Colorado had a full preseason match and two short scrimmages to finish out their California trip
before heading home this morning. Friday night was the full match against San Jose, supposedly
streamed online but the Earthquakes tech department failed. If only the Quakes represented the
center of high tech innovation int his country or something.
The Rapids open the regular season 1 month from today against the Crew. Tonight they'll play San
Jose in San Luis Obispo. The Earthquakes will be streaming the game live on both team's
websites.
We also found out today that Colorado will announce the new Argentine midfielder at 3pm on Monday.
Earlier today MLSSoccer.com reported that the reason Mac Kandji wasn't in camp right away is that
he was looking for a team in Europe. This afternoon the Rapids announced that Kandji had been
traded to Houston for a conditional 3rd round draft pick in 2014. Probably a fair trade for a guy
who's had 0 goals and 3 assists in 16 games.
Colorado faced Chivas USA in a scrimmage at the HDC today. A late Qunicy Amarikwa goal from a
Steven Emory assist gave the burgundy boys a 1-0 win. Of course its preseason so its meaningless
but wins are always better than losses. The starting XI (trialists makred with a *):
Angulo* - Cummings - MullanLarentowicz - Castrillon - MastroeniZapata* - Marshall - Wynne -
KimuraPickens
After subs the team finished with the the following lineup:
Cascio - Amarikwa - AkpanThompson - LaBauex - EmoryFreeman - Palguta - Guido* - AbabioJoyce
Guido is a local player playing with the team while they're in California.
Today the Rapids had a fan event on the 16th St. Mall to announce their new initiative and club
slogan. The new slogan is 'One Club' and to celebrate it they announced that anyone who buys season
tickets for the 2012 season by March 1st will have their name printed on the authentic home player
jerseys in 2013 and 2014 (example above).
The Rapids played their first friendly of the preseason today against the Ventura County Fusion at
Oxnard College in California. The game was a scoreless draw and with no coverage its hard to draw
much of anything from the result, but here are the starting lineups for each half (* denotes
trialist):
1st Half:
Cascio - Amarikwa - AkpanThompson - Nane - LaBauexFreeman - Marshall - Palguta - Zapata*Ceus
2nd Half:
Angulo* - Archer* - ArmstrongThompson - Nane - Guido*Huazo* - Marshall - Palguta - AbabioJoyce
Obviously this was a game for some of the reserves to try to make their mark in competing for a
starting spot.
There's been murmurs all week that Folan was looking for a a new club in Europe. Today the Rapids
made it official, releasing him from his contract. Anyone who read this blog last year knows I was
no fan of Folan, mainly due to the lack of effort he displayed on the field. This move frees up
around 200K of salary cap space, possibly to go after that rumored Argentine midfielder.
Last night the Rapids held a Supporters Forum at Fado's in Lodo. I was unable to attend, but the
big news that came out of the forum was that Colorado is pursuing a young #10-style Argentine
midfielder. No details have been leaked on his name or his background but there may be a new
arrival from South America in Commerce City soon.
The addition of Wilmer Cabrera as Pareja's right-hand man has been the worst-kept secret in
Commerce City for some time. Today the Rapids made it official, along with the rest of the coaching
staff (all of which had been leaked prior to today). The new additions:
Wilmer Cabrera - Assistant Coach
Former Men's U-17 coach for the U.
The Rapids have sent out an update on some of the trialists in camp. Sam Archer is still with the
team while Issac Cowles was injured during training and he will be sidelined for a couple of weeks.
Edrissa Jarra, Daniel Navarro, and Steve Cronin have been cut from camp. Joining the team is
defender Draymond Washington, who's played for George Washington University the last 4 years.
The Rapids had an article today about the trialists where they mentioned that Cascio and Yamada
were signed to contracts with the league before the draft. Their statuses have been updated in my
master list. I've also changed the list so unsigned players are all in one group but I've added a
note next to Helmick to note that he was drafted (as our only unsigned drafted player).
The Rapids signed Jaime Castrillon this morning, their first major player move of the offseason. As
is typical terms were not released but those will leak out eventually. Castrillon is expected to be
an immediate starter in the midfield, and Pareja has talked recently about playing a 4-3-1 or
4-2-1-3.
The Rapids made a trade late today, sending an international roster spot and our 2nd round pick in
the 2014 draft to Vancouver for allocation money. I'm guessing the signing of Castrillon is
imminent. The Rapids now have 3 open international spots and 3 filled ones.
Colorado also invited two players from their open tryouts earlier this week into training camp with
the team.
Colorado announced that they've re-signed Steven Emory to a new contract today. They also announced
that Miguel Comminges, Danny Earls, and Michael Holody will not be returning to the team this
season. This gives the Rapids 27 players under contract and the rights to 3 players from the recent
drafts.
