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

Major League Soccer (MLS), Player Transaction, Rapids News and Analysis

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

Whatever Sanna Nyassi had before the game (insert Red Bull joke), he needs to do it again next game…and the game after that for the rest of the season.

I arrived at the field 2 minutes late, just in time to hear DSGP erupt. Nyassi made a run into the box on a delicious give and from Cummings go that Sanna slotted into the top corner. Out of nowhere the Gambian hit a low shot in the 27′ from what seemed a foolishly long distance away. It was deceptively fast and struck the post, falling benevolently to the feet of Wells Thompson. Wells took a nervous first touch, but then calmly drove it under the goalie’s reach and into the net for the second goal of the night, Rapids 2-0.

In the 32′, Nyassi again turned absolutely nothing into something off an assist by Cummings and Moor. Nyassi took on 3 Red Bulls defender, zig-zagging and plunging a dagger into the heart of the back line. He buried his shot in the top left this time (just for variety sake), for his 2nd goal of the night, the third for the Rapids, effectively ending the match before halftime.

Not five minutes later, Cummings was back at it, setting up Wells with a low beauty behind the back line. An absolute sitter, all it needed was a touch into the open net, but Wells got his feet crossed up and shanked it. There is little doubt that the trumpets would’ve blown and Christ appeared in the clouds if Nyassi and Wells both registered braces in the first 45.

In the second half the Rapids offensive trio of Cummings/Thompson/Nyassi kept on trucking. In the 51′ the ultra-confident Wells let rip from 30 yards a low scorcher that Rost just finger-tipped wide. Cumings followed with a shot into the side netting off the corner play. In the 57′ a deflected Mullan pass sent Cummings, who just beat Rost to the bouncing ball, but his touch just went wide.

Then in the 61′ minute my brain actually exploded. Nyassi was fed the ball at about 30 yards, and made 3 Red Bulls defenders look…well let’s just say it was deja vu all over again, except this time it was a low driven ball under the goalie and in for a hat trick.
In the 66′, Henry showed his world class in a goal he’s probably scored 100 times. Agudelo cut the ball back to a trailing Henry who calmly passed it into the bottom corner…Pickens hadn’t a chance. Agudelo made more dangerous runs, and was really the only creative force of any kind for the Red Bulls.

Nyassi is just a different player in the middle. Previously we’ve seemed to place him on the right wing, where his crosses are mediocre. In the middle, it give us a speedy striker set with Cummings more South American or Spanish in appearance than your typical American/English target striker setup. It was fun to watch, and the results were staggering. Nyassi’s hat trick was the first since Casey’s in 2009, and he looked constantly dangerous when he turned on defenders and made devastating runs through the middle. Now can he do this on defenses like LA or RSL?

Cummings is regaining the form we all know, with several half chances of his own to score, and a remarkable trio of assists. Wells is never the most technical of players, but his speed alongside Nyassi gave the Rapids midfield a pace we’ve been sorely lacking with our solid (but aging) midfield.

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis New York Red Bulls, Omar Cummings, Sanna Nyassi, Thierry Henry, Wells Thompson

After our first match against Seattle this year, something changed. There were many mixed emotions after the Brian Mullan tackle earlier this year. I heard the emotions in the press box, in the stands and I could see it on the field. The one thing that came out of that match and the days after was my personal rival with Seattle. As someone with a voice, biased towards the Colorado Rapids, I had and still have to bite my tongue when I see the countless comments from the Seattle Sounder supporters on the web. To me, they are like baseball’s New York Yankees; you either love them, or hate them. Of course the biggest difference is the fact the Yankees have Championships to back up their obnoxiousness. Sorry, but the Open Cup is not a fair assessment of a championship caliber team. The Sounders had one win and five losses in the CONCACAF Champions League last year. This only proves the point that an Open Cup championship doesn’t prove anything but an easy way to get in the Champions League.

Losing to Seattle today hurt. Not because it was another loss, not because we scored three goals and still lost and not because we have anything to prove to Seattle. It’s because I secretly wanted to do the Jeff Larentowicz’s goal celebration clap to every Sounder troll on the internet. I wanted to say, “Get over yourselves. You haven’t done anything meaningful in this league yet.” Maybe it’s because I’m also secretively jealous of the Sounder fan base, the fact they have a jersey sponsor, their front office’s ability to scout new talent and sign designated players.

Do I need to settle and realize we’re a small market team? That we don’t have the passion from our ownership and fan base like Seattle does? Last season the underdog won the MLS Cup. Last season I saw a city get behind their team, our supporter groups grow in size and sell-out crowds come playoff time. The Seattle Sounders are everything I want our team to be, the jewel of Major League Soccer, but also everything I hate in sports, which is the popular club, a club that buys their talent and a team that feels like they should win every match.

Not even discussing how the Rapids played this week (which was similar to every other match this season), my disappointment lays in the fact I wanted to prove to the popular crowd that a small market team can be consistently better than one with designated players or a 36,000+ average home crowd backing their team. I wanted the Rapids to be the clear winner of the match, not on the losing side, looking for more reasons why we continue to lose big matches. The truth is, as much as I don’t want the Rapids to be on the short end of the stick, we are. After all, isn’t the average person an underdog? That’s where the true majority lays. The struggle we see on the pitch this season reflects the highs and lows we struggle with every day, but it’s when you succeed when you need to that matters most. See you in the playoffs, Seattle.

JMH

CONCACAF Champions League, Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Brian Mullan, Jeff Larentowicz

Rapids players were grateful in after the match interviews for the “W.” Fans’ frustration in seeing draw after draw is exceeded only by that of the players. And while a 2-1 victory over the bottom-dwelling Whitecaps isn’t scintillating, a victory is what you expect of champs at home and its what the boys in burgundy delivered.

Talk amongst yourselves

What did you think of the Cummings/Casey/Folan top three? An experiment worth repeating? How about Earls getting the start? Smith is obviously trying to mix things up..what would you do

Video Highlights

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Caleb Folan, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings, Vancouver Whitecaps