Calling in Sick

The good news is that David Beckham is coming to town for the first time in four years. The bad news is that three of the biggest Rapids players are still out with various illnesses and injuries.

While Becks saw it fit to proclaim to the Denver Post this week that he will be here in Colorado for the first time since 2008 – the 4-0 spanking that day must have really scared him (remember Terry Cooke’s goal?) – the Rapids’ own Conor Casey looks unlikely to play any part even as he targeted this game for his first one since last July when he limped off against Seattle with a season-ending injury. Ironically, it is a simple case of a throat infection which seems likely to stop the big striker from even making it to the bench. The Rapids said today he wasn’t able to finish practice because of his lingering illness. Surely, he won’t be risked for this game even if he does perk up after a good night’s sleep.

With Jamie Smith and Pablo Mastroeni still out for what looks at least a few weeks, there seems little chance of any major changes to the line-up for the game against Goldenballs, Landycakes and the rest. That may be a shame because some of the players may need a little more competition to stir them up a bit.

While the Rapids failed to create anything offensively in the second half, the first half forward combination of Omar Cummings, Tony Cascio and Brian Mullan did a great job and managed to carve out some decent chances. For that second half lack of offensive creativity, we might want to blame the fact of Seattle’s soft goal. It was far too easy for the Sounders to score and then they closed the game down, restricting the Rapids’ chances.

And for that goal, and other situations in the game, there must be some serious concerns for Oscar Pareja about the defensive abilities of some of his midfielders. And I’m not talking about Jeff Larentowicz. It’s nice to have Martin Rivero to spray passes around and create as a playmaker but Pablo Mastroeni he ain’t. The bigger concern right now, though, may be Jaime Castrillon as a defensive midfielder. The Colombian was billed as a box to box midfielder but far too often in last weekend’s game, he wasn’t to be seen on the defensive end of things, and I’m not talking just about the goal where Cascio may have done better too in defending the corner. Maybe it’s too early to make any judgement but such weaknesses in such a crucial position may have cost the game last weekend and there were signs of this too against Real Salt Lake. Catsrillon is no doubt gifted offensively but his defensive play is not up to scratch yet in the MLS and we can only hope it improves. Pareja took him off last weekend in the 65th minute. Honestly, Wells Thompson would have been a more reliable bet defensively even if he does not have the talent going forward that Castrillon has.

BAN THE HERBALIFE IMPOSTERS

In the corresponding fixture last year, there was a whole section of apparently paid “fans” who lifted Herbalife (LA sponsors) placards every time the Galaxy did something half decent. It took the home crowd out of the game and can only have boosted LA. Seemed wrong at the time that LA could fiddle things like that to give them an advantage away from home and still seems wrong now. Let’s hope the apparently sell-out crowd drowns those imposters out if they attempt to repeat such nonsense tomorrow.

HENAO STILL ABSENT

New signing Harrison Henao has not yet touched down in Colorado and the Rapids said today they are still not sure of exactly when he will turn up. The 25-year-old midfielder is staying in his home country until his International Transfer Certificate and visa are ready for him to make the trip to Denver.

I guess everyone has to get back on the horse at some point but,  if you were in Brian Mullan’s shoes, would you go to Seattle? I mean, why put yourself through all that? CenturyLink Field with 40,000 baying Sounders fans is not the easiest road venue to play at in the first place and it will be one hell of a hostile reception for the veteran tomorrow if he does make the trip.

I say ‘if’ because it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he doesn’t go at all. After all, nobody has confirmed he will make the trip. Last year, Mullan was a late scratch from the corresponding game. Maybe he was carrying a slight knock at the time but Mullan isn’t one to back down with a slight knock. Maybe I’m wrong but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t make the field tomorrow. Who would really blame him? Apart from irate Sounders fans of course.

Onto the matter at hand. The Rapids have shown too much vulnerability on the road in the last two games. Maybe it’s the new formation, maybe it’s the absences of key players, but the team has looked a bit like the Rapids of a few years ago when away from home. No real offensive punch and too leaky in defense of the ball. They really need a better performance tomorrow, not least in the first half of the game when they looked especially vulnerable against New York and Salt Lake.

It won’t be easy in Seattleland and they will really need to take it to the hosts to try and take the fans out of the game, especially if Mullan does play. A bit more of that Philadelphia Union game approach rather than the last two games away.

No Pablo again but we are used to saying that by now and the Rapids won’t be using it as an excuse. It seems unlikely Oscar Pareja will use the Drew Moor as midfielder experiment again in a hurry, so expect a fairly predictable line-up with a normal back four, a midfield trio of Rivero, Castrillon and Larentowicz and a front three of Cascio, Cummings and Mullan (?). If Mullan doesn’t play, there may be a chance for Wells Thompson to play and perhaps repeat his first minute goal from last year up there. Ross LaBauex (hernia injury) and Quincy Amarikwa (family commitment) did not make the trip.

Whether Mullan plays or not, the Rapids will need a lot of guts, as Pareja said in Spanish this week. Is that cojones? They’ll need it in spades and in even bigger spades if the veteran starts and gets booed incessantly. It sure won’t be much fun to watch as a Rapids fan.

The Colorado Rapids etched another 2-0 clean sheet victory at home last weekend onto the 2012 season canvas but a far bigger test awaits them tomorrow night in Sandy, Utah.

The first of three Rocky Mountain Cup games this season, two of which are in Utah (how does that work?), will be a major test for some of the newest players to don the burgundy. Rookie Tony Cascio has shown plenty of fight to go along with skill in the four games so far but this will be one of the bigger matches he has played in in his young career. And I am sure the South American games that Martin Rivero and Jaime Castrillon have played in in their time have been no picnic but this will be a step up in terms of crowd hostility and physicality than they have experienced so far in the MLS.

The team looks likely to be unchanged from the starting XI last weekend with Rapids captain Pablo Mastroeni out for several weeks with ongoing concussion issues. The bench may also be largely unchanged from the Chicago game. Ross LaBauex, who had been on the bench in the opening two games and started against New York, was not present last weekend for both the first team and reserve game. Even though he is not listed on the official injury list for tomorrow night, he is suffering from a sports hernia injury and is expected not to see any action for about ten days. That means the midfield options are again likely to be Wells Thompson and Joseph Nane. Andre Akpan, who scored twice for the reserves last weekend, could be  a tasty striking option off the bench while Tyrone Marshall, for most of last season a starter, seems to be getting used to coming on as a defensive sub while Drew Moor moves into a defensive midfielder position.

Conor back?

One interesting piece of news that comes a little late for tomorrow’s game is that Conor Casey is targeting an April 21 comeback for the Galaxy game. How the Rapids could do with his nous and toughness against Salt Lake tomorrow. Instead, Rapids fans will have to hope that Omar Cummings’ encouraging scoring form can continue with the help of the feisty Brian Mullan and Cascio upfront to take advantage of the no doubt very few opportunities that will come his way. Plus another clean sheet of course. Or at least fewer goals than were let in against New York, especially in the opening six minutes.

Tony Cascio is a revelation

Oscar Pareja said the Rapids have had time to put the New York Red Bulls game out of their system. Let’s hope so because that was painful to watch. The coach used the word “distraught” to describe the opening. Seems about right.

The game was over in those first six minutes as the Rapids turned the ball over in crucial areas of the field and were pounced upon by one of the better strike partnerships in the MLS in Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper. It’s easy to pick on Ross LaBauex for the first goal, as many have predictably done since last Sunday, but it was Jaime Castrillon who turned the ball over for that second goal and it was the Colombian again who inexplicably let Roy Miller coast deeply into the penalty box to gift Cooper for the final goal. That’s not to take away from Castrillon’s performance offensively which was one of the better parts of the game. He stole the ball off Rafa Marquez for Omar Cummings to score a beauty and he also came close with a great header in the first half. While we are at it, we can equally say that midfielder Wells Thompson  was largely ineffective in the game.

The point, surely, is not to apportion blame on individuals. Everyone makes mistakes and has bad games. It was an overall bad performance defensively by the Rapids and they will have to be a lot sharper tomorrow with the likes of Pappa, Pardo and Oduro to deal with.

PABLO OUT AGAIN

Once again, team captain Pablo Mastroeni is unavailable. I feel we will be writing a lot of that this season. The veteran has been reported as saying he is only one bad concussion away from retirement and he clearly is not right just now. This may well be a recurring problem throughout this season and the Rapids will have to get used to it.

The good news is that Jeff Larentowicz is back. He may well be partnered by Martin Rivero in the midfield as the young Argentinian has now received his transfer certificate. But, what message could that send to LaBauex? You made one mistake and that is that? If Pareja wants to instill confidence in his young midfielders, some of whom will no doubt be called upon regularly this season, surely the best option tomorrow would be to plunge LaBauex back into the starting line-up, tell him to forget last week and get him back on that horse. Thompson is much more established in the squad and will be a good option off the bench while Rivero is unlikely to be game ready and would be a better bench option too.

The front three of Cummings, Tony Cascio and Brian Mullan look likely to start their fourth straight game. Cascio has been a revelation. His attacking  threat last week was one of the few bright spots in the Rapids game and he is looking like a great pick. Maybe he will take a plunge later in the season as most first year players seem to do but we should all be enjoying his contributions right now.

Who goes where?

The Rapids enter tomorrow’s game with the New York Red Bulls without the grizzled central midfield pairing of Pablo Mastroeni (concussion) and Jeff Larentowicz (suspension). It is the first time at least one of those two has not been on the field to start an MLS game since Larentowicz moved West to join Colorado at the start of the 2010 MLS Cup winning season.

Game over? Well, MLSsoccer.com seems to think so. Six out of their seven pundits predict a Red Bulls victory even as Thierry Henry et al sit bottom of the Eastern Conference with two opening defeats and one goal to show for their efforts. No-one likes us, we don’t care!

They are certainly major absences for the Rapids, a perfect two and two so far. But it may well be something the squad will have to get used to, certainly in terms of Mastroeni. The veteran is having too many concussion symptoms for comfort and it would not be surprising if he plays a limited number of games this season in what could well be a retirement year.

So, opportunities abound tomorrow for the squad players. Players like Ross LaBauex could really put down a marker and get in Oscar Pareja’s face for the rest of the season, or more importantly the Colombian’s mind. LaBauex, who came on for Mastroeni in last weekend’s victory over Philadelphia, looks likely to start. The other part of the central midfield puzzle looks less clear. Wells Thompson, who has come off the bench in both games so far, could partner LaBauex or Joseph Nane may get the nod. Another intriguing option would be to put Drew Moor in a central midfield holding role, something that Pareja tried in training this week. That would allow Tyrone Marshall to play in central defense. Pareja may be tempted, however, to put Moor in his normal position up against his old friend Kenny Cooper who is likely to start alongside Henry with Juan Agudelo absent on US U-23 duty.

A tough game for sure given the circumstances in central midfield. But don’t write the Rapids off just yet. There is a resolve to this team and this will be an opportunity for them to show the much-discussed greater depth of the side in 2012.

Just about to do The Dead Fish (Denver Post)

Last season, this game was one of the best Rapids results of the year. Omar Cummings and the late lamented Sanna Nyassi were really beginning to enjoy their fruitful forward partnership with Nyassi scoring one of the sweetest goals in 2011 after a perfect through ball from Cummings. Pablo Mastroeni also scored one of his regularly spectacular goals with a beautiful left foot curled shot into the corner past Mondragon in the Philly net.

But that was then and this is now. Nyassi has gone in one of the less understandable offseason moves by the Rapids and the veteran Mondragon has moved on to be replaced by a 20-year-old McMath who had a bit of a stinker in Philly’s opening game against Portland. We could go on and on about the need to pressurize the youngster whose confidence may be a bit low but he’ll probably proceed to play a blinder in front of the Sons of Ben, so what’s the point? I’m sure Oscar Pareja has had words with Cummings and co. about the need for consistently offensive play and testing the youngster early doors though.

The Rapids will have to play offensively, as they have promised for much of the offseason. With a raucous Philly crowd for their home opener, and being a team eager to bounce back from the defeat in Portland, this will be no place for the Rapids to soak it all up and hope to score on the counter.

The starting line-up looks likely to be very similar to last week against Columbus. Martin Rivero still does not have his International Transfer Certificate from Argentina and did not travel. That means a likely same threesome upfront. While the ever confident Quincy Amarikwa did everything he could to get in the coach’s face with his spectacular goal last week (why was that not GOTW?) and his equally spectacular celebration, Pareja had plenty of good words for rookie Tony Cascio and the lanky Adrien Brody lookalike will probably get the nod. The midfield and defense will not change either. Mastroeni appears to have recovered fully from any after effects of his blow to the head last weekend. His ongoing battle with possible concussion issues remains a worry for the team though.

Soccer is unpredictable and it’s foolish to come out and say what the result will be. The Rapids will be happy with a point and full health, that’s for sure.

The Rapids are happy this morning to state that a new era has arrived. So much so that they even project a starting line-up for today’s season opener against the Columbus Crew. That’s almost unheard of.

The bad news is that newly signed playmaker Martin Rivero looks unlikely to play unless his International Transfer Certificate arrives miraculously from Argentina before kick-off. I don’t know, can’t help feeling that’s a very bad piece of planning on the Rapids’ part. There is so much preparation that is put in during preseason but a simple logistical step of getting a piece of paper seems to have been overlooked by someone. Rivero was probably bench material for the opener but even so.

Of the eleven likely to start, Tony Cascio stands out the most. The Adrien Brody lookalike has clearly impressed during preseason, not least scoring four times. The rookie, picked up in the Superdraft, is slated to patrol one of the flanks up top with veteran Brian Mullan on the other. The Crew will hopefully remember Mullan’s outstanding performance against them in the playoff last year. The guy was eveywhere. These two will join Omar Cummings on the frontline. The Jamaican has scored in the last four season openers.

One of Oscar Pareja’s big new signings, Jaime Castrillon, will be making his debut today in the midfield with Pablo Mastroeni and Jeff Larentowicz. This could be quite a tasty midfield combination going forward and one which should not be overlooked, but inevitably will be, by media outside of Colorado. Not by the other teams, I’m sure, but by the media for sure. Curious, no?

Drew Moor has been nursing a hamstring problem which kept him out of the Colorado School of Mines game last week but is raring to go aongside Marvell Wynne. Luis Zapata looks likely to be another debutant at left back with Anthony Wallace (season-ending) and Hunter Freeman both out. Expect Quincy Amarikwa or Andre Akpan to come off the bench at some point and regular midfield benchers Ross LaBauex and Wells Thompson to be warming the wood again. Tyrone Marshall will be a reliable replacement for one of Moor or Wynne if needed.

The talk is over, the games begin. Expectations are high, hopefully not too high. No score predictions, who can really tell? But hopeful for an opening day victory.

So, the opening game is just days away and it’s safe to say there’s a lot of expectation. Mainly about those new South American fellows.

Head coach, Oscar Pareja, has certainly put his imprint on this team with the signings of box to box midfielder Jaime Castrillon and playmaker Martin Rivero. They will join a packed midfield that somehow has to incorporate the grizzled central partnership of Pablo Mastroeni and Jeff Larentowicz as well as wide players Brian Mullan and Jamie Smith, when fit, not to mention Wells Thompson.

It’s difficult to see how they are all going to fit in. I don’t want to focus on whether it will be a 4-3-3 or various variations thereof (4-3-1-2?) but it will be intruiging to see how Pareja eventually lands on his favored set-up in terms of personnel. It would seem as of today that Thompson may be the odd one out, not to mention Ross LaBauex or Joseph Nane.

What is clear to me is that veterans like Mullan are not going to cede their ground to the newly arrived players. People may get excited about the new additions (not NASR reporters – more of that in a sec) but it will be the old guard who hold the key to success this season.

Rivero and Castrillon are untried in the MLS. I hope and I am sure they have a good shot at doing well and the Rapids players won’t let them get away with any nonsense about being too big for the team as has happened at other MLS clubs. And, from what it seems, they don’t have any such attitudes at all.

But we should not get carried away with the new players. We need to not forget the old ones. Mullan, Pablo, Larentowicz. And, probably most importantly of all, Conor Casey and Omar Cummings and their partnership.

It is no coincidence that the Rapids won MLS Cup in 2010 when these two were banging in 30 goals left, right and center. Last year, they were barely on the field together and that was a big reason why the Rapids could not sustain a deep playoff run. These two must stay fit and on the field together as much as possible if Colorado is to have a decent 2012.

NO-ONE LIKES US, WE DON’T CARE
I’m a member of the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) and we were asked to predict the final conference positions this week. Almost to a man, the NASR members put the Rapids down in eighth position of the nine Western teams. They are obviously not too excited about the new Pareja regime. I think it may be more that, whatever happens, we are not LA or NYRB, we are not glamorous and nobody thinks that the team is capable of doing well. Even with that little matter of an MLS Cup less than two years ago. Predictions scmichtions.

Welcome back, Rapids fans! The start of the 2012 Rapids campaign is just a little more than a month away. Preseason conditioning has already begun and the Rapids will soon be playing their first preseason matches versus Chivas USA and the San Jose Earthquakes in California this week. Near the end of February, the Rapids will finish up their preseason by participating in the Hawaiian Islands Invitational, facing teams from Japan, Korea and Australia.

The Rapids had anything but a quiet offseason this year. From our last blog update, the front office and coaching staff have completely revamped, bringing in a new philosophy for soccer in Colorado. As there have many changes since 2011, we’ll list the most important:

Out: Jeff Plush, Managing Director
In: Tim Hinchey, President of the Colorado Rapids

Out: Gary Smith, Head Coach
In: Oscar Pareja

Out: Steve Guppy, Assistant Coach
In: Wilmer Cabrera, Paul Caffrey

Players:
Out: Caleb Folan, Sanna Nyassi, Danny Earls, Miguel Comminges
In: Jaime Castrillion, Tony Cascio, Hunter Freeman

With one of the biggest offseason shakeups to the Rapids organization in recent memory, there are still many unanswered questions about what the team will look like by the start of the 2012 season. Taking a broad view of the offseason changes, the Rapids will start to become a more creative soccer team with influences from South America and a new focus on youth. Both front office and coaching staff now appear to be on the same page on soccer philosophy and rumor has a new, young South American designated player on his way to the mile high city soon.

While there’s much to still talk about, I have to say the best offseason move has been the hire of team president, Tim Hinchey. His openness with the fans (which can be seen by his use of social media via Twitter @tkhinchey3) has been outstanding to date. With Plush, we got a lot promises but no action. Skepticism set in and I could see Rapid’s fans contemplating their season ticket renewal. Hinchey has slowly righted that ship and trust between fan and front office is starting to become a strong bond. To Mr. Hinchey, job well done so far and remember, respect comes from openness, truthfulness and the ability to execute on your word. In the Twitter words of Hinchey, #COYRapids!

JMH