On October 3rd, the Rapids will take on their nemesis FC Dallas. You can take on poverty by helping the Rapids support The 1010 Project.

Based right here in Denver, The 1010 Project partners with people through business and community development to end poverty in Kenya. I had the privilege of serving as Executive Director of this organization for a couple years, and saw first hand what a small band of passionate, creative people can do…both in Kenya, and here in the US…to end poverty.

Purchase specially discounted tickets here for just $25, and check out:

• Facebook Event
• More about The 1010 Project
• Rapids & The 1010 Project Flyer (PDF)

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis

Subbing off the bench in the 76th minute against Belgium, the Colorado Rapid’s Jeff Larentowicz earned his second United States men’s national team cap. The U.S. National team played a 1 -0 defeat at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday. With only a little over fourteen minutes to evaluate his play, it was hard to truly rate his performance, but he stepped in and played a similar role as he does with the Rapids. Jeff plays as a defensive holding midfielder and is tasked with breaking up opposing attacks in our defensive half. This year for the Rapids, Larentowicz has seen career high numbers in goals scored (6) and has played in all 28 games so far. His six goals currently lead the Rapids tied with Caleb Folan and Conor Casey.

Larentowicz, who in my opinion, isn’t always the most exciting player to watch on the pitch is one of the most consistent players on our current Rapids roster and is well deserving of the U.S. national team call-up. It was great to see him get in the match in Belgium and earn valuable playing time against top talent in the world. With his recent national team training, he should come back to his club team, a little tired, but with a wealth of knowledge to pass along during the Rapid’s CONCACAF Champions League run. His style of play appears to be an important piece to Jurgen Klinsmann’s U.S. side but it also appears to be a very competitive position as well. Maurice Edu, Real Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman and Michael Bradley appear to be competing for this spot and all have more national team experience than Jeff. It still waits to be seen which players Klinsmann wants in his new system and he appears to be giving many an opportunity to earn their position in the new attack minded style of play. One thing is certain; his formation requires a central defensive midfielder and Larentowicz has earned his call-up. After seeing his second national team cap, it’s now up to him to show Klinsmann he deserves more minutes.

JMH

International Soccer, Rapids News and Analysis, US National Team Jeff Larentowicz, Jurgen Klinsmann

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Columbus Crew

Is it good to have Kandji back or what? My comrade Justin Hein predicted a breakout by a Rapids forward in the CCL, but guessed Folan instead of the African who traded his ACL for our title last year. Mac did not disappoint. Enjoy.

CONCACAF Champions League, Rapids News and Analysis Mac Kandji, Metapan

CONCACAF Champions League, Rapids News and Analysis

MLS fans have struggled to find a TV home, with matches relegated to local TV partners. While we appreciate someone televising it, everything about the quality of MLS needs to (and is) improving, and this includes the quality of TV coverage. MLS may have found it’s partner in the NBC Sports family. From the press release:

The partnership calls for 45 MLS games and four U.S. Men’s National Team contests to be televised live across both NBC and NBC Sports Network each season. This marks the first rights deal for the newly-named cable channel that will be re-branded from VERSUS on Jan. 2, 2012…

Each season, NBC will broadcast two regular-season MLS games, two playoff games and two appearances by the U.S. Men’s National Team, marking the first time four MLS matches will be broadcast on English-language network television since 2002. The NBC Sports Network will televise 38 regular-season games, three playoff games and two U.S. Men’s National Team matches. All telecasts on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of pre-game and post-game coverage. According to the agreement, the NBC Sports Group obtains digital rights across all platforms and devices for the games it televises.

What do you think? Will the re-branded Versus provide a dedicated home for MLS on TV? Will the quality of announcers and coverage improve? Do you see yourself watching more games?

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis NBC Sports

Who:
Isidro Metapán. The full name of the team is Asociación Deportiva Isidro Metapán. They play in the top division of football in El Salvador. The club has some history going back to the 1950’s under a different name when a top league was being formally organized. However, the club known today was officially reintroduced to the top division in 2001. The team has five Primera División titles to their name having won the Clausura 2007, Apertura 2008, Clausura 2009, Clausura 2010 and Apertura 2010.

League:
Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador. The league was founded in 1969 and currently includes 10 teams. Like most Latin American football leagues, the Primera División is broken into two half seasons called the Apertura or Clausura. Before 1998, the format was a season long tournament but the decision to switch to the Apertura and Clausura was made to gain more popularity in El Salvador. The most decorated club in La Primera is C.D. FAS with 17 championship titles to their name. However in recent years, Isidro Metapán is considered one of the top consistent teams winning 4 championships in the last 7 seasons.

How Isidro Metapán qualified:
2010 was a great year for Isidro Metapán. The team won both the 2010 Clausura and 2010 Apertura. By winning the 2010 Apertura, they earned a berth into the 2011-2012 CONCACAF Champions League. Two teams from El Salvador were invited to this year’s CCL yet neither was given an automatic berth into the Group Stage. The second team from El Salvador that joined Metapán was the 2011 Clausura winner, Alianza.

Both Metapán and Alianza entered the Preliminary Round. Alianza was eliminated by FC Dallas, however Metapán went on to beat the Puerto Rico Islanders. The first match between Metapán and the P.R. Islanders was played on July 27th in Metapán, El Salvador in the 8,000 seat Estadio Jorge Calero Suárez. Isidro Metapán went on to win the first leg 2-0 in front of a “crowd” of 1,658 people. The second leg, played on August 3rd in Puerto Rico, was won by the Islanders 3-1, leveling the aggregate score 3-3. With the away goal rule in effect, Isidro Metapán advanced into Group B to face the Colorado Rapids.

Top Players:
Léster Blanco, a 22-year old striker is one of the more dangerous players scoring 16 times in 31 matches in 2010. He already has one goal to his name in this year’s CCL. Ramón Sánchez, a midfielder for Metapán, has 67 caps with the El Salvador National team. 21-year old Edwin Sánchez has 8 national team caps and also scored one goal in this year’s CCL tournament. Miguel Montes is the goalkeeper for Metapán as well as El Salvador National team’s first choice keeper. Montes is probably the most well known player on Metapán.

Commentary:

With the valuable away goal, Isidro Metapán entered into our group. Knowing that the Puerto Rico Islanders play in the NASL (the second tier of professional soccer in the U.S.), it’s easy to compare an aggregate score of 3-3 as a draw. Both teams seemed evenly matched throughout both games, which would point to the conclusion that Isidro Metapán is equivalent to a 2nd division team in the U.S. I’d have to say the Rapids match against Metapán should be the easiest of the 3 team we face, however we can’t underestimate any team in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Last year, the Puerto Rico Islanders destroyed the LA Galaxy 4-1 at the Home Depot Center. The importance of winning at home is key to doing well in this tournament. The Galaxy went on to win the second leg in Puerto Rico last year, but they dug too deep of a hole when the Islanders embarrassed them in front of a Galaxy home crowd. No team can be taken lightly, but if there’s one team Gary Smith can experiment with, it will be against Isidro Metapán. This will be the first ever CONCACAF Champions match for the Rapids in club history and will be played on August 17th at DSG Park. This is a must win match to set the tone of our CCL run and even more important, keeping a clean sheet against a team that was one goal away from not advancing to Group B.

JMH

CONCACAF Champions League, International Soccer

Who:
Club Santos Laguna. The full name of the team is Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. The team was founded in 1982. Compared to other top Mexican clubs, Santos Laguna has a short history. They have three championships to their name: 1996 Invierno, 2001 Verano and the 2008 Clausura. On a side note, the team partnered with Celtic F.C. in December.

League:
Primera División de México. There are currently 18 teams and the most recent format for the league started in 1996, which introduced 2 champions, one Verano (Summer) and one Invierno (Winter). There has since been a name change for the two short seasons, now called the Apertura (Opening) and the Clausura (Closing). The Primera División was established in 1943 and has gone through a few format changes to decide the champion. The top Mexican league has a far more in depth history than the U.S. top domestic leagues. Much like everywhere else in the world, soccer plays a far larger part in Mexico’s culture compare to the U.S.

How Santos qualified:
Mexico received four berths into the 2011-2012 CONCACAF Champions League season. It was decided that the Primera División champion and runner-up of both the 2010 Apertura and 2011 Clausura would represent the league. The champions from each short season earned an automatic group spot while the runner-ups were entered into the preliminary round. Because Santos Laguna was a runner-up for the 2010 Apertura, they were entered to play in the preliminary.

Santos Laguna was drawn to play Olimpia, the most decorated club team from Honduras, for a bid to enter Group B with the Colorado Rapids and Real España. The preliminary was a two leg round based on aggregate scoring, enforcing the away goal rule. The first leg was won by Santos Laguna on July 27th in their home stadium, Estadio Corona, located in the city of Torreón within Mexico, by a score of 3-1. The second leg, played in Honduras, was won by Olimpia on August 3rd by a score of 2-1. With aggregate scoring in place, Santos Laguna earned a spot in Group B with a score of 4-3.

Top Players:
As of this article, striker Oribe Peralta of Santos Laguna is currently leading the 2011 Apertura league with 3 goals. Christian Benítez, who was the teams and arguably the league’s most prolific goal scorer in the past year, transferred to Club América for a reported fee of $10 million, a record in the Mexican league. Santos Laguna’s number 10 is Daniel Ludueña (29 years old). He has the most appearances for Santos Laguna on the current roster and is among the clubs top all-time goal scorers with 54 goals to his name.

Commentary:

In the 2010 Torneo Bicentenario (January 16 – May 15, 2010), Santos Laguna went to the final and lost to Toluca. Later that year in the 2010 Torneo Apertura (July 23 – December 12, 2010), Santos Laguna went to the tournament championship to come up empty once again, losing to Monterrey (Four months later, Monterrey went on to defeat Real Salt Lake in the 2011 CONCACAF Champions League final).

While Santos Laguna failed to earn another championship title to their name last calendar year, they were a consistent team, finishing both short seasons within the top five in total points before the start of the tournaments. The team slid earlier this year and didn’t qualify for the 2011 Torneo Clausura, however form seems to be coming back a bit with a couple competitive games under their belt. The 2011 Apertura began July 24th and they already have a couple wins to their name.

It’s hard to say what team we will see. While Santos Laguna was consistent in the past year, they fell off a bit but are starting to gain better form with their new season taking place. Where team depth could play part in how the Rapids compete in this year’s CCL, early season team form could play a factor on how well Santos Laguna competes. MLS teams have consistently been terrible when playing matches in Mexico and I’d have to chalk up a potential loss when we play in Torreón. That makes our home match against Santos Laguna that much more important to win.

JMH

CONCACAF Champions League, International Soccer

A test against the kings of the East, and the Rapids were more than equal to the task. They dominated every phase of the game, slowly constricting any attack out of the Crew and then finishing them off with a Mullan golazo and a Cummings breakaway goal.

It was an open match for much of the game, with the Crew creating chances down the left wing from speedy Robbie Rogers. In the first half every pass and each final touch was just a bit off. Nyassi and Cummings nearly linked up several times, but the Rapids first half three shots on goal weren’t terribly troubling for the Crew’s William Hesmer (GK).

In the second half, the Crew simply ran out of steam against the constant Rapids pressure, and never really looked likely to score. Mullan put home a highlight reel goal from 30 yards in the 55′, and from there it was all Rapids. While Cummings touch was still a little off all match, Nyassi’s assist to the Jamaican in the 79′ was sublime. Sanna made a turn around 30-40 yards out, and he and Cummings ran parallel 10 yards apart all the way to goal. Sanna’s softly served ball along the green carpet was promptly  placed by Cummings into the back of the net.

This Nyassi / Cummings partnership just gets better and better. Like twins separated at birth, they simply have to think “which run would I make,” or “which ball would I want served?” Like always we were solid in the middle, Larentowicz and Mastroeni choking up the middle for the Crew. Kimura and Wynne teamed up well to protect the left wing against Rogers, and the Rapids got their just desserts.

Three points. The Champs…look like it.

Major League Soccer (MLS) Brian Mullan, Columbus Crew, Omar Cummings, Sanna Nyassi, William Hesmer

Who:
Real España. The full name of the team is Real Club Deportivo España. The term “Real” was actually bestowed upon the club by the King of Spain in 1977. This is their 2nd appearance in the CONCACAF Champions League. Currently, they are the only team the Rapids know for sure they will be playing in Group B.

League:
Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras. There are currently 10 teams in the league with 3 teams qualified for this season of the CCL; Real España, Montagua and Olimpia. Olimpia is the most decorated club with 23 titles to their name and have qualified for the CCL 4 times now. They did win the CONCACAF Champions Cup (The tournament before the CCL) twice.

How Real España qualified:

The season is divided into two halves. The first half, called the Apertura, started August 7, 2010 and ended November 20th. The top 4 teams in the Apertura season play in a playoff based on one home and one away match with aggregate scoring. Real Espana won the playoff on December 11th with a 3-2 aggregate score against Olimpia, making them the first team to qualify from Honduras for the 2011-2012 CONCACAF Champions League. This was their 10th title in the league. This might sound like a lot, but the league was established in 1964. Let’s not forget the Liga Nacional started the Apertura and Clausura for the 1997-1998 season which doubled the amount of champions each calendar year. The club has been around since July 14, 1929 so there’s great history with club and their supporters. The second half called the Clausura (Jan 15, 2011 – April 20th) was won by Motagua in the same playoff format as the Apertura. Motagua and Olimpia will play in the preliminary CONCACAF playoff rounds. Olimpia (who could potentially be in the same group as the Rapids) is the 3rd and final berth from Honduras. Olimpia got in for finishing at top the table in points from the combination of both the Apertura and Clausura, the equivalent to the our Supporters Shield.

Top Players:
Real España’s top two goal scorers for the 2010-2011 season were Douglas Mattoso (9 goals) and Luis Lobo (8 goals). However, Mattoso is no longer with the club and is now on Olimpia. Real España also has 2 current players on the Honduras National Football team, both in the midfield, 21-year-old Alfredo Mejia and 24-year-old Edder Delgado.

Commentary:

It’s hard to say what we can expect from Real España. How they qualified for the 2011-2012 CONCACAF Champions League sounds pretty close to how the Rapids qualified. They weren’t the best team during the Apertura season, but played well in the playoff run and ended up with a championship title to their name. Their supporters, known as the Mega Locos, are said to be the most passionate fans in Honduras. The Rapids away match against Real España could prove to be a difficult test considering the environment. In this tournament, you must win at home and anytime an opponent can make the most of their home atmosphere, the better chance of getting out of the group stage.

JMH

CONCACAF Champions League, International Soccer