The Colorado Rapids go into Friday night's Rocky Mountain Cup showdown against Real Salt Lake with what amounts to a mini injury crisis. Pablo Mastroeni and Terry Cooke, two of the most influential players in the team, will not make the trip due to hamstring injuries. Click to continue reading...

If you look at the Colorado Rapids website, you'll see this weekend's projected formation lined up looking like some Roman gladiators. The formation is listed as basically two lines of four and five in defense and midfield with lone striker,Conor Casey, up front. Here is the link to the website. Click to continue reading...

Here is Jack Bell's article from the New York Times that reviews each player's performance in the game with a rating scale of 1-10, which is commonly done in soccer. To begin, I believe that Jack's ratings vary a bit too much. Its usually pretty rare that players on the same team get a score of 3 and also 8. Click to continue reading...

Mixed fortunes for the Colorado Rapids players representing their national teams yesterday in various parts of the world. Pablo Mastroeni played 78 minutes for the US team as they defeated Guatemala 1-0 in Guatemala City in their first World Cup qualifying game of this next stage. Click to continue reading...

I was able to catch the game at work, and got some coworkers into it. Here are some thoughts:

• Had to watch baseball during the first 8 minutes of action. Lame. Also I never got to see the lineups. Double lame.
• Not as lame as the first half. Goodness that was boring.
• Why were there MLS games tonight?

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World Cup qualifying action begins anew, folks.


------------------------Howard-------------------------
Cherundolo---------Onyewu------Bocanegra ------Pearce
-----------------Bradley--------Mastroeni------------------
----Donovan--------------------------------Lewis-----------
--------------Dempsey------------Ching---------------------

LD is interviewed talking about how qualifying isn't easy. Click to continue reading...

The long march begins again for the US MNT, which kicks off the semifinal round of World Cup Qualifying with a match at Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City tonight at 10p ET (ESPN2) against the host country's chapines.

The Yanks are 10-4-5 all-time vs. Guatemala in a series that began in 1977 with four straight losses to the Central American nation. Click to continue reading...

We're days away from the most important match of the Bob Bradley era and perhaps the most difficult. The trip to Guatemala is never easy, but making it even more difficult is that several American regulars are not in form by any stretch of the imagination. With the exception of Landon Donovan it's difficult to see how the US will generate any offense in this match.

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Acting head coach Gary Smith punched the air as the referee blew for the 90 minutes. It sure was mighty relief for the Colorado Rapids organization and their fans that the team finally managed to score some goals and eke out a win against a frequently dangerous Kansas City side. Click to continue reading...

Bob Bradley named the squad that is going to face Guatemala in the upcoming World Cup qualifier and while looking through the roster the question that comes to my mind is - don't we have a better team then this? Hasn't the time for Eddie Lewis, Frankie Hejduk, and Pablo Mastroeni come and gone? Who is being looked to as the main goalscorer - Landon Donovan? Click to continue reading...

Bouna Coundoul, Pablo Mastroeni and Omar Cummings have all been called up for their respective national teams for international fixtures next week. Bouna will be off to Tripoli for a Senegal friendly against Libya while Cummings and Mastroeni will represent their countries in World Cup qualifiers against Canada and Guatemala respectively. Click to continue reading...

Here is the USA roster for the first game of the group stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying:

G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
M:
Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
Maurice Edu - Toronto
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Eddie Lewis - Derby County
Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado
F:
Brian Ching - Houston
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Eddie Johnson - Fulham

One more player is expected to be added by Sunday. Click to continue reading...

Yes, it seems like a good fit but how do you get there? Colorado Rapids' skipper, Pablo Mastroeni, smiled at my idea of him playing for Everton next season. They have no players, they need to sign up to six new faces, he is looking to move to Europe and play and he wouldn't cost them as much as European players when there is controversy within Goodison Park about the transfer budget. Click to continue reading...

Everton have arrived in Colorado for this weekend's game against the Rapids. It will be an intriguing game, not least because of the many subplots emerging. Just as manager, David Moyes, appears on the verge of agreeing a GBP 60,000 a week contract -yes, that's right, he will be earning about four times as much in one week as Bouna Coundoul does in a whole year -Everton's CEO has resigned. Click to continue reading...

Not a lot to say other than: that's why we love Christian here in Colorado. The other good news is that Stevie seemed to know a bit better than the voters and started Christian AND Pablo. So the midfield started with Beckham, Gomez, Mastroeni, and Joseph. That gives any club in the world a run for its money.

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Those who were disappointed that no Colorado Rapids' players were selected to the starting XI last week for the All-Star Game can now comfort themselves with the knowledge that coach, Steve Nichol, has selected two squad members in Pablo Mastroeni and Christian Gomez. Click to continue reading...

Pablo Mastroeni, the veteran defensive midfielder and longtime face of the Colorado Rapids, may want to leave Denver and seek to further his career in Europe before his contract expires in December. He is reported to be considering that option, according to today's Denver Post (link below). Click to continue reading...

Here's a couple of reports linking Colorado Rapids' Pablo Mastroeni with Cagliari of Italy's Serie A. Can't find anything more substantial just yet but my thanks to Jeannine in Littleton who alerted me to the soccertimes article.
http://www.soccertimes.com/americans/2008/jul06
http://lettersfromvagabondia. Click to continue reading...

Holy Jesus as they might say down in Colorado Springs! Pablo is really moving to Spain or Italy? According to the local paper, which, judging from its lack of Rapids' coverage, made its annual trip to Dick's Sporting Goods Park July 4, Colorado Rapids' midfield dynamo and veteran international, Pablo Mastroeni, will seek his fortune in southern Europe once this MLS season is over. Click to continue reading...

Serie A side Cagliari are reported to be interested in US and Colorado Rapids midfielder Pablo Mastroeni. The 31-year-old veteran has been keen to play in Spain or Italy and according to Napoli Affari, Cagliari is interested in signing him. Originally born in Argentina, Mastroeni's international performances have been seen positively here the past few years since he seems to fit the mold Italian coaches are looking for. Click to continue reading...

The relatively inexperienced midfield for the Colorado Rapids may have to inject a little more cynicism into its play to avoid making the kinds of mistakes that saw the team allow a similarly inexperienced Columbus player last week waltz through it and score the winning goal. Goalkeeper, Bouna Coundoul, said in this week's radio show, "From The Pitch", that Emmanuel Ekpo should have been fouled further up the field. Click to continue reading...

The way the Colorado Rapids started this game, they certainly looked as if there was no fear. There was energy, purpose and some very clear chances in the opening ten minutes or so. Jacob Peterson, for example, had a glorious chance in the opening three minutes but was only able to offer a weak shot straight into the keeper's arms. Click to continue reading...

It was another perfect morning at Dick's Sporting Goods Park as the Rapids boys went through their paces ahead of this weekend's match before flying off to LA this afternoon. The plane will be without Pablo Mastroeni whose recent strong play has rightly earned him a call-up to the national team. Click to continue reading...

Colorado Rapids' captain, Pablo Mastroeni, got onto the field for about five minutes yesterday in the US game against Spain in Santander. I'm glad he did because it could have felt like an even longer flight over to Europe if he had stayed completely on the bench. Mastroeni, who has been strong for the Rapids in recent games, played a full 90 against Dallas last week before flying to Spain on Monday. Click to continue reading...

It's good to be back! Very much looking forward to seeing the game tomorrow at DSG Park. Amazing time in Ghana which included watching the Champions' League final in the noisiest bar in the world. But happy to be back in more familiar surroundings and looking forward to reconnecting with the team. Let's hope we get the Rapids that turned out against DC United. Click to continue reading...