These are the sorts of games that compel me to predict another season where we fall just out of playoff contention. We came off six games unbeaten, but the final three of those were ties. We are dropping points when we could be nipping at Fake Salt Lake’s heels.

Dare I say we were punchless without Ballouchy? The game was screaming for someone to take charge of our attack in the midfield. Smith looked adequate in the midfield, took a couple good set pieces, but lacked the creative touch. Thompson was pacey but never really troubled the defense. On a bright note, Casey and Cummings teamed up well on a few chances and put our only shots on goal. However in the end we fell short.

Smith appears to be throwing darts again with the lineup. To be fair, I’m not sure either what the combination is. Some fans want Lopez in there, a man who has shown to be quite dangerous throughout his career. Can he last 90 minutes however? Clark seems tentative, little of the slashing winger of 2009. What we need is a leader, someone who will grab our attack by the scruff of the neck and will his way into making us dangerous in games like this where a point was ours for the taking.

The downside: we sent the man with the most minutes and matches since 2008, Nick LaBrocca along with our third round 2011 Major League Soccer SuperDraft pick. There’s no doubt Nick was a great guy and well liked among the fans, however I like this trade on several levels

• There’s little doubt newly-acquired Larentowicz is the better midfielder. While Nick was dependable, he lacked the size and tenacity to be a holding/defensive midfielder. He lacked the technical ability to be a creative presence in the attack
• Wynne brings a Dani Alves (for Barcelona) or Philip Lamm (for Germany) attack from the back along the wings. When we lost our wingers last year, we had no pace or creativity up the edge of the pitch, and Wynne brings that

Welcome to the team Marvell!

Nick, thanks for all you did for the club these last couple of years. I wish you the best.

Here’s the full press release

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (Thursday, March 25, 2010) – The Colorado Rapids have acquired defender Marvell Wynne in a trade with Toronto FC, the club announced today.

In exchange, Colorado send midfielder Nick LaBrocca and their third round 2011 Major League Soccer SuperDraft pick to Toronto.

Wynne joins the Rapids adding his lightning pace to the club’s backline. Over the last two seasons, he has developed into more of an offensive threat scoring his first professional goals in 2008 and registering a career high five assists with TFC last season. Wynne has three caps with the U.S. Men’s National Team and was a member of the Men’s Olympic Team that competed in Beijing in 2008. The former first overall selection in the 2006 MLS SuperDraft by New York has played in 96 career MLS games, 90 as a starter, and recorded two goals and 13 assists.

Wynne will join the team in Los Angeles ahead of their 2010 season opener against Chivas USA tomorrow, Friday, March 26 at 8:30 pm MT.

LaBrocca leaves Colorado having played in more games and in more minutes than any other Rapids player since 2008. He appeared in 61 games with 57 starts and scored four goals for Colorado after originally being drafted by the Rapids with the 35th overall pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.

This is the third trade Colorado and Toronto have completed in the last three months. On January 21, the Rapids acquired allocation money from Toronto in exchange for midfielder Jacob Peterson and on February 10 the Rapids acquired TFC’s third round 2011 MLS SuperDraft pick in exchange for defender Ty Harden.

Transaction
MLS
Colorado Rapids – Acquired defender Marvell Wynne from Toronto FC in exchange for midfielder Nick LaBrocca and Colorado’s third round 2011 Major League Soccer SuperDraft pick.

From a great writer to the north, The 24th Minute:

This is a bit of a head scratcher. Peterson is a wing player, which we all know Toronto needs, but he’s a wing player that blew his knee out in the final month of the 2009 season. In Colorado it was expected that he might not be ready to play until August.

For me this is a head scratcher as well. As I discuss in relation to my interview with Gary Smith, the loss of Peterson as our final healthy winger had profound implications on our tactics. After losing Clark and Peterson, we were de-clawed. If I’m not mistaken, we didn’t score a non-PK goal after September 12th, or at least we scored very few. How can trading away one of our wingers do anything but hurt an already susceptible role.

HOWEVER. El Capitan Gary Smith is undoubtedly aware of this, and in his interview discussed the affect of losing wingers. I can only assume this money will go towards acquiring another winger, of an ever greater quality. My hope is we will also pick up a solid backup, a true winger perhaps later in their career. Training Kimura on the job, late in the season, to be a winger was not effective.

El Capitan Gary Smith said

“I think we are adding a very explosive and athletic forward who I believe has a huge amount of potential,” said head coach Gary Smith. “I am sure he will be a wonderful addition to our already youthful and exciting front line.”

The young Guyana National Team player recorded a hat trick and an assist when Joe Public F.C. of Trinidad & Tobago dismantled the New England Revolution in September 2008 CONCACAF tournament play.