Brian Crookham was recently named the Colorado Rapids Academy Director of Coaching. In addition to being one of the Colorado Rapids' television announcers on Altitude, Brian has been working around Colorado in different soccer organizations. Now he's landed at the top of the heap, in the big leagues. Brian was kind enough to answer some questions regarding the Colorado Rapids developing youth organization.

The Galaxy tied NYRB 1-1 last nite to keep the playoff race interesting.

Here is a look at the current playoff situation. The Columbus Crew are right there even with the Galaxy but because of head to head tie-breakers do not have a chance of making the post season anymore. Each team has one game left.

[37] Chicago Fire (Sunday - LA Galaxy)
[37] KC Wizards (Saturday - @ FC Dallas)
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[35] Colorado Rapids (Saturday - Real Salt Lake)
[34] LA Galaxy (sunday - @ Chicago Fire)

This is how it works.

A couple weeks back, the Powers That Be - I don't know, at Soccer United Marketing (SUM) or in Major League Soccer's (MLS) Halls of Power - decided to air the Los Angeles Galaxy's visit to Toronto FC's BMO Field on the tiniest of chances that David Beckham would manage his league debut. We [...]

During the last 15 minutes of Chivas USA's win over Real Salt Lake (RSL), the camera panned briefly to RSL coach Jason Kreis. As he mulled the sight of his team running into the same wall other teams rammed into during their visit to the Home Depot Center, a flicker of relief lighted into [...]

Dang me, but those troubling philosophical questions won't stop coming. Why do I continue ranking these teams by number knowing that, in my head, Major League Soccer's (MLS) 13 teams actually cluster into "quality tiers" - i.e. groups of one, two, even four teams? The reality is the teams don't line up in [...]

The rumors has been floating around for awhile now. The Rapids are on the verge of signing Mexican forward Daniel Osorno. In the middle of June Kansas City was linked with a move for the player. Last week 3rd Degree reported that FC Dallas was interested in Osorno but he had decided to sign with Colorado. FC Rocky reported that Osorno was spotted in the press box at Dicks Sporting Goods Park last 4th of July.

I think it's fair to say I'm pretty disconnected from fan opinion. I almost never visit Big Soccer, the place where a helluva lot of fans lurk, because 1) I think it's a time-consuming black hole, and 2) people there take the whole "eat, live, breath soccer" thing more far more seriously than I do. Beyond a simple love of the game, soccer for me is an excuse for excessive behavior - e.

The Semi-Detached Pundit Collective (SDPC) lost a pundit this week: if MLS Underground posted power rankings, I missed ‘em. For the record, I blame the quick turn-around between Week 20 and 21 put in place by Major League Soccer's (MLS) schedulers...friggin' ass-hats. In any case, I have what I have and I'll run with it. [...]

Colorado Rapids: Fernando Clavijo. As someone who grew up watching Clavijo, I lost all respect I had for him on May 9, 2001, When it became clear (after about 10 minutes) that his Revs were about to be overrun, he sat there and made no tactical adjustments until halftime, when it was 3-0. Clavijo has shown that he has learned nothing in six years.

Dear Fernando Clavijo,

Let's face it, you're not very good (to say the least). There are only a few other coaches in the history of Major League Soccer that have managed to perform worse than you have. You've traded away great players for bupkiss, tied up large amounts of salary cap in unproductive players, in 3 drafts failed to unearth any players that remotely resemble Twellman, Joseph and other New England players you claim to have unearthed and flat out failed to win the vast majority of the time.

A bit ago I mentioned the Colorado Rapids were in the hunt for ex-Mexican International Daniel Osorno. He was seen at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on the 4th of July. On July 12th VP Jeff Plush confirmed that the team was in talks to sign him.

Before signing Osorno the Rapids needed to clear up an SI slot.

MLSUnderground broke the story yesterday (at least for my little corner of the world) and, in spite of the absence of "official word" (whoops, went official while I was typing), the mainsteam media reported on it today (out of Utah, the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune; from Colorado, The Denver Post (sort of; can you spell blurb?) and Rocky Mountain News).

Now that most teams have only three games remaining, it occurs to me that my theoretical approach to these power rankings hasn't been consistent from the beginning of the season. For a time, teams were ranked based on relative power at that point in time - e.g. if a team sat higher in the standings [...]

With the season half over and Blanco and Beckham about to join their respective teams (Chicago and Los Angeles), I thought it would be good to go through each team in the league and summarize the moves they've made coming into and during the 2007 season. The first team I'll look at is currently the 2nd worst team in the league, the Colorado Rapids.

I don't like to blame referees for their performance in games, cause I'm a referee too and know the troubles that they deal with during games. Well last night is definitely the exception to the rule. The best games for referees, is when you don't remember who he was. If you remember his name, you know he did something that was controversial. Tim Weyland will now be booed any time that he ever comes back to KC after his performance last night.

Three of the four quarterfinals are over and the news for the MLS is mixed as FC Dallas pulled out a win while Seattle destroyed Colorado in amazing fashion. In the lone USL vs. USL meeting, Carolina held out against Richmond to advance to the semifinals.
However, the collapse of Colorado has got to be the story of the night. Down three at halftime, they shifted to a three-man backline to increase their offense only to see things get even worse.

I couldn't have been more wrong on my Thursday Prediction just hours ago.

First of all as Mr. Fish pointed out, tonite's game was actually not on ESPN2 for some reason, so I didn't see the game. Thanks for the correction Mr. Fish.

Secondly, the Rapids put a whooping on the Revolution. Who (besides Rapids fans) would have ever guessed that?

Not to go all nelly on all y'all - though I can do that from time to time - Fire_Juve10 acted as my muse for today. After reading (and saying nice things about...yay!) my post on last weekend's Chicago v. Columbus, he listed Chicago's upcoming games. Prior to seeing those, I would have listed Chicago [...]

Chicago Fire 1-1 FC Dallas
So what do you think the Fire coaching staff is talking to Calen Carr and Paulo Wanchope about today? If it is anything but how to keep the ball and waste time at the end of a match, then the Fire are doomed. This was not a pretty game as neither side had much ball control. Again and again, passes were intercepted and knocked out of bounce.

The Semi-Detached Pundit Collective (SDPC) experienced a little shrinkage this weekend: we're down to 9 pundits from 12...and Sports Illustrated's Ryan Hunt is back to skipping deadlines (how does he keep his job?). Though smaller in number, we are more powerful of brain because we're moving the teams as one. It's as if our collective [...]

This is how the current situation looks, we have 5 teams fighting for the last 2 playoff spots:

#. Team - points (games remaining)
7. KC Wizards - 37 (2)
8. Chicago Fire - 36 (2)
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9. Colorado Rapids - 32 (2)
10. Columbus Crew - 31 (2)
11. LA Galaxy - 30 (3)

The following table represents how high the bottom 3 teams could possibly go:

LA Galaxy - 39
Colorado Rapids - 38
Columbus Crew - 37

I don't think anything is going to change before the end of the year, unless Chicago moves into the #7 spot and KC drops to 8, but they both will be playing this post season.

The long-promised look back at 2007 in U.S. soccer unfolds below. The talking points - 15 in all (what? you wanted a Top 10? I'm nothing like that disciplined; see, I slipped to 17) - come in, at best, half-random order; put another way, I ranked these things a certain way, but [...]

***Note, this post is more of a rant then anything else. This will not feature any news or information on rookies in MLS, college soccer players or the typical fare here.***
Today I am embarrassed to be a Colorado Rapids fan. Today I feel like the team doesn't care about having fans. Today I feel like the players don't want to play for the Colorado Rapids anymore.

Prediction Thursday has been missing for quite a while. Frequent blogging has been kinda something of the past as well. I hope to pick up the pace on both of them in the future.

2 - 0

There you have it. New England is the class of the league, Colorado is in the slums. Even playing at Dick's Sporting Goods Park I think the Revolution have a big advantage.

When Steven Cohen of World Soccer Daily goes on his almost daily rant about MLS' Regular Season meaning nothing he has a point: The Colorado Rapids who went almost three whole months without winning match are now within two points of a playoff spot after a convincing three-nill victory over New England Thursday Night. This game was supposed to be broadcast on ESPN2, but the network dropped the match to show LA-Toronto two weeks ago.

I really find myself baffled by this score-line. Is it competitive parity? Or just a by-product of the scrappiness and occasionally ugly play that Major League Soccer presents sometimes? Regardless, the Revolution were soundly beaten by a Colorado squad that out-shot, out-hustled, and thouroughly out-played the fading New Englanders.
Jovan Kirovski put away both his best chances and nearly added a third when he hit the post late in the game.

Welcome to my first crack at posting team news from all-'round Major League Soccer (MLS). What comes below will be by no means exhaustive; really, it's only a compilation of what I bumped into during my travels. And, of course, anyone feeling I made a grave omission is welcome to correct that in [...]

The Semi-Detached Pundit Collective (SDPC) has spoken - this time with what I perceive as a greater sense of certainty and unanimity. That's a little surprising because we lost three contributors from last week (late again, Ryan Hunt? Tsk, tsk, tsk), while gaining one. Getting back to seeming signs of harmony, the devil is in [...]

With it looking a whole lot like no current head coach in Major League Soccer (MLS) will lose their job by the end of the year, now seems a good time to look at who might suffer the fatal blow after the(ir respective team's) season ends. Coming after the season, this is less a [...]

Did Week 25 seem wholly educational or what? Well, educational in the sense that we have new data to weigh, but one hesitates to call it clarifying or entirely enlightening. Can't pretend I caught all 90 of all the games (for the record, I watched RSL v. Colorado and Chivas v. KC), but, on the principle [...]

While I'm generally out of the "shout-out" game, I thought I'd add to my million-points-at-once coverage of Week 25 by linking to some other reports from fellow bloggers...maybe I'll try to figure the mainstream outlets into the coverage for next week... FC Rocky did a totally killer big-picture-plus examination of the Rapids (shameful, shameful) loss to [.

The 2007 Major League Soccer season is over. Los Angeles, Colorado, Columbus, Toronto and Salt Lake all failed to make the playoffs. Who should be held responsible? Should Los Angeles fire Lalas? Yallop? Both of them? Why hasn't Colorado fired Clavijo after his failing to live up to his 3 year plan? Did Mo do enough to show that he's building a Toronto team that can make the playoffs in 2008?

Tickle There's just something about a United team in black. God help me, but I actually enjoyed watching Manchester United in their all-black away strip as they demolished Villa on Saturday. The Dirty Devils were playing some some quick, one- and two-touch, barnstorming attacking play . . . And, my oh my, look who else got the offensive wheels turning!

Colorado Rapids Record (W-L-T): 9-13-8; 29 GF; 34 GA Source Material: Schedule/match reports Overview It seems fitting somehow that I should approach a review of the Colorado Rapids 2007 in the same almost aggressively feckless manner in which that team's front office runs the team - e.g. not reading the match reports, but operating from memory.

One of the storylines I've followed with interest from the Apertura 2007 season was the play of Alain Nkong. The Cameroonian was deemed unworthy of continuing with the Rapids and tried his luck in Mexico. He latched on with Atlante and was one of the last players signed prior to the start of the season.

Denver is growing into a full fledged European style soccer town under owner Stan Kroenke. First Kroenke had a new facility, probably the best in the country built. Then he bought a piece of Arsenal and is trying to buy the North London club outright. Now the fans of his club have become the first I can recall in MLS history to launch a website to fire a coach.

The US Open Cup is in full swing tonite.

DC United vs Harrisburg City Islanders

Rochester Raging Rhinos vs New England Revolution

Richmond Kickers vs LA Galaxy

Carolina RailHawks vs Chicago Fire

Atlanta Silverbacks (lost yesterday to) FC Dallas

Charleston Battery vs Houston Dynamo

California Victory vs Colorado Rapids

Seattle Sounders vs Chivas USA

View the brackets at the official US Open Cup website.

If you haven't already caught it, some Rapids fans have a web site up at www.FireClavijo.com. It's not just that the Rapids haven't won since May, they appear to be calling for his head because he's only won 6 of his last 30 games. Are they right to call for Clavijo's firing? Can a new coach really help the Rapids?

The Wizards host the Colorado Rapids tomorrow night, in the Wizards first game since the All Star game. Of the combined 4 All Stars from the two teams, only Jimmy Conrad played the full 90 minutes, Eddie Johnson played 65 minutes before being subbed out, while Kevin Hartman was a half time sub. Colorado All Star, Pablo Mastroeni, came on in the 60th minute.

A potentialy season changing signing for the Colorado Rapids today as they reached an agreements with Daniel Osorno the former Mexican National Team forward who has scored 12 goals for the Senior National Team including the winning goal versus Brazil in 2003 Gold Cup Final. Osorno has played most of his career for Atlas, and is now 28 years old.