With Southampton coming from behind at Leyton Orient today for a 2-2 draw, the Saints haven't lost a game in their last 5 in League One. In fact, Alan Pardews squad has only lost once in their last 10. Does Southampton have a chance at making the playoffs despite starting out with a 10 point deficit?
Could aging French International Patrick Vieira be showing up in the US next summer? So far it doesn't seem to be much more than Vieira making a comment in the press about maybe doing it. The ol' soccer equivalent of "I'd like to get married someday". http://www.clubcall.com/intl-football/vieira-looking-across-pond-939261.html
"I still have a year left on my contract and I think it will be my last in Europe at the highest level," he told Orange Sport. "I would like to try an experience in the United States, (former French international) Youri Djorkaeff has convinced me."
Last night the Colorado Rapids played, well, a rather poor game against the Los Angeles Cosmos Galaxy. The Rapids took the lead in the 60th minute though a goal by Colin Clark. Colin had drifted over the right side of the field, got a nice pass from Omar Cummings, and found himself with some time and space in the box to slot the ball past the Galaxy's keeper Rohan Ricketts. But as the game was winding down the Rapids defense, which had already been saved once by the crossbar, pulled a bit of keystone cops and allowed Landon Donovan to put the ball in the back of the net off a rebound.
Colorado Soccer Now (ColoradoSoccerNow.com) has a good look at the game, especially the controversial 74th minute which saw referee Alex Prus first issue a red card and then rescind it. Was it the right call? More details here.
Examiner.com's Deron White has up player ratings for the game. Was Deron right to give Pablo a 4 but a 5's for the backline?
For myself, Blogs By Dave has the best look at the game in calling out the Rapids for the performance they gave and how the team has changed but it still seems to be the same ol' Rapids.
I haven't written much about one of my favorite teams, Southampton. But if you haven't heard things are looking dire for the right now. With 2 games left they're on they need at least a win and tie, and really 2 wins, to have a chance at avoiding relegation to League One (division 3). That in itself is pretty bad. The bigger, soap opera story has been related to the financial situation. I really need to blog about that some more as it has many twists in turns. In short the Southampton PLC filed for bankruptcy a few weeks ago. Technically since the club itself but it's parent company went into administration the league's rules aren't clear that the club has to be deducted 10 points. Yesterday the league's body ruled that the Saints are facing a 10 point deduction. Saints are appealing that. Even if the team's play on the field manages to keep them out of the relegation zone it looks very likely this 10 point deduction will stick and they'll be relegated. Relegation to League One for Southampton may be a matter for the history books only though. When the PLC went into administration, the main clowns that guided them into the mess like Lowe, Wilde and others resigned from their positions. Part of the problem is that they were asking too much money for the club and still haven't found a buyer. Without one it looks all but certain that the club will not exist next year even if somehow they win their appeal and are not relegated. It's very possible that the 08-09 Championship season will be Southampton FC's very last. So remember when you're team is facing relegation that it very well could be worse.
The Colorado Rapids are on the road again this weekend. They're in Houston looking for their first ever win at Robertson Stadium. The 1pm game, Mountain, will be broadcast on Telefutura. The 2 biggest questions I have for the Rapids at this point are if their defense will show up. They've been giving up far too many opportunities and goals. The other is if someone other than Conor Casey or Omar Cummings will step up for the team and put the ball in the back of the net. It's great to see the two starting strikers scoring goals. But we know in the long run we need more goal production from other players. Will we see that against Houston on Sunday?
In other news, ColoradoSoccerNow.com's George Tanner has been a part of InDenverTimes.com. InDenverTimes is a project that's risen from the ashes of the old Rocky Mountain News. One of the things they're doing is giving subscribers a chance to interact with the people covering the news. George Tanner did that today with a chat this afternoon giving people the opportunity to ask him questions and give their two-bits. Watch for more events like this in the future.
And finally the 2009 MLS season has kicked off. I've been anxious for the season to start. Not only to see Gary Smith show good of a coach he but also to watch some of the commentators back peddle on their predictions about Seattle making the playoffs. It's great to see a team their but this is 1998. Expansion teams in the MLS don't do well in their first year.
WOW! And it's like the soccer gods knew I typed that and had to show me up. Freddy Montero scores the seasons' first goal Seattle's first ever goal in league play. 12' minutes in and NYRB is down 1-0.
Updated 1 :
Brad Evans scores his first for Seattle after getting a handful for the Crew last year.
Seattle 2
NYRB 0
Updated 2 :
27' That reminds me.... I don't get why some pundits previews were so questioning of LA's or FCD's defense when NYRB's got Goldwaite and Petke in the center of their backline.
Updated 3 :
First half winding down and Boyens looks to have been subbed due to an injury. Not sure what to make of this. I can see that the new matchtracker on MLSnet looks cool but the sound / animation needs to have the option of being turned off by users.
Updated 4 :
Half-time and it's still 2-0 Seattle over NYRB.
Updated 5 :
75' While I haven't fallen asleep but I haven't seen much going on in the 2nd half. Freddy Montero did have a nice goal to make it 3-0 Seattle.
Updated 5 :
Game over. Sounders win their first. But don't get too excited. After all Real Salt Lake won their home opener in their first season yet the season turned into a long, grueling, torturous even for their fans.
It was in the news yesterday that the Colorado Rapids have offered Crewe Alexandria's Julian Baudet a contract.
What could this mean for the Rapids? We won't know until he signs and his current contract is over. It's unlikely that Crewe, in a relegation battle in England's League One (Div 3) would let him go before his contract runs out this summer.
An arrival later in June would give Rapids coach Gary Smith plenty of time to sort things out with his roster to make room. It could be as simple as waiving a player. If Julian Baudet is signed, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rapids make room for his arrival via a trade. Right now a few MLS teams could use another defender or three on their roster. And a couple teams, like LA and Seattle, have defenses that my grandma could get through easier than a Sawzall cutting through butter.
Or maybe Corey Gibbs will be leaving the Rapids this summer to head back to Europe?
As for Baudet, who knows if this is a good move or not. I don't many folks other than Crewe fans, or maybe some old Northampton or Oldham fans, have seen he play. Which is why I don't understand why View From The Couch fell for the temptation of evaluating the move. It's unfortunate to see.
Without the means to directly judge Baudet as a player, View From The Couch resorts to using this rationale :
A player that can't get out of League One when most MLS players that go to England end up in either the Premiership or the Championship is an indicator that he's average MLS quality at best.There are several problems with this logic. The first is that one can gleam anything about Baudet based on his playing in England's 3rd division. This is then compounded by assuming that the few MLS players that have gone to England are representative of an average to good player in the MLS. But these players are the ones that are the exception to the rule. Of the few MLS players that are in England, most either haven't had time to prove themselves (Brad Guzan) are have not panned (Matt Pickens, Eddie Johnson, Duncan Oughton). Essentially this approach to judging Baudet is about meaningful as reading tea leaves (sorry, Jason).
View From The Couch is good blog for tracking the Rapids and gaining insight into events surrounding the team. It's just nice to have another blog to point to and disagree with about the Rapids.
Recently the Rocky Mountain News (RMN) closed it's doors. It's sad to see a long time Denver institution gone forever. Out of it's demise we've seen a few new sites rising up such as some ex-RMN folks with I Want My Rocky.
One of the first blogs that covered the Colorado Rapids was hosted by the Rocky Mountain News, FC Rocky. With RMN's demise, we will not be seeing any new posts on FC Rocky. Luckily, FC Rocky's George Tanner has launched a Colorado Soccer Now along with Cole McGinnis. They're looking to provide us with some we sorely need here in Colorado, news and commentary about the beautiful game in Colorado. If you haven't checked out the site, head over there now.
The Colorado Rapids 2009 MLS season kicks off soon. On March 21st the season starts against Chivas at the Home Depot Center in Carson City, California. The game starts at 8:30pm mountain time and will be on Fox Soccer Channel (FSC).
The next evening, Sunday March 22, at 6pm Class VI will be holding it's preseason bash. Ok, it's technically not the preseason since the season starts the night before. But don't get hung up on a technicality and head up to The Catina at Dicks Sporting Goods Park to have some fun with old friends and meet some new ones. Everyone, members or not, are welcome to attend. There will be :
- A silent auction for some incredible Rapids and Rapids related items…some of them signed!
- Raffles for some truly special prizes and experiences including a once-in-a-lifetime Honorary Captain for a Day experience!
- A speech by Rapids Head Coach Gary Smith about the State of the Team
It appears that the Colorado Rapids' Scottish striker Tom "Tam" McManus is back in Scotland looking to hook up with a club. He's training with Patrick Thistle and has been linked with Kilmarnock.
