The league and player's union have announced that they have reached a deal on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, avoiding the strike deadline of tomorrow night that the union set. The new deal is for 5 years, which means the season will start as planned on Thursday night with the expansion Philadelphia Union at the Seattle Sounders. Click to continue reading...

The Rapids announced today that Greg Dalby, as predicted, has been waived. They also confirmed that Ceus' loan will be for the full season, with the ability to recall him at any time. The FC Denver blog reported that Jure Travner did not return to the States with the team after his trial in England. Click to continue reading...

The Rapids have announced that tomorrow's Charity Shield match at the Dick against Seattle is canceled due to the expected storm. The Supporter's Groups kickoff party is also canceled. Click to continue reading...

Rapids GK Steward Ceus has tweeted that he'll be returning to the USL-2 Charlotte Eagles on loan again this year. Ceus joined Charlotte in June last year for the remaining part of their season, playing 10 times for them and helped to lead the Eagles to a 4th place finish and runners-up in the Championship game. Click to continue reading...

Crossposted from No Fan Alone. The Class VI Grand Poobah asked that I post some of my on-field analysis there, but I wanted to make sure those of you that started reading me here saw it as well.
Today the Rapids Undercurrent had some notes from Gary Smith. One in particular stood out to me:

The fact that we have a settled 24 at the moment doesn't necessarily mean that that will be the same 24 that starts the season

Based on the announcements from the team, the Rapids have 26, not 24 on the roster. Click to continue reading...

Sorry for the delayed update. I spent yesterday in Boulder finishing with the Great Big Sea concert at the Boulder Theater. Great time and I was tempted to buy tickets for tonight's show.
The Rapids finished their London trip with a match against San Jose at Tottenham Hotspur's training grounds. Click to continue reading...

The Rapids had a few more roster announcements today:

• While trialist Andy Lorei traveled with the team to England, on Wednesday morning the Rapids were joined by another trialist: Jure Travner, a defender currently with Watford FC.
• Scott Palguta has Achilles tendinitis and is rehabbing at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Click to continue reading...

Lots of news from the Rapids today. First the game result, then the roster moves.
This morning (early this morning Colorado time) the Rapids played the Arsenal Reserves. According to Arsenal fans it was closer to a mix of reserves and youth team players. The Rapids won 1-0 on a Casey goal with a Cummings assist in the 52nd minute. Click to continue reading...

Conor Casey has signed a contract that will keep him with the Rapids for 3 more years. This will keep Casey in MLS (barring a transfer) through the 2012 season when Casey will be 31 years old. Casey is coming off a 16-goal season, a record for both him and the Rapids.
This is a good move by the Rapids, keeping possibly the best striker in team history wrapped up through his best remaining years. Click to continue reading...

The USSF announced the MLS qualifiers for the U.S. Open Cup today. Dates and times to be announced later.
New York hosts Philadelphia: Winner Hosts New England
Vs.
Kansas City hosts Colorado
San Jose hosts Real Salt Lake
Vs.
DC United hosts FC Dallas
Now according to the Rapids FO the hosts for the qualifiers is determined by coin flip. Click to continue reading...

Today was scheduled to be the roster compliance day for MLS teams, but due to the ongoing CBA negotiations the league has delayed the date to sometime in the upcoming few weeks. Besides that being a rather disappointing take on the status of the talks it happens to correspond to some comments by Gary Smith where he said he'd like to take about 24 players to London next week. Click to continue reading...

On Friday the Rapids favored their Rocky Mountain Cup rivals in their final game of their Arizona trip. Unfortunately the matchup looked more interesting on paper than in real life as neither team could score. Here are the lineups for the Rapids by half.
* = Unsigned trialist
First Half:
Pickens
Kimura - Baudet - Holody - Moor
Smith - LaBauex* - Ballouchy - Smith
Cummings - Hodges*
Second Half:
Pickens
Moor - Dalby - Holody - Valentino
De La Cruz* - LaBauex* - LaBrocca - Lorei*
Cummings - Akpan
I got some impressions of th game from a third-hand source. Click to continue reading...

The Rapids faced the Galaxy in Arizona this afternoon. They lost 2-0 on a pair of first half goals. For the second game in a row the opposition scored int he first 10 minutes, which isn't a positive sign. Significant halftime changes again. Here are the lineups:
* = Unsigned trialist
First Half:
Pickens
Kimura - Baudet - Holody - Moor
Smith - LaBrocca - Ballouchy - Noonan
Cummings - Hodges*
Second Half:
Ceus
Kimura - Dalby - Holody - Valentino
Thompson - Ballouchy - LaBauex* - Lorei*
Schunk - Akpan
Still no signs of Palguta and Earls, which is unusual. Click to continue reading...

Sorry for the lack of posting in the lat week or so. I'm a bit of an Olympics junkie and I've been distracted. Other than figure skating if Olympics are on, I'm watching it. Yes, even curling believe it or not. Some rough outings for the American skips, moving them off of last rocks was probably a good move. Click to continue reading...

Surprisingly quiet in Rapids-land given that today makes 5 weeks to the season opener. Still a few things have popped up.

• The Rapids will be giving Jamaican international striker Devon Hodges a 10-day trial while their in Arizona next week. The Rapids need more forward depth, though for international callups when Jamaica is playing it doesn't help.

Click to continue reading...