Great story in part about Dom Badji. https://www.latimes.com/sports/socc...-mls-game-depression-anxiety-overseas-players
Harpos FC @HarposFC 54m USASARegion4 @HarposFC vs @FC_Denver is ON this Thursday, May 20 @ 8:30pm at Northfield High School 5500 Central Park Blvd Denver, CO 80238. Fans are allowed and admission is free so come show your support
From the Switchbacks home opener last Friday.... The stadium is nice. Great view of the Front Range from the east side stands. 70% capacity - enough to be a good crowd but we didn't have people sitting on top of us. 1-3 loss. Switchbacks scored 2' but conceded shortly thereafter. NM scored early in the 2nd half and it was 1-2 until literally the last kick of the game. We had several good chances to tie but kept shooting wide. Could easily have finished 2-2 instead. Rapids players: Edwards (CB) played the whole match and was pretty solid. Not at fault on the first or third goals (didn't have a good view of the second). Looks like a good USL CB and he's only 20 so may get better. Toure subbed on as a winger and did well. Beat his man once and set up a good opportunity that wasn't finished. Mayaka subbed on in midfield and was not as good as I hoped. Sloppy on the ball and got pushed around some. Will look for him to show better as he gets more chances.
This is pseudo-Rapids related as Diego Rubio is not on the most recent Chilean National Team squad announced today. In his place (possibly) is born in in Stoke-on-Trent, raised in England, played for Nottingham Forest and currently Backburn Rovers, and represented England at the U19 and U20 level Ben Brereton. About as died in the wool English player as you can get...who happened to be born to a Chilean mother and English father. Apparently there's been a movement for a bit to get him called up by fans who discovered his Chilean eligibility through Football Manager.
.@olivia_moultrie the 15-year-old American soccer player who last month filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the @NWSL and its 18-year-old age eligibility requirement is now free to sign with an team. https://t.co/BCmTM43C4k— Sportico (@Sportico) May 24, 2021
https://www.mountainpl.com/news/202...llows-nisa-to-construct-a-path-up-in-colorado Mountain Premier League follows NISA to construct a path up in Colorado - Colorado Championship Series
So much disrespect for the Rapids today. The CBS crew kept saying Pulisic was the first American male to win the Champions League, not even mentioning our legend Jovan Kirovski. (I actually don’t know if Kirovski was a Rapids legend, he left before I started really following the team. I was just curious earlier this week about Americans in the Champions League and came across him).
I think it was more that Pulisic was the first to both play and win. Kirovski didn’t play in the 96-97 final, but Pulisic played today making him the first to play and win
Well deserved. Congratulations @ChelseaFC 🙌🏻 https://t.co/9We00z6Tn2— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) May 29, 2021
Sure, and I get the excitement and it’s obviously a huge achievement for Pulisic. But that is not what the announcers said, they said he was the first American male to win. It comes across as having done inadequate research. Especially when compared to someone like Paul Tenorio: Chelsea and Christian Pulisic win the Champions League!Pulisic the second USMNT player to win the European Cup, joining Jovan Kirovski.— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) May 29, 2021
He also wasn't the first American male to play in the final. Neven Subotic, who played for the US youth teams before declaring for Serbia, played in and lost the 2013 final. Pulisic is the first American to both play in and win the final, and the first USMNT player to play in the final.
Greetings from Denver! 👋 🇺🇸 Here’s @WMckennie catching up with an old friend and a newly crowned champion of Europe. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/DahTvnCXdY— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 1, 2021
Arsenal is coming back to the U.S., but once again not to Denver. (In this case its just a long weekend in Orlando for a 4-team tournament between Arsenal, Everton, Inter, and Millionarios)
Saw a couple of members of the Costa Rican delegation walking through Flatirons Mall today. With their masks on I couldn't tell if they were players or other members of the delegation.
Switchbacks show grit in tie with San Antonio https://gazette.com/sports/switchba...cle_0d55eeca-c67b-11eb-a4b5-03ce579a656f.html
Ukraine trolls Russia with new kit design. Ukraine’s football kit with map featuring Crimea causes outrage in Russia | Ukraine | The Guardian Did they take inspiration from the Class 5 kit?
A few noteworthy things for Rapids fans: Sebastian Anderson played the whole 90 and was pretty good. Better attacking than defending, tho - still looks like a winger that they're trying to convert into a fullback. Michael Edwards continued to impress, until he got sent late in the first half. San Antonio #9, who apparently had a hat trick the first time these 2 teams played, had been a tool the entire half and finally elbowed Anderson and shoved him to the turf. Edwards came over to defend his teammate and got into a tussle. Both players got red cards for their trouble. Neither Mayaka nor Toure played. I was surprised to see Axel Sjoberg play for San Antonio. He's still very tall. I was even more surprised to see him subbed in and then out, all in the first half. Didn't seem like he was injured, so not sure what was going on there.
Thanks for the scouting report/update. I thought Mayaka was "MLS ready," at least according to his coach at Clemson. Will we see Edwards with the Rapids if a center back sustains a long term injury? I've thought, since 2019, that Anderson would make a very good winger. If the Switchbacks use him like Fraser does Vines, then perhaps he has more of a role pushing up the pitch and defending is left more to the center backs. Wonder why Yapi is with the Rapids if he's not going to get any playing time?
Mayaka did come on as a sub in the Switchbacks first home match last month. In that one short appearance, I'm not sure he was USL ready, much less MLS ready. I think Edwards is eventually headed to MLS. He could get called up if the Rapids have a Liverpool-like crisis where every senior CB is hurt, and he might do ok. No. Sean Melvin was in goal Saturday.
Did Denver lose their shot at 2026 hosting last night with the failure of Empower security to deal with the mess?
Let's hope not. Five people were arrested in connection with Sunday’s CONCACAF Nations League final in which the United States beat Mexico, 3-2, at Empower Field at Mile High. https://t.co/TvzwvEJMBq— Joe Nguyen (@JoeNguyen) June 8, 2021