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.

The Rapids had two picks in today's 4 round Supplemental Draft, in the 3rd and 4th rounds. In the 3rd round they picked Kohei Yamada, a Japanese midfielder who was an international invitee to this year's MLS Combine. He was considered one of the standouts of the first combine game but his play faded in the other two games.

The Denver Post is reporting that the Rapids have re-signed Brian Mullan to a multi-year deal. No details on amount or length, but I'm sure those will leak in the coming days. The article also mentions that they're working on a new contract for Steven Emory, and that they would like to re-sign Danny Earls and Miguel Comminges, but they're waiting on a new coach before making the final decision on those two.

Sorry I went AWOL on everyone (which I'm guessing is about 5 readers at this point in the offseason ;)) for a few days, stomach flu sucks. A couple of interesting news items came out this week.

• Colorado declined the options on Miguel Comminges, Danny Earls, Steven Emory, and Michael Holody.

Holody's 3 years of service means he's eligible to be selected by other MLS teams in next week's re-entry drafts.

Sorry I went AWOL on everyone (which I'm guessing is about 5 readers at this point in the offseason ;)) for a few days, stomach flu sucks. A couple of interesting news items came out this week.

• Colorado declined the options on Miguel Comminges, Danny Earls, Steven Emory, and Michael Holody.

Holody's 3 years of service means he's eligible to be selected by other MLS teams in next week's re-entry drafts.

Colorado spent 3,330 minutes this season defending the 2010 MLS Cup Championship, which put the team 180 minutes shy of defending its title.

Graham Zusi provided the services in the 28th and 76th minute as Sporting Kansas City recorded another 2-0 victory over the Rapids, giving KC a 4-0 aggregate win in the Eastern Conference Semifinal.

Teams that can't score don't make it far in the postseason, and the Colorado Rapids are a team that can't score.

The latest evidence came Sunday evening as the Rapids fell 2-0 to Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Colorado, which edged the Columbus Crew 1-0 in the wild card match on Thursday, couldn't generate legitimate threats as Sporting spent the evening shoving them around the field.

A quick turnaround for the Rapids as they are back in action tomorrow. The first leg of the conference semi-finals sees the SporKC's coming back to town. It will be the final home game of the season, no matter what happens, so let's go out with a bang. The tailgate starts at 2:30 with kickoff at 5:30.

Yeah, this is pretty big news. Chelsea announced today that the club has extended a proposal to Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) shareholders to buy back the freehold land on which the football stadium at Stamford Bridge sits.

So the plan to move to a new stadium is further along than we anticipated.

The Colorado Rapids entered Tuesday night sitting atop their CONCACAF Champions League group with a chance to move themselves in pole position for a quarterfinal place.

Santos Laguna had other plans.

The visitors from Mexico turned Dick's Sporting Goods Park into their own personal playground, demolishing a make-shift Rapids defense with speedy wing play and precise passing on their way to a 4-1 victory.

And down the stretch they come! As the playoffs get closer, games matter more. The LA Galaxy, leaders in the Supporters' Shield race, take on the reigning MLS Cup Champions - the Colorado Rapids.
1 - Cardozo sizzles a shot wide - opportunistic, but off-target.
3 - Kyle's Keys for the game don't include any inside dirt from his days as a Galaxy player.

Colorado sent a young team down to Honduras, and you could tell from the play. The Rapids had few chances last night and were under siege most of the game. They managed a 1-1 draw and the one point is a good result given their youth, but 3 points was there for the taking had the coaching staff done a better job managing the squad over the last couple of weeks.

Photo: Marc Piscotty, Getty Images

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Chance after chance, run after run, the Colorado Rapids thwarted Real España of Honduras Tuesday night in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The Colorado Rapids have only four home games remaining in the MLS regular season, and as the dates dwindle, The Tuesday List takes a look at how the roster has changed since the team moved to Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the 2007 season.

Looking at the 2011 roster, we go back in time to who was here in each of the previous seasons.

Might as well accept it. Regardless of the actual facts tomorrow the Rapids are going to be the evil thugs who are single-handedly bringing down the level of play in MLS while Seattle while Seattle is the shining example of all that is good in MLS.
OK, so that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Believe it or not this week marks the midpoint of the Rapids season. 17 games down, 17 to go (plus the CONCACAF Champion's League). Time for a midseason review then!
Goalkeeping: Matt Pickens has been his normal solid self. In fact he's come up big numerous times. He's had two iffy games but has been my Man of the Match 5 times.

The 4th place and defending MLS Cup Champion Colorado Rapids (5-3-7) entered their showdown with the 1st place LA Galaxy (8-2-7) leading the MLS in goals scored while only conceding 14. That + 8 goal differential was good enough for 3rd in the league. They ran into a Galaxy squad that was without starting Jamaican national team goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts and USA star Landon Donovan, as they were set to duel Saturday afternoon at RFK Stadium in D.

An interesting discussion came up on BigSoccer this week about how the Red Bulls have started a lineup of 11 players from 11 different countries. So I decided to take a look at the Rapids roster to see how close I could come. I can come up with a Rapids lineup of 11 players who have eligibility for 11 different national teams, but one has already passed on it.

BY ADAM SERRANO

The Vancouver Whitecaps roster just a got a bit more of an international flavor.

The Whitecaps signed central defender Mouloud Akloul to an MLS deal on Thursday. The French defender signed a Division 2 deal with the Whitecaps last season before breaking his ankle, an injury that ended his season.

The Rapids have just announced the long-rumored signings of defender Danny Earls and midfielder Josh Janniere. Getting Janniere cost us a 3rd round supplemental pick in 2013. Ouch, that's going to0 hurt. ;)
Here's our current roster:
Under Contract:Goalkeepers:Steward CeusIan JoyceMatt Pickens
Defenders:Danny EarlsMichael HolodyKosuke KimuraTyrone MarshallDrew MoorScott PalgutaAnthony WallaceMarvell Wynne
Midfielders:Davy ArmstrongSteven EmoryJosh JanniereRoss LaBauexJeff LarentowiczPablo MastroeniBrian MullanJoseph NaneSanna NyassiJamie SmithWells Thompson
Forwards:Andre AkpanQuincy AmarikwaConor CaseyOmar CummingsCaleb FolanMacoumba Kandji
That's 28 of 30 roster slots filled (31 roster slots while Kandji is on the IR).

The Rapids have just announced the long-rumored signings of defender Danny Earls and midfielder Josh Janniere. Getting Janniere cost us a 3rd round supplemental pick in 2013. Ouch, that's going to0 hurt. ;)
Here's our current roster:
Under Contract:Goalkeepers:Steward CeusIan JoyceMatt Pickens
Defenders:Danny EarlsMichael HolodyKosuke KimuraTyrone MarshallDrew MoorScott PalgutaAnthony WallaceMarvell Wynne
Midfielders:Davy ArmstrongSteven EmoryJosh JanniereRoss LaBauexJeff LarentowiczPablo MastroeniBrian MullanJoseph NaneSanna NyassiJamie SmithWells Thompson
Forwards:Andre AkpanQuincy AmarikwaConor CaseyOmar CummingsCaleb FolanMacoumba Kandji
That's 28 of 30 roster slots filled (31 roster slots while Kandji is on the IR).

This year starts on a much better note than the last 3 years. Before our first kick of 2011 we'll be raising our 2010 Champions banner (I assume)! That's a much better place to be than on a 3-year playoff drought like last year. With the added CONCACAF Champions League games the Rapids have a full schedule this year.

Found At soccerchris.com

TEAM: Colorado Rapids

COACH: Gary Smith (ENG)

2010 LEAGUE RESULTS: 46 pts (12-8-10), 5th Western Conference, MLS Cup Champions

2010 REVIEW: In 2010, the Colorado Rapids became the 9th team to capture the MLS Cup.

Seattle takes on the first of two MLS Cup finalists this preseason. Follow the official live blog here.

Nkufo Fucito Neagle Estrada Evans Carrasco Earls Martinez Wahl Scott Boss

FC Dallas Starters: Kevin Hartman, Jair Benitez, Alexis Pradie, Jackson, Zach Loyd, Daniel Hernandez, Brek Shea, Eric Alexander, David Ferreira, Marvin Chavez, Ruben Luna

That's pretty much an FCD Starting Roster versus mostly backup Sounders.

A player with the Puerto Rico National Team, with the PR Islanders of USSF D2 and formerly of Hofstra joins trialists Lamar Neagle and Jonathan Prieto with the Seattle Sounders during their Florida swing of winter training. Martinez is an either side fullback who has played in the PDL as well. With Hofstra he had 2 goals and 6 assists playing primarily as a centerback prior to his final season.

This is the last match in the Arizona swing for the Sounders and they get to face Chivas USA a team that is rebuilding and drinking Corona! Wins and losses are not at all important instead, the shot for the trialists - Lamar Neagle, Seedy Bah and Jonathon Prieto - to be seen and make another statement before further roster reduction is the key.

Key additions: Julien Baudet, Danny Earls, O'Brian White, Erik Friberg, Michael Tetteh. Key losses: Sanna Nyassi, Nate Sturgis, Peter Vagenas, Tyrone Marshall.

There's no question the Sounders lost more starters than they gained. Thing is, this off-season was more about getting healthy than anything else.

More photos » Marc Piscotty - Getty Images

Danny Earls is one of more than 11 new players that will be battling for roster spots on the Seattle Sounders.

The Rapids had the 36th and 54th (and final) picks in today's Supplemental Draft, having traded the 18th pick to Dallas for Anthony Wallace.
With the 36th pick they took Philip Bannister
A forward out of Loylola University.

(Editor's note: This is part two of a series looking at how the Rapids will fill out an expanded roster for 2011.)

There are only six defenders on the current roster, but there is probably no position in better health for the Rapids. There's also no area that will tell more about the team's long-term plans for captain Pablo Mastroeni, 34, than what Colorado does on defense.