Back on July 1st the Rapids traded Kosuke Kimura to Portland for allocation money and an international spot for 2012. Since then the Rapids cut an international player (Harrison Henao) and signed an international player (Hendry Thomas). Jamie Smith may have gotten his green card as well, which would have freed up another international spot.
I went into Wednesday's game with a slight ray of optimism and hope that f the Portland Timbers
were able to focus and win on the road -- for the first time this season -- that they would then be
in a decent position and shape to make a daring late-season play off run. As slight a chance that
might be, it was there prior to the game against the Colorado Rapids.
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.
The Portland Timbers defeated the Colorado Rapids with a score of 1 to nil on Friday, August 31.
The moon was full, the breeze was up and Kosuke Kimura's shirt was off.
The Colorado Rapids face a seven-game, end of the season slog in an attempt to salvage a couple
of wins and a little bit of pride before the long off season.
Where those wins will come from is in doubt with the latest evidence of the team's ineffective
attack coming in the form of Friday night's 1-0 loss to the Portland Timbers.
Hopefully a good metaphor for the Timbers after the game The Rapids head for the
Rose City on Friday night to face the Timbers, a team they have never lost to. Portland, of course,
is where long-time Rapids fan favorite Kosuke Kimura was traded to and I'm sure he's going to want
to show Colorado what they're missing.
A day that would always eventually come, but none of hoped to see so soon. Koz is no longer a
Rapid. This afternoon he was traded to the Portland Timbers for allocation money and an
international player spot.
Its no secret that Koz is (or was, now) my favorite player on the Rapids. That said he's had a
rough year and has been passed on the depth chart by Freeman and Zapata.
The Portland Timbers have bolstered their defensive options, acquiring Kosuke Kimura in a trade
with the Colorado Rapids on Thursday.
The Timbers gave up allocation money and an international roster spot through the rest of the
season in the deal, but in return they got a seasoned MLS defender who can help fill a void at
right back.
The burning of York 200 years ago the U.S. fought the War of 1812 against Britain,
mainly in British-held Canada. As part of the war the American forces burned York. Tonight the
Rapids will try to recreate the victory over Canada by beating the Vancouver Whitecaps on
Independence Day.
Felled logs floating down river Last year we opened the season with a 3-1 home win
over Portland, our opponents tomorrow night. We later beat them 1-0 with a favorable non-offside
call in Portland. Tomorrow we hope to keep that streak going with another win. Kickoff tomorrow is
7pm.
Colorado left this afternoon for the short flight to Kansas City for tomorrow's U.S. Open Cup 4th
Round game. Game time is 6:30pm and there will supposedly be a stream of the game available on the
Rapids website though exact details have not been announced. They also have not announced the
travelling roster yet, but they did post a picture of Kimura and Freeman boarding the bus.
Tonight the Rapids are in Tampa to face the NASL Tampa Bay Rowdies in the 3rd Round of the U.S.
Open Cup. If Colorado wins they will travel to the winner of the Orlando - Kansas City game next
Tuesday for the quarter-finals. Game time tonight is 5:30pm MDT and there will be at least a
Twitter feed, possibly a video stream, at the Rowdies website.
Player Position Base Guarenteed Ababio Eddie D 44,000.00 44,000.00 Akpan Andre F 57,200.00
57,200.00 Amarikwa Quincy F 44,100.00 44,100.00 Armstrong David M 44,100.00 53,564.29 Cascio Tony M
44,000.00 77,750.00 Casey Conor F 400,000.00 400,000.00 Castrillon Jaime M 50,000.00 68,375.
The Colorado Rapids inability to maintain shape continued to haunt the squad on Saturday as they
dug a two-goal first half deficit before rallying to tie Sporting Kansas City 2-2.
While the second-half heroics with goals from Tyrone Marshall and Kosuke Kimura made it feel
like a win, it wasn't.
Teal Bunbury opened his account with two goals against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, but even
that was not enough to put a halt to Sporting Kansas City's winless streak.
The Rapids rallied from a pair of early first-half strikes from Bunbury and picked up a point
with a 2-2 draw at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, extending Sporting KC's winless run to four
games.
After a disastrous midweek game in DC Colorado is back at home against Sporting KC. Kansas City is
on a 3 game slide after winning their first 7 to start the season. There's a big tailgate for this
one as Kansas City usually brings a good crown. we're doing a BBQ tailgate and the KC fans are
bringing authentic KC BBQ sauce.
The Rapids get their only look at the New England Revolution tomorrow night in Foxboro. That's
right, the hallowed Colorado supporter's tradition of Jamesons Night when the Revs are in town
won't happen this year, barring some surprise matchup in the U.
Today's practice at the team's Beaverton training facility saw the Timbers' starters return to
action for the first time since their loss to Colorado on Wednesday. The starters practiced
separately from the rest of the team, undergoing a lighter workout as they regen from last week's
game before splitting into two teams and playing a game of 6v6 with Gavin Wilkinson and Jose Adolfo
Valencia rounding out the sides.
The Timbers held a short, early practice today before flying to Colorado this afternoon ahead of
tomorrow's game against the Rapids. Practice was closed after a brief warm up as the travel squad
broke off to prepare for the game while the rest of the team played a game of 5v5.
Trialist Pablo Di Fiori and practice player Cam Vickers were the only non-roster players with
the team today.
The Timbers held a closed training session at their Beaverton practice facility today as they
prepared to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps this Saturday. With every player but Chris Taylor
(Taylor was added to the IR list last week) present, the Timbers had a record 32 players in
training today, more than were at any practice this year before this week.
The Timbers held their first practice in Portland in more than a week today, returning from
their two game road trip against Toronto and New York. It was perfect training weather at the
team's Beaverton training facility as next year's designated player, Jose Adolfo Valencia, trained
with the Timbers for only the second time since joining the team and the first time since
undergoing surgery to repair the cartilage in his left knee.
Welcome to yet another player ratings! I'm happy to report that, well, we have something happy
to report this week as the Portland Timbers put in an overall valiant effort in securing three much
needed points in this year's Cascadian Cup competition. While the regular MLS season remains
dismal, at least the Timbers are looking like a strong candidate for taking home the regional
cup.
While Wednesday's match didn't end up being the away win that we were all desperately hoping
for, the end result wasn't too bad. I mean, don't get me wrong, I really want the Portland Timbers
to earn 3 points again, it's just that they managed to score twice on the road which is encouraging
for the future of the team.
With tomorrow's big game the first since the trading away of both Troy Perkins and Mike Chabala,
there's been a lot of opinion and suggestions coming from the fan base on what the Portland Timbers
FO should do with regards to players. Obviously, most of you probably wouldn't have traded Perkins
away, some of you probably would have traded Chabala.
It's a battle of the basement dwellers tonight! And it brings me absolutely no joy in saying
that. As the Portland Timbers look to earn their first road win against the other worst team in the
league, FC Dallas will be looking to right their season amidst a series of injuries.
One thing to remember is that the Portland Timbers don't have the best record at FC Dallas
Stadium.
David Beckham rolled back the clock on Saturday night with a stunning 35-yard goal against the
Portland Timbers in a 5-3 LA Galaxy win
The former England star opened the scoring for LA with a stunning striker from 35 yards to
cancel our former Rangers striker Kris Boyd's opener:
Beckham then put the Galaxy ahead four minutes later with a trademark free-kick, Landon Donovan
made it 3-1 from the penalty spot three minutes later and Robbie Keane got in on the act just a
minute after that.
A new era, an old enemy. Tonight's game is notable not only for the fact that this is a game
with the former MLS champions the LA Galaxy, but also because it's the first game in the
post-Spencer era. Tonight will be the test for the current Portland Timbers squad to see if they
can handle the dramatic change in leadership, as well as the general shake up in the FO.
In each of Portland's last 2 home games they have come out strong and actually scored the first
2 goals of the game. If the Portland Timbers want to win this game they will need to do so again.
Writing that is easier than actually doing it, especially with how inconsistent Portland has
been.
Side note: For all those who are hoping to see some changes in the line-up I want to warn you to
not get your hopes up.
The Lines
Who do you think can score a goal on the road?
Boyd 3:1
Mwanga 5:1
Jewsbury 8:1
Mosquera, Futty or Horst 8:1 (you bet on all 3)
Nagbe 10:1
Alexander 10:1
Smith or Kimura 11:1 (you bet on both)
Chara 20:1
Zizzo 20:1
The Rules
-Everyone gets $20 in monopoly money each week to bet with, as long as you play.
I'm doing something a little different with this week's player ratings. Instead of adding my
own, I'll be using just my fellow editor's opinions. The unfortunate truth is that I'm in my last
week of classes at PSU and I just don't have the usual hour-hour and a half or so it takes me to
craft these articles what with all my looming projects coming up.
Last Sunday was yet another game at home and, while we didn't get the result we all wanted,
looking back it was a sad occasion for more than just the draw. It was Troy Perkins' last game as a
Portland Timber. Of course, we didn't know it at the time, but with the recent trade, it's almost
hard to remember the game at all.
With The LA Galaxy coming to town tomorrow, the Timbers underwent their final preparations for
the two teams' third match up of the season at practice today. Training today was a closed session
that, at an hour and fifteen minutes, ran somewhat longer than John Spencer's usual pre-match
practices, which usually were between forty five minutes and an hour long.
Another Timbers away match, another Timbers away loss. Although the Timbers took longer to
collapse than they did against Colorado last week, the final score line was the same. With Geoff
unavailable, Ryan, Andy, and I searched and eventually came up with some suitable candidates for
the Timbers' Man of the Match.
Twitter is all ablaze after Merritt Paulson tweeted a new RB will be added to the Timbers Roster
VIA trade. Mike Donovan (@themikedonovan) then tweeted this:
My random guess is Kosuke Kimura
Which MP replied to Mike Donovan with:
@TheMikeDonovan I'd say your guess was a good one
Now MP has sent out this tweet:
New right back arrived at training and none of our players from earlier this week are now
"former Timbers" ;)
Short recap with the quick turnaround to Dallas on Sunday. The Rapids played better than New
England but made a couple of mental lapses on defense and that was enough to give the Revs a win.
Both Marshall and Freeman got the start (Marshall in place of the injured Wynne) while the rest of
the starting XI was the standard we've seen the last couple of games.
