radio show, Brian Forbes, is reporting that the Colorado Rapids will probably continue to play three at the back rather than four for tomorrow's game against Kansas. The only difference is that such a threesome would include two players making season debuts in Mike Petke and new signing Cory Gibbs in place of the injured Ugo Ihemelu. That raises a question of who fills out the remaining spot in the back. Probably old yellow (or is it red?) boots Facundo Erpen at the expense of Jose Burciaga. Unfortunately, I will not be in a position to confirm the line-up this week as work is taking its ugly toll and gas prices are too high to keep trekking up to my home from home at DSG Park. I guess you will all have to just turn up tomorrow night and see who starts. Will acting coach, Gary Smith, surprise us all?
http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_10207941