Round two of the Portland Timbers home and away saga against the Colorado Rapids kicks off
tonight at 6:00 pm as the Timbers desperately look for both their first road win (much needed for
morale) and three more points. If they do indeed win tonight it would see the Timbers leapfrog
Chivas USA to become the 7th place team in the Western Conference and come within only three points
of over taking FC Dallas with 2 games in hand.
Wow, what a busy week! The FO have announced season tickets would remain flat, the field would
be widened, TicketMaster would be fired and Caleb Porter would be hired.
What's that? We have two games in six days against the Colorado Rapids? Oh ... right.
When Stumptown Footy previewed the Colorado Rapids ahead of their first match this year against
the Portland Timbers, the Rapids weren't in great shape.
Tonight I was invited along with other bloggers and press to a happy hour with Rapids President Tim
Hinchey, Rapids General Manager Paul Bravo, Rapids Head Coach Oscar Pareja. Rapids Director of
Media Relations David Lindholm organized the event and was also present. There were 8-10 of us
talking with the Rapids leadership trio.
This time Colorado fell behind in the opening moments, immediately tied the match, and then
faded out on Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City.
This time the Seattle Sounders were the beneficiaries of this latest loss, but the victors
hardly mattered as the Rapids completed an 0-for-July streak that leaves the team questioning its
ability.
Saturday's match at Colorado will be the final meeting between the Sounders and the Rapids. KONG
6/16 will broadcast the match with typical Spanish language and radio coverage as well. The two
sides are nearly completely opposite in form. Where the Colorado Rapids have lost five straight
(OK, they beat Swansea), the Seattle Sounders are in a stretch of four unbeaten, though with only
one win.
When the Colorado Rapids come to CenturyLink Field for Saturday night's NBC SportsNet match they
will be trying to break their own funk. They have two wins and six losses on the road. Their big
home/away split is fairly typical for a Denver based sports team, and the Seattle Sounders will get
to take advantage of that.
The one and only UZ of SB Nation's Rapids blog Burgundy Wave was kind
enough to give us an introduction to the Timbers' newest addition, Kosuke Kimura.
Kosuke was a huge fan favorite among Colorado Rapids circles not necessarily because of his
brilliant play on the field but because he's just such a fantastic guy.
While the Portland Timbers faced off against a tough opponent and came out the better side last
Sunday, their true test will be tomorrow night when they go on the road, once again, to take on
Western Conference rival the Colorado Rapids. As we all know, the Timbers don't have the bets
record against Colorado so far since joining MLS and, with the Rapids now returning to full
strength after a series of injuries, Spencer's side will truly be tested.
Not surprisingly its been popular with our inconsistent start of the season to question if the
coaching change was the right move. I supported the move at the time and I continue to support it
now. Apparently I'm not alone as the Burgundy Wave blog has a great Hero Worship article about the
flawed comparisons between Gary Smith and Oscar Pareja.
The second home match of the season is the fourth in 8 days for the Sounders Women and the last
in a while for the contingent of national team players, who will be traveling to Sweden for a
two-week camp involving matches against Sweden and Japan as they warm up for the Olympics this
summer.
Facing them will be the onetime Colorado Force, who changed their name this season as they
partnered with the Colorado Rapids.
After a forgettable first half the Rapids got a lead and then blasted Chivas in the last 10 minutes
of the game. The first 45 was a bunch of wasted chances and uninspiring soccer that the Rapids were
slightly better at. After the break Colorado didn't wait long to strike. Off a corner in the 50th
minute Cascio chested the ball down around the 6 on the far post.
For the second straight game Colorado was shutout in a loss. This time it was only a 1-0 loss,
actually one of our better games in Seattle as you'll see below, but you only need to give up 1
goal if you can't score.
Honestly Seattle should have been up at least 1 within the first 15-20 minutes.
When the Colorado Rapids comes to Seattle for their 1PM Saturday match most of the national
attention will be on Brian Mullan and how the fans react to his presence. Some significant soccer
storylines are missed if you focus on that; things that are more likely to effect the result. New
Coach Oscar Pareja is shifting the team to a more dynamic 4-3-3.
This week's show is a little different than any of our past shows (well, they are all little
unique snowflakes, but you get our larger point hopefully). Instead of a soccer-centric guest, we
invited Warren Etheredge (@thewarrenreport) onto the show. You may remember Warren as the
"annoying" guy who interviewed Seattle Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer on his show "The High Bar.
Getting back home is apparently just what the Rapids needed. In the best example yet of what the
new 4-3-3 can be Colorado controlled the game and had a somewhat easy 2-0 victory. As expected
Martin Rivero got his first opportunity as a Rapid, taking Pablo's spot in midfield. Otherwise it
was the same starting group we've seen when every one's available.
Look at this game as a weather gauge. On the one hand, the Colorado Rapids are a squad that are
historically tough to beat at home. Going back to 2008, their record is 30-11-22 at Dick's Sporting
Good Park but 17-31-16 on the road. On the other hand, this is a team that is in some flux with a
new head coach, new defensive winger, new midfielder, and a new forward.
Somehow the Rapids won a game they should have lost, easily. Outplayed most of the match and down
to 10 men for the last third of the game Colorado managed to hang on for a 2-1 win. The first half
was ugly soccer from the first whistle. Literally. Within the first minute Drew Moor tripped an
onrushing Mwanga at the top of the box and should have had a foul called and a card issued.
That is how you start a season! The boys in burgundy controlled the game and kept attacking and
were rewarded with a 2-0 win. A stat indicative of the Rapids dominance is attempts on goal, with
Colorado having 17 to Columbus' 5. The biggest negative to the match was the home side's inability
to convert those attempts to shots on target, only getting 5 accurate strikes off (compared to
Columbus' 3).
The Colorado Rapids faced the Colorado School Of Mines yesterday at the Dick in one last preseason
friendly before Saturday's season opener. Not surprisingly the side in burgundy didn't find much of
a challenge against a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference school, winning 4-0. Here's the starting
XI:
Cascio - Cummings - RiveroLarentowicz - Castrillon - MastroeniZapata - Marshall - Wynne -
KimuraPickens
Subs:
Amarikwa for Cummings at half
Mullan for Rivero at 58
Thompson for Cascio at 63
Akpan for Castrillon at 68
Palguta for Wynne at 70
Yamada for Larentowicz at 75
The only regular not to play was Moor, who I'm guessing got the day off to rest his tweaked
hamstring.
Last night (well technically early this morning) the Rapids lost 2-1 to Yokohama FC of the Japanese
2nd division. A 10 minute spell in the second half saw Colorado give up two goals and they couldn't
climb back out of the hole. The starting XI for the burgundy boys (seen above):
Cascio - Cummings - MullanLarentowicz - Castrillon - MastroeniZapata - Moor - Wynne -
KimuraPickens
With the exception of the injured Casey I think that's pretty close to our starting XI right now.
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.
If you had asked any Stevenage supporter a couple of weeks ago who Gary Smith is, the majority
would have replied 'Who?' It would have been a justified reaction because until his name began to
be linked with the vacant managerial position, Gary Smith's reputation within this country was,
well, non-existent.
Burgundy's in town TORONTO (17th) VS. COLORADO (5th) 　 BMO FIELD - SATURDAY 1:30PM ET TV: TSN
　 THE KICKABOUT: Good day TFC supporters, we're The Yorkies. Tits McGee is on vacation.
Colorado Rapids fans and the front office at odds... again - Burgundy Wave
Looks like Colorado is having some trouble with which we Revolution fans are all too familiar.
UZ White has unleashed a tame-by-my-standards, scathing-by-his-much-higher-standards reprimand of
the Rapids FO and the conduct of security at last night's CCL match.
We did something pretty amaze yesterday, Kickettes. We were backstage for Victoria's Fall 2012
show and we lived to tell about it. Nor are we currently coming to you from the comfort of a jail
cell. So that's something.
It should come as no surprise that Victoria Beckham put out another fabulous, evolvedÂ
collection this morning.
Over a week ago now, but I've just stumbled across the Bambi Awards now. Whats a Bambi award you
say? It's essentially the German BAFTAs. They recognize excellence in international media and
television "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year", both
domestic and foreign.
We have it on fairly good authority that these are the shirts that Manchester City are going to
set about defending their Premier League title in next season the home strip being predominantly
two-tone, in sky blue (though a duller shade than previous) and black while the vintage-style away
strip is burgundy in a nod to the shirt worn by City in the 1956 FA Cup Final and sadly not the
classy maroon affair from 1989/90.
The Fire head into Colorado off the heels of a win in our home opener, carrying some momentum
into Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids, meanwhile, started MLS 2012 play with 2 wins, but got
handed a 4-1 drubbing by New York last week. The Rapids midfield tandem of Jeff Larentowicz and
Pablo Mastroeni were missing, and the Rapids paid for it.
The logo of Detroit City FC does not feature a cartoon soccer ball. In fact, it doesn't say or
show soccer anywhere on it: instead, in grand but subdued tones of burgundy and gold, the badge is
dominated by a classy representation of the statue below, the Spirit of Detroit in the city's
downtown:
This is the identity that Detroit City FC have pinned themselves to.
