The Rapids have chased the mythical Mexican/South American signing for years with no results. Now that's mainly because the players they've signed haven't been great (De La Torre for example) but even when we had the players here I don't remember a big uptick in attendance. I'm all for getting better players, but I don't think the team should limit itself to a player to appeal to a specific demographic unless they're going to splash big time $$$ for a Beckham/Blanco type player. Get the best player they can afford regardless of appeal to the fans.
Agreed. Certain players may provide a brief bump in attendance but winning is the magic potion that will fill the stands.
I don't have a strong disagreement with much said in this thread. It's matter of degrees and evidence for me. The Rapids are sitting about where they should be in the league. They beat L.A. and should have. They beat K.C. and should have. They tied the Crew and shouldn't have. They lost to Houston and shouldn't have. The team that I took for granted, CUSA, is on top of the league. To give Dave's blog a couple of hits... I think you and many in this thread make too little of two things. First the road games. Four out of the first five plus an Open Cup game. That's a grind in MLS, where winning on the road is tough even for the best teams. Second, the competition. Both Columbus and Houston won their divisions last year. Both will do well this year. Neither Columbus or Houston are teams that the Rapids are likely to look good against even if they get a result. Both are a grind for this team. The Rapids got a good bounce in Columbus. They nearly did in Houston, but for Onstad's saves. Maybe both the Crew and Dynamo have struggled early on, if anyone wants to bet that this is an indication of the future, I'll take bets. As for playing badly back-to-back. I think a review of past performances would provide ample examples of them playing badly in back-to-back-to-back-to-back games. Look at the records for July/August for nearly any year in the records.
Without a moment of brilliance from Cooke, against a team that was without Arnaud and Wolfe (among others) they tie, at home, against K.C. Punching bag L.A. put up a fight down a man and after handing the Rapids a 16 second gift. Context When I fly back from PA with my 80something mother next month, she'll get a day to recoup. Twenty somethings need to suck it up and don't get excuses. Extra Extra - Read all about it, Colorado Rapids are the miracle cure. (Tommy paraphrase). The Crew were playing without a hand full of regulars and still the Rapids were unable to maintain any possession or press the attack. Context. I love it when a team can steal a point after a poorly played game. If the next game they got beat but at least show up, I might feel better, they didn't. I don't know. I want to be optimistic but I can't find (and I've looked) any reason for it. Five games, 10 halves, can you point to two halves where team played good? Would the Rapids beat L.A. if they hadn't gone down a man? Would the Rapids have tied the Crew if Marshall, Hejduk, Iro, Rogers and Garey had played? Would the K.C. game had been different if K.C. had a full roster? If you look at the standings and count the points, things look okay. Put the games in context and I lose my optimism.
The results have been great ... anyone that isn't happy with a 2-2-1 after four road games is wacky. But there is certainly major concerns about the midfield - and that's why the play has "looked" the way it does. CC and Omar are doing their jobs well. VERY well. And they're a major reason we're 2-2-1 at this point.
I am happy with the results, but my eyes are telling me it wont last if the Houston line-up appears again. Its funny this game. A lot of times the results do not show what happened on the pitch. I feel like their best game was against CUSA, they could have won scoring four goals but they lost. Yesterday and in Cbus they played horrible and yet were dangerous enough to have had the chances to amass quality standing points. Without re-watching yesterdays game yet, it felt like the Rapids possessed the ball for maybe 20 minutes tops. Had a battle plan with a united front for maybe 10 of those. What upsets me is that yesterday's pageant played out status-quo. The lowly Rapids go down to Houston and surrender three points. It felt like they planted the white flag into the center circle and then watched Houston play ball. When, everything else this season was telling me that those status-quo days were over. When they were training with that boxing trainer in preseason, I'm sure they didn't have the effort they put forth in this match in mind. All the results, and quotes and added continuity leading up to this gmae made me think those old Rapids were on their way out with the back of Clavijo’s hair. There are other things to consider; this is just one game they were short handed the other results show an improved team winning on the road in MLS is tough they were still in it with a few quality chances Casey buries the ball into the net and I turn a blind eye, clinging to the results
I agree with Deron's assessment. This game has engendered a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, and the frustration level with the team's never-ending mediocrity in general is justified, but it's way too early for such sweeping generalities. One doesn't need to strain the ol' memory cells to find back to back games with ineffective or aesthetically unpleasing play on the road. Last year will yield a wealth. In fact a simple schedule comparison will prove that the results are improved: -2008 4 road games 3 pts -2009 4 road games 4 pts The Rapids didn't accumulate 4 pts on the road until the 8th game in '08. They have a history of playing ugly on the road, as anyone who's been around here will tell you, which is why the reaction seems a bit extreme. It's a little too early to dress up in pirate costumes and hang the coach, we haven't even really seen whether they can establish a home field advantage yet, and few middle-of-the-pack teams do well on the road in MLS anyway. A few gritty points, such as they almost stole Sunday would go a long way toward increasing confidence and putting butts in the seats, but it's a little much to expect them to play like Arsenal 5 games into the "Smith era"
Our opponents for the next two home games are LA and FSL. If we get 6 points, no problem. Anything less than that though...
Is Houston better or worse than they look, because Ching's no look shot went in? Sure they do. It's an excuse every team in the league seems to need. Very few teams can reliably get points on the road. Context always exists. Opening the season with one home game in five is context. Relying on a back-up keeper for three games is context. The team can only play the opposition they're given. Alternative universes don't count.
My thoughts on the game after a day of ponderance: We were unlucky not to get a point. It was a close, physical game, the Dynos went into their game plan well. Bash us and fall/complain when we match that intensity. It's worked well in the past, although I think they miss Alejandro Moreno (he does that quite well for Clmbus now)..... We handled it pretty well, with maybe the exception of Pablo. Good job Raps! p.s. GS - jeez a two stepper taking your penalties? :0)
I agree, The west looks to me like there is a top tier.... CUSA. Followed by a battle for the remaining three spots between Rapids FSL Seattle and Houston with the potential for any of those team to fall off or move up to the CUSA side of the table. With weight on the results from the east of course. If the Rapids can get these next six home points I will be very happy! Less than that, depending on how much less, I do not think my view of the Rapids in a four way battle for the 2-4 spots will change much.
Both should be good tests. LA's not good, but they can't be this bad. Can they? FSL is a better team than the Rapids right now, but they're as unreliable on the road as any team has ever been.
This comment made me wonder about how the Houston BS posters felt about the result. So I did a little bit of lurking. The unreasonable ones felt that Conor dove in the box. others were still upset about what they felt was rough play from the Rapids. Pat getting kicked in the head has been mostly overlooked here, but it happened. Our player was rightly carded, from my pov end of story. I was shocked to see how little thred participation there was over there, I learned nothing. I was hoping for a sense from Houston posters that Houston deserved those three points as their birth-right, so that I could have some fuel for my status-quo argument. I'm usually very glass half full person. So I should just work on putting this match behind me. They did manage to have more possession and complete more passes, so I would answer, "better, somewhat."
I reckon they'll be at the top of the west again. In my world your description of the west would be modified to: Chivas, Houston, and everybody else. Though I'm not sure L.A. and Dallas even qualify for the everybody else part.
Well LA and Dallas is why I see three teirs and the standings show Houston in the 2nd level. I'll place them up top when it looks like they are worthy.
Well if that is your f!cking arguement, then place our best player in this fake ass DP slot your making up, rather than the FNG that hasn't even seen the pitch much... Like Casey, or Pablo... Then go back and retype your bunk-ass statements and try to get them to make some damn sense this time...
I think there's room for a lot of disagreement in the posts on this page. Midfield play was discouraged by both teams, both with similar personnel and tactics. Neither has a very creative midfielder, and both teams' mids had lots of energy and defensive zeal. IMO it was not a very entertaining game, with too much 'over-the-top' play. But make no mistake, this was very serious, physical play, playing to win, not entertain. I think the best stretch of entertaining, creative play for the Rapids thus far was the first period of the season (against C-USA). Oh, and btw, also IMO, I think Mehdi had one of the better games, Pablo had a down game.
I didn't see it but I saw that it was on. Apparently the X-Games re-run demographic hits the sack early on Monday evenings. Why would anyone want to see that match a second time? En Espanol: aspire In English: suck Back to Espanol: el emperador está desnudo
Maybe this is why the Rapids struggle in Houston. For the first 20 minutes of the game I don't think every Rapids trip into Houston's half resulted in someone being dumped to the ground.
I touched on the inconsistent calls in my blog and not able to know first hand how that might affect the players, decided it shouldn't be considered influential. The pessimist in me says it's just another excuse, on the road, tired players, don't ever play well in Houston, just because they haven't won doesn't mean they aren't a good team. The list seems to be endless.