Josh Wolff Signs With KC

I get a bit tired of the ex-MLSer rumors that involve them coming back to the MLS to play for the same team they played for before their move overseas. Often they don't make sense given the situation whether it's because of the MLS' arcane rules for bringing an ex-MLS player back from overseas or just that their ex-club didn't need them.

This time the rumor of Josh Wolff seemed to make sense. KC needs goals and they need to shake things up a bit with their squad. Sure, some of that comes from a goofy schedule that put them on the road 6 games in a row. But they've had their chances at home and came up short too often. With only 11 goals in 13 games, KC's not scoring the goals that they need. Kansas City's signing of Josh Wolf, who is still only 31, should help inject some life into their attack. Will this be enough for KC to make the play-offs? I don't think so.

Kansas City Star on the signing, here.
Soccer by Ives on the signing, here.

Dallas, Everton, KC, and Galaxy

There's been a lot going on lately. Euro 2008 is about to get started. The US Men are going to play Spain in a friendly. Southampton's coaching situation is an even bigger mess with Nigel Pearson's contract not renewed and the new coach, that Dutch P guy, apparently still under contract someplace else (I thought Lowe was going to clean up the mess instead of adding to it). The Rapids are taking on Kansas City in the US Open Cup. Tickets for the fancy-pants scrimmage between Everton and the Rapids go on sale in a few hours.

As for last week's FC Dallas game, well, I hope they can repeat that performance against the Galaxy. In theory they should be able to. The Rapids didn't let FC Dallas' midfield do very much. On paper they should be able to do the same again. Then again, we're talking about Clavijo's tactics versus Guillit's. That doesn't seem to bode as well for the Rapids.

We Want Rapidman was happy for the win but wasn't overly impressed by it. More by Nick here.
FC Rocky looks at the Dallas match noting the sloppy defending by the Rapids. He also mentions that, and I agree, Rapids' Scottish striker Tom McManus may be emerging as a player that can score goals when the team needs them. More on that at FC Rocky.
View From The Couch looks back at the match at Dicks Sporting Goods Park against FC Dallas. He notes 2 interesting facts :
1) This is the first time we've given up a lead this season.
2) Its also the first time we've won when allowing the opposition to score.
More from View From The Couch on the game here.

FC Rocky is passing on some comments from a fellow Rocky Mountain News employee who is in Italy and went to see Pisa and Bologna play. Are the marketers paying attention to this?
"To me, it's kind of how sports used to be when we were growing up without all of the annoying music, dancers, blimps flying around etc. Just the passion for the game."

More on the Colorado Rapids - Kansas US Open Cup game at The Offside.

Did Anyone Notice?

I was watching some weekend MLS highlights on-line last night and when I saw Toronto vs. KC highlights I found myself taking a double take. The video was small and on my computer screen so it was tough to see but for the life of me I couldn't tell who was in blue. For a second, a brief second, I thought I was looking at Liverpool v. Chelsea highlights that somehow made it onto MLS' website by some accident. Really. All red vs. all blue uniforms, packed stands rocking with fans...it didn't look like MLS. I'm not trying to say that the play on the field was EPL quality, just saying the colors, the fans and the atmosphere looked like it could have been in Liverpool, England on a Saturday morning.

KC - Rapids

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. Young players like LaBrocca got in the full 90 minutes in the first game. LaBrocca only played 67 minutes last year. Omar Cummings and Stephen Keel didn't see much more time. DiRaimondo is a rookie. Heck, even the much talked about Colin Clark has les than 20 games under his belt. If a few of those young pups can continue to step up, the Rapids will be able to get some unexpected wins.

As for the game against KC, maybe it's my burgundy colored glasses but I expect the Rapids to come away with a 1-0 win. They have the X factor in Christian Gomez, a player capable of winning games when his team didn't seem to earn it. The most interesting match up I'm anticipating is KC's 2nd year Michael Harrington and the Rapids' Terry Cooke. If Harrington puts too much effort into getting involved in the attack, he's likely to leave Terry Cooke run free at the wrong moment.

For more on the upcoming game :
View From The Couch
American Soccer News

The weather for game is looking like it'll be a lovely spring afternoon.

Burciaga Update

My apologies for overlooking the obvious and not mentioning that Soccer by Ives is reporting that KC will be trading Burciaga to the Rapids for a draft pick. I should have mentioned it in the previous post [link]. A draft pick, eh? Surely the Rapids wouldn't be so daft as to give up their 1st round pick, #5 overall, for Burciage..... or would they?

Rapids Get Burciagia

The Kansas City Wizards are looking to further rebuild their team beyond today's trade of Nick Garcia to expansion San Jose Earthquakes for their 1st pick (1st overall in the draft). That gives KC the 1st pick overall and the 11th overall picks in the draft. The conventional thinking is that KC is positioning themselves to take promising striker Patrick Nyarko with their new pick. Why would they do that? Eddie Johnson looks set to move to Europe during the winter window with Fulham being strongly linked with him today.

Did you catch that Garcia's not the only defender KC is looking to trade? That's right, KC is looking to also trade Jose Burciaga Jr. This time to the Colorado Rapids. No word on what the Rapids will give up in return. It's not official but every now and then the little birdy comes through for me on a rumor that's about to be true. Like last year when some folks were shocked that then New York Red Bulls coach Bruce Arena was willing to trade for Clint Mathis {post here]. This trade wouldn't be as shocking but it would be more interesting in that KC would then be unloading 2 starting defenders. If the rumor holds true, we should see the announcement Wednesday or Thursday.

If the Rapids are trading for Burciaga, I can see some folks being confused. They'll be pointing out that the Rapids had the 3rd best defense in the league last year. 2 things on that :

1. In my opinion, the Rapids GA numbers for 2007 were better than they looked defensively
2. Burciaga stands to help the Rapids offensively.

In 2007 the Rapids average offense became anemic. Burciaga in the past has shown he can get forward and score (8 goals in 2006). But when we're talking about the decisions that Fernado Clavijo makes, well, there very well may be no rationale behind them. Afterall it wasn't much more than a year ago that Ferndando was saying he finally had the team he wanted and yet managed to play musical chairs with the 2007 roster.

Another interesting development is that the rumored is that beyond Burciaga the Colorado Rapids are on the verge of signing a young American defender from abroad? Who might that be? We don't know. The little birdy did rule out Ramiro Corrales. That doesn't surprise me as I feel the MLS's standard of play has passed up Corrales since his days in the league. It does add to emphasizing the young part of the rumor. I would assume it's not Tighe Dombrowski as he wasn't good enough to get much of a sniff at play in the MLS in the first place. DeMerit? It would be a wet dream for Rapids fans but he's not young and recently was made captain for Watford who are in the midst of battling for an automatic promotion spot to return to England's Premiership. Corey Gibbs? Again, not young even by MLS standards. Plus how would the Rapids afford him?

So who could it be? Ian Joy has been linked with a move to the MLS. It's been in the form of a move to Real Salt Lake. But there is nothing concrete yet. Could the Rapids be about to beat their rivals to the punch?

If it's not Ian Joy then it's pretty much Russian roulette in guessing who it may be. Maybe it's Charles Kazlauskas who has actually been spending time as a striker with Topp Oss in Holland. We all know the Rapids could use some offensive help. It's probably not Steve Purdy. Los Angeles still holds his rights after drafting him in 2007. And he's recently signed a pro contract with 1860 Munich. Zac Whitbread? No, he just signed a new 2 1/2 year deal with Milwall. Frank Simek? There was no indication of a move in his interview today or anywhere else. It doesn't seem likely with him only being 23, over 100 appearances for Wednesday and plenty of time to play in the Premiership.

Beyond that, who knows who it could be. Maybe Aston Villa and their American owner are willing to loan out young Eric Lichaj. Maybe it's Chase Hilgenbrinck returning from South America? Or could it actually be someone no so young like Danny Califf? Or maybe someone who, IIRC, is available on a free like Josh Grenier? We'll have to wait and see. For now my money would be on Ian Joy.

Furthermore, it makes one wonder if a Rapids defender like Prideaux (note: If it is the chicken hawk it would be a return to KC after stints with DC United and the Colorado Rapids) or Mike Petke will be headed to KC to replace the newly traded Garcia. We don't know what the Rapids are willing to give up for Burciaga. We do know that the Kansas City Wizards having a defensive hole to fill now that Nick Garcia has left for San Jose.

And if you didn't already here, Carlos Ruiz has returned to Los Angeles. How much did LA give up for what they were badly missing in 2007, a natural goal scorer? They gave up allocation money and a 2nd round pick. How much allocation money did they give up? We don't know. One would have to think the amount would depend on how badly FC Dallas was looking to get rid of El Pescadito.

More on the Garcia trade :
The Offside Rules
Kansas City Star
Steven Goff

More on Eddie Johnson to Fulham
The Offside Rules
Caught Offside

More on the Ruiz trade :
FC Dallas' official blog
Steven Goff
Offical Press Release from FC Dallas
Official press release from LA

Clavijo Wanted Victorine

The word on the street is that the Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo wanted to trade for Kansas City's Sasha Victorine before the Sept 15th deadline. What and who was he offering? Two 2nd year players from the Rapids - Colin Clarke and Jacob Peterson. No word on if KC was willing to pull the trigger on this one or not. It's a moot point though. The way it was it was told, it was the Rapids FO that overruled Clavijo.

Please keep in mind this is a rumor. If it's true, it makes one wonder why the Rapids Front Office that in the past has given Clavijo the final say in these matters stepped in. Have they had more say in previous trades than they're willing to admit to? Do they no longer trust him? If it is a matter of trust, why keep around a coach they no longer trust?

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.

At Last, Soccer Has That Hometown Feel

Props to Mark Kiszla for his column in the Denver Post today. As someone who grew up in a time when the mainstream media ripped on the soccer if they even bothered to mention it all, it's been wonderful to see the changes over the last few years. More and more it's being covered in a positive light and at that by sports journalists who aren't devoted to the game. That is, those who cover sports in general are playing attention to the beautiful game.

When Will The Revs Learn?
For those who didn't catch the game, the Revolution and Kansas City had a shootout of sorts at Gillette Stadium. The game ended 4-3 in KC's favor. New England went out to a quick 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Ralston and Twellman. Twellman had nothing in the 23rd minute except a little space to take a shot and he scores his 7th of the year. But within a minute or two KC turns around and scores.

The play starts with a long, stray pass by Shalerie Joseph out of New England's back. KC's Harrington get's the ball about 60 yards from goal. He plays it to center mid who plays it to Victorine on the left, who plays it to Zavagnin in the center. Michael Parkhurst disappears somewhere up the field (busy writing a thank you card to Bradley for his US call-up?) and neither Joseph nor Riley pick up Arnoud coming straight through the middle to put away the goal. 2-1 NE but it's not over.

Not even a minute after the first goal, KC scores their second. For some reason Riley has a poor clearance that goes to KC's right back Jack Jewsbury who puts it right back in the mix. Eddie Johnson, in appropriately marked by Jay Heaps (no offense to Heaps; he just doesn't have the skills to mark EJ).

Both goals were perfect examples of how important possession can be. Neither was an instance where the defender gave up the ball in an obviously dangerous position. But they were stray passes that KC was able to quickly take advantage of. Worse, with the New England team being essentially the same to have just lost to Houston in the MLS Cup one has to wonder if they've learned nothing about concentrating on the game after scoring a goal. It wasn't as quick as the in the MLS Cup final but they should not have let KC turn around and score so soon after going up 2-0. Had they done a better job of that they would've walked away with points at home.