Theo Walcott's Debut

Niko Leaves, Ward Arrives and Welcome Philly

If you didn't already catch it, the Rapids have traded forward Nicolas "Niko" Hernandez to the Columbus Crew for a 3rd round draft pick in the Supplemental Draft and Generation Adidas (GA) defender Tim Ward. I like the move. It give Columbus a forward that can at least score a few goals, something they were lacking. For the Rapids, Ward's GA status means that he won't count toward the cap. The real question for the Rapids is if this move signals that they're on the verge of signing Reinaldo. Or could it be, as Goff speculates, that the Rapids are about to swoop in for Roberto Mina?

Either way, watch for Philadelphia to be announced as the new MLS expansion team for the 2010 season.

U-23 Camp

No Rapids players were called in to the U-23 camp to be held the first week of March.

From The Red Card:
GK: Dominic Cervi, Tally Hall, Chris Seitz

D: Maurice Edu, Hunter Freeman, Kamani Hill, Patrick Ianni, Michael Orozco, Mike Randolph, Nathan Sturgis, Marvell Wynne.

M: Arturo Alvarez, Benny Feilhaber, Eddie Gaven, Stuart Holden, Sacha Kljestan, Dax McCarty, Robbie Rogers, Sal Zizzo.

F: Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Barrett, Charlie Davies, Robbie Findley

Player Salaries - Looking Back

With the new MLS season around the corner, I thought it would be nice to look back at 2007 to see who made the most money. Climbing The Ladder has list of the top 25 wage earners from the 2007 season. The list was made in May 2007. Anyone on that list you see that didn't perform well enough given their wages?

Saints New Manager - Nigel Pearson

As a Saints fan it's good to see the club putting to an end the ill-advised Dodd & Gorman managerial partnership. I'm sure it was meant to be temporary but with all the forewarning they had of Burley's departure, they didn't seem to be making much of any progress on replacing him. There was a lot of speculation lately that they wouldn't be filling the role until this summer. Maybe it was due to their mad search for a new investor; maybe it was just hoping that things would magically get better. With the team winless in league play since D & G took charge, it seems the suits felt pressured to make a move.

And they did for.....

...Nigel Pearson. That's right, the business minds at Southampton decided that instead of spending time find a permanent gaffer to guide the squad they'd replace their temps with a temp. Pearson is on a rolling contract. Now if there's ever a sign of a manager desperate for a team and a team uncommitted to a manager this is a painfully obvious one.

So why did the Saints sign a guy like this? And at that with little commitment on the part of either party? Are they really that desperate?

Bradley Puts On A Move

Sweet lord Bradley, couldn't you have pulled this trick out of your hat against Mexico? Maybe to spring Lannycakes free on a counter?