Smith is Official

Gary Smith is a now officially the head coach for the Colorado Rapids. Smith was signed to a 3 year deal. The Rapids also announced they re-signed Pablo Mastroeni, coming off arguably his best year ever in the MLS, to a 4 year deal. Mike Petke, Bouna Coundoul and Jose Burciaga Jr. are all out of contract with no announcements having been made on their status.

Rapid Announcing New Coach Today?

View From The Couch is reporting that it's rumored that the Rapids will announce their new coach today at 1pm. Money is on it being Gary Smith as the Rapids have already signed one of Smith's friend Steve Guppy as assistant coach. In fact Sunday while I was at work eating bugs, Brian Forbes over at the Denver Post reported that short of an official announcement from the Rapids, everything points to Gary Smith including Guppy on a radio show stating that it'll be Smith.

What does this mean for Christian Gomez? Bouna Coundoul? Facundo Erpen? These are all players that Smith didn't seem to fully embrace.

Bouna On The Move? Fire In Town

Nick at We Want Rapid Man takes a look at Bouna's situation. The Denver Post also covers it here. It looks to be headed down the same path that lead Herculez Gomez to Kansas City. Will things turn around? Will we see Bouna in nets for the Rapids again? Or could we see him traded to a team looking for a goalkeeper?

The Colorado Rapids take on the Chicago Fire tomorrow afternoon at Dicks Sporting Goods Park. The Fire are lead by first year coach and ex-Rapids Denis Hamlett. The Fire are 2-7-4 in Colorado. They have not won here since 1999.

On the other hand, the Fire have hands down the single best defense in the league this year. Thanks to that they've managed 6 wins on the road in 2008. And they have Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Brian McBride.

While the Rapids beat FC Dallas on the road a week ago last Thursday, they haven't won back to back games this year. The last time the Rapids won games back to back was in October 2007 when they beat Toronto at home and traveled to Los Angeles and snatched a win from Chivas USA. The Rapids are 2-2-0 under interim head coach Gary Smith.

Just a follow up on Herc's move to Kansas City. The Rapids got a 4th round 2009 SuperDraft pick and a first round (Why can't we just say 5th round?) MLS Supplemental draft pick. They also got some allocation money. How much is undisclosed. It's not a bag of balls but is it enough to make up for Herc's loss?

Rapids at FC Dallas

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. As you may know Petke is working to regain fitness after a long layoff after a foot injury that occurred in the 2007 season. Christian Gomez has been carrying a couple of knocks the last few weeks. And Tom "Tam" McManus was subbed out against San Jose after looking ineffective. It turned out that his picked up knee injury early in the game.

As for the game, Jason at View From The Couch the Couch predicts this line-up : GK : Bouna Condoul Def : Ihemelu - Pablo - Erpen Midfield : LaBrocca sitting back, C.Gomez - Ballouchy, and Cooke and Clark on the wings Forwards : Cummings - Casey

As for myself, I don't see anything too different. I wouldn't be surprised to see Christian Gomez start the game on the bench. If Gomez does start, he very well could be coming out long before the 60th. Gomez has wonderful skills but wasn't blessed with great stamina. Clavijo has commented in the past that the heat and humidity in the summer in Texas means not only is a slower game played but that the coach must be ready to sub players he wouldn't normally need to. Starting a banged up Gomez who normally doesn't have great stamina when they're looking at air temps in Frisco in the mid to upper 90s means Clavijo would already be commiting one substitution to Gomez. Sounds crazy? Keep in mind with the Texas humidity that means mid-90s feel well over 100F. For example 88F there right now has an AccuWeather Real Feel of 97F) at Frisco tonight. Add to that in the past Terry Cooke has also seemed to struggle with that heat and humidity. Given all of that I expect to see John DiRaimondo starting in the midfield alongside Nick Labrocca. Ballouchy will be given more freedom to go forward. That would give some flexibility to the squad. If Cooke gets gased he could be replaced by Peterson or even Christian Gomez with Ballouchy, Nick, or John pushed out to the right.

In other news Nick over at We Want Rapidman has a nice look at the upcoming Rapids friendly against England's Everton FC. Add me to the list of people disappointed that Tim Cahill won't be out on the pitch. At least US fans should have a chance to see US National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard play.

Rapids @ Crew

I had my nose in a book too long and had to make a stop before catching the game in the 28th minutes. Speaking of things after that, in general the Rapids didn't have a bad game. It wasn't a possesion oriented match for either team. Not that we've come to expect Clavijo's Rapids to do much when it comes to holding onto the ball and working it around the pitch.

Bouna had a nice game other than his big whiff. He came out for a ball and gave us a glimpse of the ol' Bouna, somehow flubbing the kick. Luckily it didn't cost the Rapids. What frustrates me the most about this is that Bouna is very athletic. He's not trying to thread the ball inbetween a couple defenders for a picture perfect pass. He simply needs to get his foot on the ball and make it go high, far and out. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me but the problem seems to be him leaving his feet to kick the ball. Come on Bouna, just plant a foot and kick the thing. I don't mean to overplay the incident in terms of the game. But you have to wonder why foreign scouts wouldn't cringe when seeing that sort of thing.

The penalty kick call was frustrating to see. That sort of a "foul" wouldn't be called half the time outside of the box. To see it called in the box, where referees normally have a higher threshold was confusing, to say the least. Normally I don't like to lay into the referees for the job they're doing. In this case I really hope that Toledo looks back at his call and regrets it.

Another key moment in the game was Ekpo's run that lead to his wonderful shot that resulted in the game winning goal. Ekpo got the ball and made a long, fast run down the middle left of the Rapids defense. It was the perfect seem with no one on the Rapids side of the ball willing to step in before it was too late. I suspect that had Ekpo made that run just a little more wide or just a little more in the middle we would have seen LaBrocca, DiRaimando or Jordan Harvey step up earlier to for Ekpo to make a pass or at least stop his sprint. It's easy to blame Harvey but it's not just his fault. One of the midfielder should've been on Ekpo earlier. I wonder if Pablo had been in his usual role of cleaning up in the midfield if he wouldn't have recognized the threat earlier and stopped it. Whatever could have and should have happened, what did happen was a simple, straight fast run topped off with a great shot while still going at speed. You have to give Ekpo props for a great goal.

Where was Christian Gomez?

The question for the Rapids is what are they missing? More time on the ball? Better runs? A striker with a nose for the goal?

Other Blogs :
View From The Couch published a letter regarding Clavijo's after game comments.
FC Rocky on the match
James at The Offside gives us a Crew fan perspective on the game

By the way, if you were wondering wear ex-rapid Nicolas Hernandez was last night, he was waived by the Crew before the game. More on that at American Soccer.

Evaluating Team Defense

I just want to take a moment to point out yet another soccer blog, this one focused on the Colorado Rapids. It's View From The Couch. One bone I have to pick is with the idea that the Rapids had the 3rd best defense. I didn't walk away from 2007 thinking Colorado had the 3rd best defense in the league. I didn't think GA in itself was a good indicator. I think one needs to look at shots allowed and shots on goal allowed. When you look at that, you can see why I walked away with that gut feeling. Colorado more or less allowed other teams to take just as many shots as many other teams in the league. The key is that they only Houston allowed less shots on goal. Now SOG is not an exact measurement of the number of quality scoring chances given. I would argue that allowing the shot in the first place indicates some level of chance. But the Rapids allowed only 320 SOG by opposing teams. Other than Chivas USA, that is a lot better than most teams in the league. Bouna Condoul was a big part of that but the defense at a whole helped, too.

What other things can we see from these numbers? I think they show DC United relied on Troy Perkins to save their butts more than their GA indicates. It also shows that Real Salt Lake by far had the worst defense in the league.
Note: SOG (below) really is Shots On Goal Allowed. My apologies for any confusion.

By GA
Team	GA	Shots	Shots / 90	SOG	SOG / 90	Saves	Saves / 90	Saves / SOG	GA / 90	GA / SOG
Houston	23	280	3.111	118	1.311	93	1.033	0.788	0.256	0.195
Chivas USA	28	324	3.600	125	1.389	100	1.111	0.800	0.311	0.224
Colorado	34	320	3.556	161	1.789	121	1.344	0.752	0.378	0.211
DC United	34	349	3.878	164	1.822	124	1.378	0.756	0.378	0.207
Chicago	36	351	3.900	157	1.744	123	1.367	0.783	0.400	0.229
New England	43	359	3.989	169	1.878	120	1.333	0.710	0.478	0.254
Columbus	44	354	3.933	152	1.689	131	1.456	0.862	0.489	0.289
FC Dallas	44	381	4.233	158	1.756	112	1.244	0.709	0.489	0.278
Kansas City	45	342	3.800	159	1.767	110	1.222	0.692	0.500	0.283
NYRB	45	366	4.067	168	1.867	116	1.289	0.690	0.500	0.268
RSL	45	403	4.478	205	2.278	152	1.689	0.741	0.500	0.220
Los Angeles	48	388	4.311	179	1.989	125	1.389	0.698	0.533	0.268
Toronto FC	49	352	3.911	169	1.878	115	1.278	0.680	0.544	0.290
By SOG
Team	SOG	SOG / 90	Shots	Shots / 90	Saves	Saves / 90	Saves / SOG	GA	GA / 90	GA / SOG
Houston	118	1.311	280	3.111	93	1.033	0.788	23	0.256	0.195
Chivas USA	125	1.389	324	3.600	100	1.111	0.800	28	0.311	0.224
Columbus	152	1.689	354	3.933	131	1.456	0.862	44	0.489	0.289
Chicago	157	1.744	351	3.900	123	1.367	0.783	36	0.400	0.229
FC Dallas	158	1.756	381	4.233	112	1.244	0.709	44	0.489	0.278
Kansas City	159	1.767	342	3.800	110	1.222	0.692	45	0.500	0.283
Colorado	161	1.789	320	3.556	121	1.344	0.752	34	0.378	0.211
DC United	164	1.822	349	3.878	124	1.378	0.756	34	0.378	0.207
NYRB	168	1.867	366	4.067	116	1.289	0.690	45	0.500	0.268
New England	169	1.878	359	3.989	120	1.333	0.710	43	0.478	0.254
Toronto FC	169	1.878	352	3.911	115	1.278	0.680	49	0.544	0.290
Los Angeles	179	1.989	388	4.311	125	1.389	0.698	48	0.533	0.268
RSL	205	2.278	403	4.478	152	1.689	0.741	45	0.500	0.220
By Shots Allowed
Team	SOG	SOG / 90	Shots	Shots/ 90	Saves	Saves / 90	Saves / SOG	GA	GA / 90	GA / SOG
Houston	280	3.111	118	1.311	93	1.033	0.788	23	0.256	0.195
Colorado	320	3.556	161	1.789	121	1.344	0.752	34	0.378	0.211
Chivas USA	324	3.600	125	1.389	100	1.111	0.800	28	0.311	0.224
Kansas City	342	3.800	159	1.767	110	1.222	0.692	45	0.500	0.283
DC United	349	3.878	164	1.822	124	1.378	0.756	34	0.378	0.207
Chicago	351	3.900	157	1.744	123	1.367	0.783	36	0.400	0.229
Toronto FC	352	3.911	169	1.878	115	1.278	0.680	49	0.544	0.290
Columbus	354	3.933	152	1.689	131	1.456	0.862	44	0.489	0.289
New England	359	3.989	169	1.878	120	1.333	0.710	43	0.478	0.254
NYRB	366	4.067	168	1.867	116	1.289	0.690	45	0.500	0.268
FC Dallas	381	4.233	158	1.756	112	1.244	0.709	44	0.489	0.278
Los Angeles	388	4.311	179	1.989	125	1.389	0.698	48	0.533	0.268
RSL	403	4.478	205	2.278	152	1.689	0.741	45	0.500	0.220

Those Things We Say

It's that time of year again. Major League Soccer's season is winding down and the last spots in the playoffs are being decided. There is one thing about this time of year that really bothers me though, the cliched statement about peaking too soon.

I don't have an issue with cliches as a whole. They're often useful in us having a common language to describe what is going on. For example if I told you that a striker was often coming back looking for the ball, you would understand that the striker literally did not have problems seeing the ball. You would know that they weren't having the ball passed to them and getting touches (another cliche we use for that is "seeing the ball"). So they start playing further back to try to get involved. We can say the player's coming back looking for the ball and we know what is meant.

The cliche that bothers me this time of year is that of referring to teams peaking too soon. To me it implies that there is some science to how teams play. There is some pre-allocated amount of wins, good play, accurate passes, and goals that each team gets for the entire season including the playoffs and they better use them well less they use them all up before they win the MLS Cup.

Team's don't have some predetermined number of wins, losses, good play, bad play or any of that. Any given game is determined by what they do on they accomplish on the pitch. A team could go 30-0-0 if they can get the job done in each and every game. They could play really well at the beginning of the season, guarantee a play-off spot and close out the season with a string of losses and still win the MLS Cup.

That aspect of the saying peaking too soon isn't so bad in itself. It also has the connotation that the season is a marathon and you don't want to wear yourself out too soon or go into the playoffs missing a couple starters. What really bothers me is the context in which it gets used.

The real problem with the ol' saying is that it's used to imply that some team that hasn't clinched a playoff spot yet is somehow doing something smart. The earlier a team clinches a spot, the more wiggle room a team has in how they use their players. They have the luxury of resting a player with a niggling injury. Or they may give a rookie a chance at getting some time to have them better prepared in case they're needed during the playoff run. And there also is the mental aspect of being able to relax going into a game knowing that a loss or a tie isn't going to ruin things; you can just worry about making sure you play well both as individuals and a team.

On the other hand a team that isn't peaking too soon tends to find themselves struggling to make the playoffs. They have to take risks to try to take maximum points. An example of this is when the Colorado Rapids played Chivas USA on September 16th. They started Mike Petke despite a nasty stomach flu. The result of that was not only an early substitution out in the 23rd minute but, I would assert, Facundo Erpen getting a deserved red card in the 14th minute. Petke was lost in no man's land (not something he's prone to do especially this year). It left a seam for Laurent Merlin to run down after a errant Rapids pass turned the ball over. Erpen wasn't able to catch up to Merlin until he was in the box. Why Erpen felt compelled to take Merlin down instead of letting Bouna Coundoul, arguably the most athletic keeper in the league, handle the situation is another matter (would it be Erpen if he didn't do one or three dumb things each game?). The point being the Rapids had to take risks to try to take points. Instead of walking away with 3 points from a home win, they squeked out a late goal for a point. What's the gap between them and the last playoff spot right now? It's just 2 points.

There are many other examples like this. I'd love to for you to share them in the comments. Do you remember a time late in the season when your team was forced to play an injured player only for him to make the injury worse? Were key players in need a rest after a string of club and international games but with the team apparently trying to peak at just the right moment, they were still played and at that looked absent?

I'd love to see the pundits stop using this phrase about a team peaking too soon. The beautiful game isn't some dry form of accounting with a ball and grass. There isn't some ceiling in place for a maximum amount of good play. Soccer is a classic case of chaos theory at work in the world. Encourage teams to go out there and get the job done. And please, please don't use this phrase to excuse a team that's procrastinating. They can't turn on and off good play as though it's regulated by a switch. If they haven't shored up a playoff spot, it's because they've made mistakes earlier in the season.

Ballouchy's Elbow

Seeing Ballouchy's blatant elbow at the end of the first half of the Rapids game at KC left me wondering 2 things :
1) Will the league do anything? It was clearly intentional and surely deserves suspension.
2) Is it Clavijo? How many more times do we need to see CO players doing these sort of things, this time it being the new guy, before we wonder if Clavijo is behind some of this? That is, not in telling players to do this specifically but sending them the message that he expects to see them fighting and scrapping. Could it be?

One other quick note on the match, can someone please tell Eddie Johnson that there is nothing "grown-up" about divers? I'd appreciate it. Had he not gone fishing for contact on Bouna he could have easily blown by him and scored a goal.