[R] U.S. u20 vs Colorado Rapids U.S. under 20 vs. Colorado....Just Saw Grimandi & Rapids Play Just 3 hours ago I watched the Rapids play the U.S. Under 20 National Team. Grimandi is a calming, experienced midfielder. He maintains the ball well and quickly and simply finds the correct outlet distribution. He may have to get used to MLS hurry up and run type of game. Colorado's significant players as I thought before and as was evident today were veterens such as Mark Chung. Simply the best midfielder! This guy just doesn't get enough recognition except by his head coaches. He played briefly in todays game but as usuall he sparkled. Pablo Mastroeni - against U.S. under 20 his class was just levels above theirs. The elegance of his soft touches to the ball as he glided around outstretched players merely emphasised he deserves a brighter stage. Robin Fraser - pure class...veteran, athletic, superior defensive intellect. Good on the ball. Chris Hendersen - Great engine, very strong contributor to the attack and movement of the ball. Continues to reduce the amount of time ball is in his possession before he successfully finds the best teamate option. He is playing at a very good level, contributes on most plays, on both sides of the ball. Most of these players only came into the end 20 minutes of the game. Prior to their entry into the game the match was like a soldiers dule. It was not a sweet seductive playing of football in attack by either side. Not even close. The U.S. attack had athletic challenges going forward. But nothing embodying seductive talent, out manning the Colorado defence. Not sure if Colorado as a team looks like a contender. Todays performance they looked less like a contender and more like an also ran! Except for the noted players above. 2-1 U.S. u-20 defeats Colorado
Match review here: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/NationalTeams/1045979803/view Player evals to follow, Colo included.
Beckerman was average at best yesterday. Missed a WIDE open net in the second half high. At times, his passes had no touch or confidence to them. He did have a high work rate I thought. Trembly made a lot of good things happen up the left wing in the first half, but missed three solid chances to put the ball away, including a chance with the keeper WAY out of position. Carrieri didn't play bad, but didn't have too many plays to speak of. Alot of the best chances, especially in the first half came up the wings through Henderson and Trembly.
Anxiously awaiting player ratings. Sounds like the Rapids' younger/reserve players were about equal to the U20 squad, losing on the scoresheet but according to the web writeup, outplaying the kids. At this point in the preseason, that's fine with me.
Sounds good so far, it's still preseason as greenie mentioned. The open net chance by Beckerman sounds disappointing, but I'm sticking by the guy. I think the team will click this year. Contenders, I think so. I have only seen a half practice this year. But what I think will count for much more is the understanding each player has with one another. They seemed to work well at practice and the mood was light and fun.
Player ratings are up. Question for you Rapids fans - do you have a guy named Batista in your camp just now?
Did Pablo play defender? The article states that Grimandi and Beckerman played in the central midfield as a pairing.
The Rapids have their account of the game on the web site: http://www.coloradorapids.com/site/goal.asp?cid=287 I checked the Seattle Sounders site to find out about the goalie Burpo but they did not have any information about him from last year. Their roster is dated as 4/1/02 and still lists Zach Kingsley.
[R] U.S. u20 vs Colorado Rapids Pretty strong statement when you consider it is a preseason friendly and many of the Rapids regulars didn't come in until the 70th minute or so.
Rapids Goal: Casey Schmidt Line-up: Forwards: Chris Carrieri (Mark Chung), Casey Schmidt Midfield: Seth Trembly (Jason Cole), Gilles Grimandi (Pablo Mastroeni), Kyle Beckerman (Natt Borchers), Chris Henderson (Wes Hart) Defense: Ritchie Kotschau, Steven Herdsman (Danny Jackson), Jeff Stewart (Robin Fraser), Matt Crawford (Steve Shak)
discussed further in the following thread, including links to an alternate writeup of the game and player rankings: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34959
By the way, in Mason16's match report,he included an itemabout how a player he was pretty sure was Batista, was in the back line and played quite well. Since he didn't have confirmation and since the official web site didin't mention this player in the lineup, I left it out. Since then I've learned theplayer WAS in the lineup. Not sure why he wasn't listed, but Mason had it right, and he was pretty impressed with your new fullback. Just thought you'd like to know.