Well, who are we to say how he "should" feel about it? I'm only wondering if it did bother him, or when it was that he first decided things weren't working out here for him. There's a few potential trigger points that we know of (or have heard about through the rumor mill), and probably many others that happened behind closed doors.
I don't believe it was personal or had to do with the relationship between him and the FO or OP. I believe he wanted that contract renewed with more money. If the Rapdis weren't going to give him the raise maybe in a trade he could earn more. That's my hunch about it after learning that a trade had been in the works all season.
Entirely possible, as well. The only line that throws me is where Kimura says "I talked to him and said it is not working out for me well and I think it might be time for me to go." And that just makes me wonder if it had gone beyond the dollars. We'll never know, but I'll wonder anyway.
I think that quote is telling, and agree that it probably wasn't the dollars. I think it shows that Koz knew he didn't fit the desired system. It also hits at the underlying reason(s) we're still lining up in a 4-4-2 on a weekly basis.
By not going well, seems to me, means he's not starting. I think any player who feels good about their abilities would think the same thing. If I'm not starting, it's not going well. Pretty basic. Of course I don't know how many fingers he's holding up now either so.....
Good point. I think there are two things you can infer about "things aren't going well". 1) I have the ability, but I know I don't fit the system. Time to go somewhere where I fit in better, or 2) I have the ability, I fit the system, and the coach is screwing me over by starting others,
Personally I think it's a lot of option 1 and some of option 2 as well. Kimura is way too smart a player not to realize his performances were lacking this season. That said, the Rapids extended almost all the "core" of the team well before his poor play got him benched and Kimura wasn't one of them. That has to hint towards the Rapids not rating him as highly as maybe the fanbase does. Just a thought.
He didn't start 5 games out of 17, with the last two possibly falling in that "Portland's made an offer, so we're going to hold you out" window. The other games he didn't start seem to relate to midweek games. It's not a ton of games to be on the bench for, but I don't want to start the guessing game of how much this affected Kimura. The more I look at it, the "why's" are a lot less cut-and-dry.
Even if there's truth to it, I find all these official statements coming from the RFO about how "reluctant" they were to trade him to be insulting and tasteless. It reminds me of when a politician has a moment of honesty and says something stupid; then the PR machine instantly springs to life and starts backtracking and doing damage control as fast as possible. Stop trying to manipulate my reality, I can make my own judgements of the situation: 1. OP doesn't like Kimura and benches him (his prerogative, he is the coach) 2. Kimura doesn't like not playing (also understandable) 3. Kimura asks for, and receives trade 4. Fans go ape-s**t because Koz is a standup fan-fav. 5. RFO sees fans going ape-s**t and starts pathetically trying to justify the move as completely Kimura's idea in a ham-fisted attempt to mollify angry fans. End scene.
Kimura is a class person and player. He will bring energy and passion to Portland, and their fans will adopt him as a favorite as quickly as we did. On a positive note, he gets to help Portland beat RSL today.
I completely agree this PR spin is insulting. I have no reason to doubt the story but the blatant attempt at manipulating public opinion makes me skeptical of all information from the Rapids. I don't know what is true but if Bravo and OP have a system they want to implement and a player doesn't "fit" they should get the players that fit. End of story. Have some confidence in your system. Get the players you think you need. Once you do that you will be judged on your results. There is no good coverage of this team. MLS.com and Denver Post are pathetic and seem to just spit out whatever the Rapids want. Their coverage is an insult to supporters. Kimura was one of my favorites but this happens in sports. It is how it goes.
That's probably about it, though to be fair the story about asking for a trade came from Kimura via Stumptown Footy before any stories from the FO were published.
Oh come on, those evil doers in the RFO have pre-written lies and deceptive propaganda stories for every occasion stored on thumb drives and in the cloud (or maybe the attic) for corporate release at a minutes notice. They loath us, each and every one, including our cats, but mostly us.
Are you honestly implying that the coverage from Mls.com and the Denver post should qualify as actual journalism? The people on Facebook whining about everything who refuse to accept any change are idiots. However, comments such as this are just as idiotic. All critical thought has been removed from discussing this team and been replaced with people trying to justify their point of view regardless of any facts. I think it is a major loss for supporters when all critical thought is removed from the discussion
I honestly don't know. When that occurs, I generally reserve judgement, but not necessarily comments. And no, I don't think (my comments of) sarcasm and snarky are synonyms for judgement, or at least aren't intended to be. Thanks, I'm not disappointed in your response. I think we many disagree on the definition of critical thought.
I apologize my frustration with the coverage of this team doesn't need to be taken out on you. That being said, I think having some decent impartial and informative coverage of this team would go along way toward growing interest in the game and creating an informed fan base. It seems all discussion now blindly falls into two camps both equally foolish.
Sheesh, no apologize necessary. Speaking about idiots on Facebook, I think I posted a couple of comments the past few days. The Idiot Pool, come on in, the waters fine. We're dealing with human beings. Both sides tend to say things, especially in public, which will reflect their perspective in the most favorably way. I take such comments with a grain of salt. Which, by the way, is about the same I would take such comments if they were offered in private. It's difficult to know what's reality and what's hype, at least for me. I wonder how this would have played out with the fans if the player were Jaime or last year Folan. For a sizable amount of the fan base, I'm not sure the response would have gone much beyond "good riddance". I relish informative coverage, the more the better. I'm not sure if it's possible to get impartial.
Can't say I blame him, riding bench over a guy who doesn't seem much better ( freeman is probably better d wise but Kimura wins motor and getting forward). Who also is getting paid significantly more then him.
It is never easy to lose a veteran fan favorite like Kosuke, but let's not make more out of this trade than there is. Komura was a fantastic dude but only an average MLS player. It hurts to lose him but this isn't the end of the world.
There is no doubt that Kosuke is not especially skilled in terms of ball skills, but he never stopped running, and that running was generally very fast. Far too often, our defenders were jetting back trying to catch Seattle forwards who seemed always ahead of them. Other than Wynne, our other defenders are not fleet of foot. It really shows up in a match like this. Again and again, because we were slow arriving, we ended up kicking the ball out for a corner (double digits) or fouling and giving Seattle additional set piece opportunities. Set piece chances to me appear to be Seattle's strongest suit. We could have used Kosuke tonight.
I would like to have seen him, but let's be honest. He'd not have made a whit's difference on either goal. Giving up goals on set pieces is a theme this team has had to deal with for a long time. The cause of that would be organization the coaching, Pickens, Wynne and Moor. I've sang the praises of Moor/Wynne in the past, but we really do need someone who dominates the box.
Over the years, the Rapids have had several players whose hearts have been bigger than their talent levels. Such players are rare in sports, and their efforts draw attention from fans. Kimura is one of those rare players. (Dan Gargan was another.) "Heart" is a valuable intangible on a team, because it pushes the other players to up their games.