There was a rumor in SI a few days ago about interest in Terry Cooke back in England. The basis of the rumor? David Moyes said some good things about him. Classic English rumor; that is, little if anything behind it but they'll still print it. I love have Terry at the Rapids. But it would seem odd that PNE, Derby and Cardiff were all interested in him because Moyes said something nice. Click to continue reading...

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...

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...

The Colorado Rapids' press office must be working off a template for their post-match releases. My worst fears were realized when I again read that the Rapids had outshot their opponents for the tenth week in a row but had still lost. Just like the Rockies baseball team, a loss over the weekend finally nails it home what most have been thinking for a while. Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids woes continued as they lost Toronto FC at Dicks Sporting Goods Park. Toronto hadn't won a game in 2 months. The Rapids had only won once in their last 10. But Toronto was missing players (Amando Guevara, Laurent Robert, Marco Velez, Carmelo Lobo) forcing them to start some reserves. Click to continue reading...

Once again, the Colorado Rapids outshot their opposition but there is only one statistic that matters in soccer and that is how many goals you score and how many goals you let in, well two statistics then. Everton scored twice, once at the beginning of the game and once right at the end. Click to continue reading...

Man, it's been a slow week; kind of a downer, really. Between that and the loss against Columbus which was more of a fist fight than a soccer game, if this were a bye week like originally scheduled, the only thing keeping me going would be the knowledge that the first football game of the year is Sunday (if you are reading from outside the US, just don't bother asking).

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Technically, Monday's RSL-Toronto match was in Week 19 of the MLS schedule, but that doesn't really make sense. Playing a Monday night match doesn't make sense either but that's what went down in Utah last night.

Anyway, that caused a minor ripple effect out here as we waited for the fifth of five matches in a two-day span to be played out before handing out or weekly kudos. Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids are in Frisco, Texas today to play FC Dallas. Dallas has 2 wins and 3 ties in their last 10 games. While they're struggled for points during this stretch they've only been shut out once, a 1-0 loss at New York. Can the Rapids shut them out this time around?

The only injuries with the Rapids worth noting at this time, sorry Justin, are Mike Petke, Tom McManus and all-star Christian Gomez.

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(Apologies for this post getting up several days late. It was supposed to run in mid-week but a technical glitch caused it not to be posted.)

What happens when a team that can't win two in a row faces a team that can't win?

You get a tie.

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There's a growing sense that the Colorado Rapids may be able to take advantage of a weakened Dallas side this weekend and further consolidate the good momentum which started with the July 4 victory against the New York Red Bulls. Contrary to the doubters out there, last weekend's 1-1 draw with San Jose was a point well won. Click to continue reading...

The hex is broken. The Colorado Rapids finally got at least a point after going down a goal. In eight previous games this season, six of them on the road, the Rapids have lost when conceding the first goal. Today, against the San Jose Earthquakes, they sure enough conceded the first goal but a header from Conor Casey in the 70th minute from a Terry Cooke cross rescued a point. Click to continue reading...

Well, the logistics department of the Colorado Rapids probably knows how to get the team there but do the team know how to win aginst the struggling Earthquakes? Thoughts must now turn to a vital game next weekend in California after yesterday's dismantling of a poor New York Red Bulls side. 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...

One mistake and it ended up costing us the game. The Colorado Rapids competed well with the Columbus Crew for the entirety of this match but where were the midfield and defense to stop Emmanuel Ekpo's marauding run in the 70th minute? The young Nigerian basically walked through the Rapids' back line and midfield before unleashing a powerful shot that Bouna Coundoul could only parry into the net. Click to continue reading...

Bouna Coundoul, the long-absent Bouna, is now back in Denver and training hard with his Colorado Rapids teammates. Does he walk straight back into the team after a month of not playing or will he wait on the sidelines a tad longer? We know that coach, Fernando Clavijo, has not been best pleased with his Senegal star for not being in contact during his time with the national team there. Click to continue reading...

The Colorado Rapids once again let themselves down in front of goal, failing to finish off any number of chances as they struggled to a scoreless draw against the Houston Dynamo last night. Many of those chances did fall to Omar Cummings but the Jamaican is finding it tough to net right now and he probably fears his starting place is under threat, only helping him to get more anxious in front of goal. Click to continue reading...

The Rapids will have US Mens National Team midfield Pablo Mastroeni back tonight when they take on the Houston Dynamo tonight. Is Pablo healthy and ready to start? The team hasn't said he's not despite him coming off early in the USMNT World Cup Qualifier against Barbados last weekend with, well, what appeared to be a sore butt. Click to continue reading...

OK, bit of a corny headline but there is a good opportunity for the Rapids to vent all their frustrations of the past two weeks on the Dynamo this weekend. Coach, Fernando Clavijo, is very confident he will have the squad to roll the Texans over. Back comes a very solid defense with Ugo Ihemelu returning from pseudo international duty with Canada and Facundo Erpen returning from suspension. 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...

One of the best problems a soccer team can have is having too many good players to field them all. That, and the ability to adapt the line-up to different opponents, is a sign of a good soccer team. The Rapids have both.

The biggest question on my mind as we await the game against Houston (with much anticipation, by the way) is who will be starting.

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How good are the Rapids? On Sunday, the Rapids outplayed DC United by any measure, and I still think they underperformed. I really think they could have scored three or four if they had just finished on a few of the opportunities they had in the first half. That's how good they are.

The match on Sunday was a great way to get back into the swing of things.

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Maybe this is what Colorado Rapids' coach, Fernando Clavijo, thinks to himself when he's on the seat of his Harley approaching Estes Park. How am I going to get the most out of my big players and what is the best formation to fit the biggest of them all, Christian Gomez? Click to continue reading...

The Rapids are coming off a big 4-0 win against a terrible Galaxy team. A couple things I haven't noticed mentioned on that are how many times last year the Rapids would've still found a way to struggle against such a team or at least mange to not put the ball in the back of the net. The other is that the Rapids weren't exactly at full strength either. Click to continue reading...