Keel Waived as Forward Schunk Signed

Stephen Keel may be spending a bit more time on the trendy Denver singles scene now that he will no longer be playing for the Colorado Rapids. Keel, who was recently featured as one of Denver's hottest singles in 5280 magazine, was unfortunately waived by the Rapids today as they signed draft striker, Ross Schunk. Don't be surprised if more established players like Keel continue to be waived as Gary Smith puts his final pieces of the puzzle together. Smith said to me after the preseason game against LA March 4 that such established players with little prospect of making many first team appearances this year may have to make way as the team looks particularly for more striking options. Players like John DiRaimondo and Nico Colaluca may be anxiously looking over their shoulders after today. Always a shame for decent people to be let go and Keel is a decent person. He also showed some capacity for good blogging recently on www.rapidsundercurrent.blogspot.com. Keel started off as a regular in the centre of defense last year but gradually made way as injured players came back. We wish him well in his future soccer career just as we do Schunk who is probably still phoning all his friends and family to share the good news that he has a professional contract. We still look a little light upfront though with only a draft pick to back up Casey and Cummings. Coach Smith may still pull out a surprise upfront before the season opener. I'll try and get up to traning next week to see what is going on.

Rapids Reveal Likely Starting XI in Win Over Seattle

The Colorado Rapids went to Seattle and scored a 1-0 victory over the Sounders in their last preseason game yesterday. More importantly, the line-up revealed the very likely starting XI for the opening game of the season next week against Chivas and the way coach Gary Smith is envisaging his optimal team for the campaign. No real surprises apart from the fact that Jacob Peterson looks as if he could be playing a bigger role than many expected, possibly at the expense of Terry Cooke starting. It's also interesting to note that Mehdi Ballouchy could get a start with the Rapids playing a more attacking midfield and Nick LaBrocca possibly on the bench. The most clear choice is at goalkeeper. Matt Pickens will almost certainly start against Chivas and has the chance to lay claim to the number one spot ahead of Preston Burpo for the season. You couldn't really say that is a big surpise. Pickens is, after all, a player in the US national team squad. Goalkeeping coach, David Kramer, said on last week's From The Pitch radio show, that the choice of starting goalkeeper would be made by the time of the Seattle game. Choice made, therefore, at least for now. The Rapids won last night's game on a Conor Casey first-half penalty. Here is the starting line-up courtesy of www.rapidsundercurrent.blogspot.com
Colorado Rapids Lineup: Matt Pickens, Jordan Harvey, Cory Gibbs (Ivan Guerrero 66), Ugo Ihemelu (Ty Harden 66), Kosuke Kimura, Pablo Mastroeni (Nick LaBrocca 66), Colin Clark (Terry Cooke 66), Jacob Peterson, Mehdi Ballouchy, Omar Cummings (Gregory Richardson 66), Conor Casey (Ross Schunk 66)

Rapids May Sign Back-up Defender from Rhinos

An interesting piece of news out of Rochester, NY. It looks as if the Colorado Rapids may be signing another left-footed defender as a back-up to Jordan Harvey. Scott Palguta of the Rochester Rhinos is currently on trial with the Rapids. The Steve Guppy connection with Rochester is obviously alive and well. Looks like this guy is pretty highly rated. Look for some news from the Rapids in next few days.
Here's the link to a Rochester paper. The Rapids travel to Seattle today for a preseason friendly against the new Sounders team tomorrow.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090310/SPORTS05/903100318/1007/SPORTS

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 Cruise Past Galaxy

It was just like opening day last season when we stuffed the LA Galaxy 4-0. The Colorado Rapids went to LA today and put five goals past the unfortunate Beckham-less Galaxy who responded with two goals of their own. Today's game had even more of a ring of that opening game last year because Terry Cooke got on the scoresheet just as he did in 2008 for the only time last season. Mehdi Ballouchy, Conor Casey and Omar Cummings (twice) also netted. "It was very pleasing to hit the back of the net five times," said Gary Smith, head coach, speaking from LA. More importantly, Smith said the starting XI today was close to what we can expect come opening day against Chivas, March 21. The XI that started: Burpo in goal, a back four of Kimura, Ihemelu, Gibbs and Harvey, a midfield of Petersen, Mastroeni, Ballouchy and Clark with Casey and Cummings upfront. After about an hour, the entire back four was changed to Wawa, Dalby, Holody and Guerrero with Cooke and LaBrocca coming into the midfield and new boy Richardson taking a turn upfront. "He's not been here that long and he has a lot going on in his life," said Smith of Gregory Richardson, aka Jackie Chan. The Guyanese may have to do some strength and conditioning to make himself ready for the rigors of MLS. "There's not much of him - he seems like a decent lad," Smith said.
Whether Richardson will make the team as another striking option remains to be seen. Smith said he is still looking at one unidentified striker to come in before the season starts. That could leave Richardson's status with the team up in the air though Smith said that some established players could also make way for more forward options and to help keep some of the draft players on board.
Some of those more established players did leave some room for younger draft players Monday when they were waived by the club. Justin Hughes, Cesar Zambrano and Kwame Sarkodie are no longer Rapids players. Smith said that Hughes has attracted interest from a USL-1 team and that he could also likely get on the Real Maryland squad. Zambrano is being courted by sister club Maryland while Sarkodie is using the links between assistant coach, Steve Guppy, and the Rochester Rhinos to pursue dreams there.

No More Juice as Rapids Slim Roster

Justin Hughes, one of the unluckiest players for the Colorado Rapids, now has to rethink his soccer future after being waived from the club this afternoon. The Rapids had to make themselves roster compliant by today and decided to waive the unfortunate goalkeeper. Cesar Zambrano and Kwame Sarkodie were also waived. Hughes, aka The Juice, was out injured all last season. A badly injured groin initially kept him on the sidelines for much of the season. Just as he was about to come back, he promptly injured a shoulder in training and never made it onto the pitch. When you think of all the difficulties deciding between Bouna and Preston Burpo as to who would play between the posts last season, it would be reasonable to think that Hughes could also have made a strong case for inclusion if he had not been so injured. Now, he is deemed surplus to requirements after a season of inaction. The Rapids decided to sign draft player, Steward Ceus, as another goalkeeper. Maybe the decision is purely financial. Neither Hughes nor Ceus looked likely to get much action with Burpo and Matt Pickens apparently slugging it out as to who will start. Hughes was not on the greatest money but it might have been time to offer him something better and Ceus will undoubtedly be cheaper as a rookie. It's a great shame on a personal note. Justin is a top guy who always treated me with great respect and friendliness. I'll miss him as I know many of the players will. He was one of the most popular players in the squad. We wish him all the best for the future and hope he will comment occasionally on this blog which I know he reads. Good luck Justin.
I didn't know Zambrano and Sarkodie. Zambrano played once for the first team against Toronto last season and performed pretty creditably given the extreme inexperience of the defense that day. Sarkodie played in the Reserves last season as a midfielder. Good luck to them both in their futures. The Rapids now have 22 players on the roster leaving some space for future acquisitions. The Rapids beat San Jose 2-1 today in another preseason friendly - see www.rapidsundercurrent.blogspot.com for details. They play LA on Wednesday and I aim to speak to Gary Smith after the game for some insights.

Smith Reaching For Stars With Feet on the Ground

Well, it was Wednesday rather than Monday but I did eventually manage to talk with Gary Smith, the head coach of the Colorado Rapids. Here are some of his thoughts less than a month away from the start of the season.

Gary Smith, head coach of the Colorado Rapids, wants 40 points to make the playoffs. That is the first priority of the team. If the Rapids do make the postseason, then aims can be modified and priorities reset. For some, aiming for just 40 points may seem a little light on ambition but Smith is realistic enough to know that he is still working with a relatively inexperienced core of players and that it is vital for the team to make that stage first having missed out in the past two seasons. "I am excited but realistic and we have to make sure both inside and outside the club that we don’t get too carried away," Smith said. For Smith, there is now a core group of players recently signed to multi-year contracts that are the future of the club. Aside from veteran club captain, Pablo Mastroeni, Smith sees the likes of Nick LaBrocca, Colin Clark, Ugo Ihemelu, Omar Cummings, Jordan Harvey and Kosuke Kimura, as the mainstay of the club in the coming years. But many of those players still have not typically played much more than a dozen games a season and are still developing their talents. Clearly, Smith is not just thinking about this season but the next few too.
The opening six games of the season will have a big say on the probability of reaching that target of 40 points. The Rapids will play four of those six games away, two of those being at Houston and Columbus. "Any away game is tough in this league and to have games against the current champions and the champions of the previous two seasons makes it even tougher," Smith said. His aim is for the team to get something out of both of those games. "If we can come out of the pack from these opening games, we are going to be in a good spot," he added. There then follows a long stint with a majority of games at DSG Park before more road games towards the end of the season.
The team is now just one or two players away from finalizing the 24-man roster which has to be in place March 2. Smith has been very public about bringing in one or two extra forwards to back up Conor Casey and Cummings. One of those could be a big name forward from Europe, probably in the summer once the seasons finish there. It may also be possible to bring in a player of good caliber from either South America or Africa in time for the season opener. Smith said he had been working on this for the past six weeks and admitted to some frustrations with the players he is targeting. One of those is the much-discussed English striker currently with Southampton, Jason Euell, whom Smith is talking with on a regular basis. There are problems with financial discussions, he said. Clearly, this is a problem with European players used to much higher salaries. The Rapids do have their Designated Player spot available again after trading Christian Gomez but I wouldn't hold your breath they will be able to fill that slot with a big name player based on what Smith is saying.
If strikers are added, clearly one or two more players would have to go. Only one triallist remains at the club, Ivorian Serge Wawa. Expect one of the developmental players to be moving on in the next week or so as the March 2 deadline approaches. The team heads to California to play San Jose on Friday followed by more preseason training and a game next week in Los Angeles.