TRAP!
The Rapids are back home for a 3 game home stand, interrupted for the international weekend on June 8th. A sell-out crowd is expected tomorrow to see Colorado take on Chivas USA. A sell-out mainly because of a massive tournament weekend on the field complex at the Dick, so plan accordingly when it comes to parking.
German Mera
Three roster notes today:
- As you can see by the above picture, German Mera has arrived in Colorado and is eligible for selection on Saturday
- MLSSoccer.com's Rapids beat writer Chris Bianchi has tweeted that he expects resolution, probably in the Rapids favor, of the Charles Eloundou saga in the near future.
Tonight Orlando City SC beat the Ocala Stampede 2-1 in the 2nd round of the U.S. Open Cup. That means Orlando will host the Rapids next Tuesday at 5:30pm MDT for their 3rd round matchup. This makes the 27th road USOC or USOC qualifier for the Rapids in their history, including the last 11 straight. They've play (and won) 4 total home matches in 17+ seasons.
Today the league announced that New York City FC, jointly owned by Manchester City FC of the EPL and the NY Yankees of MLB, will become team 20 in 2015. For personal reasons I was rooting for Orlando City SC as with my in-laws outside Orlando it would be a cheap road trip. A number of fans are upset about the branding or attachment to an EPL side but it doesn't bother me.
The Rapids put together another solid outing on the road Saturday night, getting a 1-1 draw in San Jose. They were a bit unlucky not to get the win however, being the better team for most of the match. After a couple of early chances by San Jose, Colorado took control for most of the half. Midway through it Rivero whipped in a corner to the near post and Nathan Sturgis redirected it inside the near post for a 1-0 lead.
The Rapids will rely on their own Young Punks tomorrow
The relation of the image and title to tomorrow's game is left up to the reader to figure out, though if you've read this blog for more than a year you should already know. The Rapids are in Norther California tomorrow to face the Earthquakes.
Two bits of news.
- Edson Buddle, as I expected, was suspended today for his stupid and dangerous tackle at midfield in the 2nd half of Saturday's game against the Crew. He'll miss Saturday's game in San Jose.
- The 3rd round draw for the U.S. Open Cup was posted. The Rapdis will face the winner of next week's Ocala Stampede (PDL) - Orlando City (USL) match.
The 2013 USA Pro Challenge Host Cities
Time for one of my diversions into another of my favorite sports, pro cycling. Yes, I know, its been a bad offseason for cycling with Lance Armstrong admitting what many people have known for a while. He doped. The sport shouldn't be seen from the perspective of its biggest failures though.
Colorado played perhaps its most complete game of the season as they picked up a solid win in Columbus for the first time since 2004. The Rapids got on the board early of a long clearance from Irwin that Buddle headed to Mwanga. Danny saw Harris in the box and chipped it to him. He was able to flick it into Buddle's path and Edson settled it and beat the keeper far post for a 1-0 lead after 8 minutes.
Ohio During The War of 1812
200 years ago next month the War of 1812 started. Prior to the U.S. actually declaring war, forces gathered around Dayton, Ohio in May in preparation. 200 years later, just down I-70, the forces of the Rapids will gather in Columbus to face the Crew tomorrow. Kickoff is at 5:30pm MDT on Altitude.
The 2013 Salary List is out, here are the Rapids salaries:
| Player |
| Pos | Base | Guaranteed |
| Armstrong | David | M | 46,500. |
That was a lousy game to watch as a neutral fan, worse as a Toronto fan. It probably wasn't very pleasant to watch as a Rapids fan but at least we can celebrate 3 points at the end of the day. Two teams that were lucky to string 3 passes together wasted 90 minutes on the field. At the end of the day the difference was that one team (Toronto) were absolute clowns and one team (Colorado) were merely lousy.
Game recap tonight (if I can quit laughing about it long enough to write it), salary discussion tomorrow, but first this. Colorado just announced that they've signed German Mera, a big left-footed centerback on loan from Deportivo Cali until the end of the season. He fills the roster and international spot freed up by Calderon (or Castrillon, or Harbottle) being on IR.
Maple-Drizzled Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs at the tailgate
One of our annual invasions from Canada this week as Toronto comes to down for the only meeting of the year. TFC had a mid-week game in Canada's version of the U.S. Open Cup, where they lost 6-0 to their rivals from Montreal. So they're either going to be ready to put a beat down on the Rapids or completely whipped and ready to slink home.
Watch these highlights!
At lunchtime today the Timbers faced local side Green Machine and lost 10-9!
Green Machine being the club of 8-year old Atticus Lane-Dupre, who missed the end of the fall season with his team while fighting cancer. Through the Make-A-Wish foundation what he wanted to do was play the Portland Timbers with his Green Machine teammates, and the Timbers organization along with the Timbers Army went all out to make his wish come true.
