Anderson going to the U17 World Cup in Brazil! 🇺🇸 @seb_anderson6 is headed to Brazil for the U-17 World Cup!!!#Rapids96 | #U17WC— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) October 10, 2019 I dont know how strong the various U17 teams are around the world, but the US team is in a group with Japan, Netherlands, and Senegal Let’s go get em Seb!
Also, I found this most noteworthy as well.... https://www.mlssoccer.com/soty/2019/vote Save of the Year voting is open, and the Rapids are featured three times. Three goalies had 'save of the year' quality saves against us this year. The only other team with multiple 'save of the year' candidates against them was Toronto - who also had three. That said, Toronto's three were all single saves, whereas all three of the saves made against the Rapids were multiple saves where the goalie had to make the initial save, then at least one followup. I guess that further hits open that we were a pretty good attacking team? Forcing three of the save of the year candidates? Kei Kamara is also up for Goal of the Year when he got on his bike against SKC: https://www.mlssoccer.com/goty/2019/vote Good stuff!
Comcast customers are going to get a rebate on their Regional Sports Network fee for Altitude not being on Comcast at the moment. https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/10...edit-on-bill-during-altitude-sports-blackout/
I don't believe this for a minute. This has all the marks of Columbus and/or Lalas' agent trying to chum the waters and get a better deal. There's no way Abubakar is worth the numbers they're talking about in this article and no way the Rapids FO is interested in spending over a million on him. https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/co...bakar-colorado-rapids-transfer-columbus-crew/
Seems like a lot of money for sure. Having said that, he is young enough to have plenty of years and some growth left in him. I could see spending a bit more than we might expect, but that sure seems like a lot!
Is this the year the Transamerica sponsorship ends? I thought it was tied to the same Timmy contract length, but could be wrong. If so, another piece of the puzzle this off season. Rod
Sure but they're talking about spending more than Opara, who was one year removed from the MLS Best XI and the MLS Defender of the Year award. You only have to look at the Toronto game to see Abubakar is not yet in Opara's class. Yes, we need a new sponsor this offseason as well.
Actually, maybe we need to go the reverse psychology route. The Rapids FO has a history of making head-scratching moves - and that's putting it kindly. Why don't we encourage them to go out and get Abubakar for 1mil, that way the head scratching move is out of their system before the rest of the offseason kicks off and we start signing DPs. Sure, we would overpay for Abubakar by about 4-500k, but then we at least get a proven asset with long term upside out of it. That way we don't lose Abubakar AND have the bone headed head-scratcher that's bound to come later this off season anyway. That's how it works right?
Understand the skepticism, which was earned over much of this decade, but over the last year the FO has done quite well. Added Kei, Rubio, Mez, Abu, Rosenberry, Lewis, drafted Shin, finally dumped Hudson and landed Fraser. We're stronger in every part of the field and on the bench. Gotta give credit where credit is due. First time in a while I'm going into the off-season not having to hope for a new manager and multiple new, better players. Now just have to hope I can actually see them play next season
We do still have needs and I guess we quickly forget that the other western teams will be making moves too.
My thoughts....do whatever you can to secure Abubakar without handicapping your future. You can’t go and drop $1M in allocation money and not have any left to secure a true #10 and/or a DP. The problem is....I don’t know what you offer Columbus. My gut says $600K and draft picks but draft picks aren’t worth a damn thing in the current market. So really I don’t know how you can make it work but the bottom line is...you have to make something work to secure Abubakar.
Dropping a bunch of allocation money on a player should not impact the team's ability to spend on a DP from an MLS roster construction perspective, unless I've missed a rule change. A DP's salary impact is just the max non-TAM budget charge (I don't remember it exactly but it's around $500k). Whether or not it impacts KSE's willingness to spend is a different matter entirely (apologies if you were talking about this).
Gerber bucks totally effect roster building, maybe not directly against the 3 (rumor has it will be 4 or maybe even 5 next year) DP's. I think it makes sense to give up one of the wings we have plus Gerber bucks, they can't all play so for me Mezquida but who knows who Columbus will want, I don't think Rubio fits their style of play.
Abubakar is a good player but is he worth $1 million? I think not. He's a smallish CB, listed at six foot but I have my doubts that he's really that big. We don't know if Kortne will again be the player he once was. The team should save most of that money and find a CB capable of dealing with headers in the box.
BTW, I'm pretty sure the Rapids are asking the league to have Nashville come to Colorado (instead of us going there) next year. With Gary Smith as coach, Jaime Smith heading up their academy now, and likely Koz and Pickens on staff or on the roster, bringing them here for a game sets up nicely for the Rapids to make that night the celebration of the 10 year anniversary of MLS Cup (something I've heard they plan to acknowledge next year). Figure Pablo and Casey are still in the area and will be easy to get to show up (even if they aren't thrilled with the FO). Moor and Larentowicz are likely still going to be playing and won't be able to make it unless it coincides with a bye week for TFC/ATL. Mullan I believe is still in this area so he should be able to make it. Cummings is with Cinci's FO and can probably come in for the game. That leaves Wynne and Wallace from the starting XI who are both retired. As far as the subs go Wells Thompson is running his own coaching and clinics organization. Mac Kandji is signed with a Finnish club through 2020 and probably won't be able to make it. No idea what Julian Baudet is doing but I would be shocked if he or the Rapids tried that hard to get him here.
I've been infatuated with Abubakar, but still have my limits. One million dollars? No way. But it seems that the Rapids would have some leverage assuming that a. Columbus doesn't really want him back and b. no one else is going to pay that much for him either. So perhaps that $ figure is a starting point. Concerning center back, it is a priority position is the off season to figure out. Obviously we don't know if Abubakar is going to be back and as been pointed out it's hard to know if/when Kortne Ford will be ready to compete for a spot. I really think that since he has missed all of this season and a chunk of last as well + him being relatively inexperienced means the Rapids shouldn't count on him early next season. So they should be working on a lot of options this off-season. Don't want them to be scrambling come March to figure out what gonna happen at center back.
Don't think this has been shared here yet: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...aser-colorado-rapids-african-american-coaches Bits of interesting info on Fraser, the Rapids scouting of Latino players in the US, etc.
For a while I've been wondering how this would impact the acquisition for new players, and especially DPs this off-season. Do the Rapids have to find a new title sponsor before they have the money to spend? Would a new title sponsor demand a household name player as one of the DPs?
I'm good with adding another CB for depth but hope the FO invests in a DP playmaker, allowing Price to play further back. I think Irwin is serviceable as a GK for at least another few years.
In some ways this offseason is harder than previous ones. Trying to add to the attack without making in “worse”, finding another DM shouldn’t be hard and I believe Wilson will be gone so adding 2 CBs given uncertainty with what Forde will we get in 2020. Interesting side note is UEFA seems to set on reducing to single digits the players a club can loan out next summer so the Chelsea’s of world will be putting 20+ players out on market so we should see some talent trickle down into MLS
It strikes me that may be difficult if the Rapids aren't on TV or available online for local fans. What local or regional sponsor would pay prime money to be seen by 11,000 to 13,000 people? That's like putting an ad in one of those all-classified-ad rags that are laundromat staples. What national sponsor would want to roll the dice on a non-playoff team a full decade removed from success? IMHO, the Rapids need to solve the broadcast mess immediately and demonstrate that the second half of 2019 wasn't a fluke like 2016 in order to attract a real sponsor. Without that sponsor, Kroenke would need to cough up some of his wife's inheritance to land the players needed to become a seriously competitive team. Anybody seriously think Kroenke will do that? With a real coach and a core with talent, the biggest threat to Rapids success is still the mess at the top. On a positive note, this is the first offseason in a while that in terms of the players and coach doesn't seem like despair wrapped in hopelessness.
My 2 cents on Jersey Sponsorship, at least we are no longer the losing, dog-shit looking team of previous years. I would expect we get 1 or 2 more National Broadcasted games in 2020. So that has to help, right?