Who knows if Columbus genuinely wants to keep Abubakar, or if they're just posturing to try and squeeze as much money out of us as possible? Either way, the fact remains that we have to negotiate something that's reasonable. Tommy Smith is also at the end of his contract, and we're likely to try to re-sign him at a lower salary thats more in line with his actual ability. Signing Abubakar to a permanent deal and re-signing Smith could impact each other depending on the timing how things shake out. Getting both of them back next year at reasonable salaries is the ideal scenario, but I think it's gonna be more likely we end up with one or the other. But... What happens if we fail to sign either of them? That puts us in a situation where we'd have to scramble to find two MLS starting caliber CBs in one single off-season. Thats a recipe for disaster, and oh so quintessentially "The Rapids Way". Reminder that the biggest obstacle standing between the Rapids and having a competitive team next year is... the Rapids.
USA U-17 men's team opens Sunday at 4 pm (FS1, Telemundo) v Senegal. Hope Anderson gets some time on the pitch. 👇 Everything you need to know as @seb_anderson6 and the #USMNT U-17s kick off the #U17WC tomorrow!#Rapids96 | #USYNT https://t.co/KdVcvMYvKV— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) October 27, 2019
Tommy Smith has nowhere else to go, as far as I can tell. At $640k he is way over priced as you state. I think a reneg. will be fruitful and we'll keep him on. IMO he won't go under $250k ... and I'm not sure how to price him. He's got some defense left in him, but he has a nose for the net with his head. Abubakar has me stumped. Just have no idea what the Rapids would or should pay for him. Maybe he and Smith can swap salaries starting next season.
Unfortunately the US of A got crushed by Senegal 4-1....USA had 63% possession, completed over 200 passes more than Senegal, but was outshot 22-7. I didn’t watch, but sounds like Senegal also “out muscled” them in important challenges and in key areas of the field. Anderson didn’t see the field though, so we can’t say Rapids defending had anything to do with the blowout!
The U-17's are notorious for certain countries using overage players because the criteria is based entirely on passport ages. Competing with 16 year olds, just a year or two makes a big difference. It's amazing the number of players who look good at the tournament but are never heard from again. Hard to take this tournament seriously.
I watched it, we had a few turnovers playing out of the back against a press. We looked good the first 20 mins but than it went down hill from there (1-1 at half) Size wise it looked like teens playing adults. I think FIFA has cleaned up on the over age stuff, they do (have done) bone scan, etc for the none Western teams to prove age.
Sounds like it's still a problem: http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...plain-fifa-age-cheats-u-17-caf-championships/ And I'm not sure how accurate the tests are: https://www.scientificamerican.com/...e-is-no-scientific-test-to-prevent-age-fraud/ I suspect FIFA has cleaned up age cheating about as well as the NCAA has cleaned up players receiving money to attend certain schools.
I'm not a huge fan of crying age-fixing against any team just because they're from Africa. Senegal in particular has always been good about policing this in their U17s (in terms of regularly testing and removing ineligible players). Maybe the tests aren't "perfect" but they have been successful at catching age frauds in the past and their players had been tested during the nations cup . On top of that, FIFA can choose to randomly select up to 4 players for testing per team during the U17 WC. IMO focusing on this is a cover for the US youths just being bad. That said, these tournaments rarely matter though. Ask El Tri fans whatever happened to the U17s on their World Cup-winning team in 2011.
100% agree. For me..... I won't say totally dismiss team results but I am way more interested in the individual play and maturation process of the players. I'm interested in the play of guys like Gio Reyna, Ricardo Pepi, Gianluca Busio, Danny Leyva and our own Seb Amderson (if he gets on the field). I won't throw a fit like some many fans if we are out in 3 games.
US picked up a point against Japan, so now stand 3rd in their group. And for anyone thinking Senegal was not a good side, they beat the Netherlands 3-1. US still has a chance of going through, but I wouldn't be placing big money on it.
Jonathan Lewis is raking in the Callups: https://www.coloradorapids.com/post...P7GpKqaXRvKKPrseqa_sRVP2_jw8bsi2W06r1LsGW-Q_A
BREAKING: It is understood Altitude has reached a new deal with DirecTV with the idea the channel will immediately resume on the satellite provider. #Avs #Nuggets— Ryan S. Clark (@ryan_s_clark) November 1, 2019
Apparently the Colorado AG office is investigating if DirecTV and Altitude still charging the regional sports fees while not broadcasting Altitude constitutes fraud, which probably helped that agreement along.
I agree we are letting RFO history into this equation, but for the life of me I don't see how you do this loan deal without a transfer fee from the start, it only hurts you if he performs above expectation. I think they walk at anything above $300-$400K.
1189290738787520516 is not a valid tweet id A friend sent me this. Never heard of the page so i don't know how legit it is. Thought i would post anyway
I second that. Outstanding take on the whole Abubakar "saga". Samuelson nailed it. Cut right to it. Called the "saga" for what it is - bullshit and a huge bluff. It's going to be interesting to see how this unfolds.....
To put it in "Price is Right" context I think we need to offer $1 more than we think any other MLS team (that was paying attention to his performance w/ the Rapids) would offer -- maybe he is surplus at Columbus but still probably valuable in more places than Commerce City?
Except, as that article pointed out, outside of the Columbus sources there's been no reports of any other team being interested in him. That's not to say a team won't throw out a lowball offer on the off chance of getting him, but if there were serious ($500K or more of xAM) interest from another MLS team it would have leaked by now. Plus Lalas himself has said he wan't to come back to Colorado, which would likely drive down interest (and price) from other teams if they know they'd be getting a player that wanted to be somewhere else.
You can hardly blame the Crew for thinking they could get over on this bunch. What self respecting MLS fo wouldn’t think that?
So Drew Moor is out of contract at the end of the season and will be a free agent. Should the Rapids make a play for him? I would. Not as a starter, but as the 3rd or 4th CB. If we can get him without breaking the bank. His current $375K is too high, but if we could get him for under $300K he would be great veteran leadership for our young back line. He talks about wanting to stay in Toronto here, but the end of the article does mention that Colorado is still special to him. https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/veteran-drew-moor-wonders-future-lies-hopes-toronto/
I always wondered if Moor were interested in working in soccer after his career. That would be another reason to bring him here.
I received an email from the Rapids that there counting down moments of the year. It's a bad list -- it only has 5 moments and one of them is Arsenal coming? Have some self respect! I'd also consider putting Hudson's firing on that list, that was such a relief. But better not to mention him in such a thing.