The Rapids begin play in the 99th edition of the USOC. They head to St. Petersburg to face the NASL Tamp Bay Rowdies. This is a 3rd round match that will feature a club who has already played last week against Jacksonville United.
Drew just tweeted he is Tampa bound. I'll be really curious to see who all goes. It is quick turn around and would like for some of the younger guys to get experience, but also want to make sure we win.
Here's the travelling roster: http://www.coloradorapids.com/news/2012/05/twelve-players-saturdays-win-travel-open-cup-match GK: Ceus, Joyce DF: Moor, Marshall, Freeman, Kimura, Zapata, Ababio, Palguta MF: Castrillon, Rivero, Thompson, Hill, Henao, Nane FW: Edu, Akpan, Cascio So given rest time and such: Edu - AkpanHill - Henao - Nane - RiveroZapata - Palguta - Ababio - FreemanCeus ?
I'd personally rather have them lose and get out of the tourney. USOC is a waste of time and resources... IMHO.
The USOC should get more attention, more publicity. Sanctioned by US soccer, rich in history and as amateur soccer helped the growth of the game here it should receive more credit. Hard working and skilled soccer players who made crap wages and loved the game. Of course before politics took over and ruined the youth structure of sport here. Rich parents and families putting there kids in Academy's n such. I'm about tradition to an extent. No more class, hopefully it picks up
Try this website the day of the game: http://thecup.us/ Last round they had links to some of the matches up on the live blog page. Quality was about what is like last year for the Chicago USOC game.
Rowdies homepage has a link for Ustream of the match - won't know if it works until Tuesday, but it's worth a shot... http://www.rowdiessoccer.com/
Until one of our few remaining starters gets hurt playing in a tournament that is only valuable for its "tradition"...
And the CCL spot if you win it. Not to mention that its still considered one of the "big 3" trophies a MLS team can win.
Hmm, that is an interesting mix of players. Hard to tell if he is going to play as many of the regular starters or if they are there just in case. I'm guessing Cascio - Edu - ThompsonHill - Henao - NaneZapata - Palguta - Marshall - KimuraCeus Edu will come off about 60' probably.
I like little "tradition." Honor for our pioneers of the sport here in the US. I knew you would monkey yourself around that word. there's more that comes with a USOC win. Champions league berth. Something the American brand needs, more outside the US play. What remaining starters are going to play in this one? Rivero, Zapata, Casico maybe who need more playing time anyways as I see improvement but much work needed. I see this as an opportunity as well for this back line to get there shit together. I don't see injury prone players even making a trip to Tampa. Still have issues with all of this?
A lot more depth for a past backup roster. Drew Moor seems to be taking a bit of a leadership role in prep for this game as well.
On another note, our so called rivals cant lose these days. Personally, I hate SKC even more. Not that i'm glorifying RSL, I just like there approach and let's be honest. http://www.realsaltlake.com/news/2012/05/mlssoccercom-rsl-gm-usoc-deal-stars-fc-purely-competitive Too bad all 19 teams can't share the same passion for winning.
Well Tampa has said that the Rapids tried to buy the game from them but Tampa wouldn't sell. not much you can do in that situation. (And if the $150K number floating around is what Seattle really paid to move their game, I'm glad we didn't pay that much)
Yeah, too much especially since there's little chance DSGP seats will get filled. I'm not knocking the direction Colorado is going. I'm hoping the Rapids don't bounce out this early. Like that 6-1 loss vs Rochester some time back, embarrassing.
But it's a trophy in a store available for purchase. People seriously post in the MLSNA thread like home field advantage is not that big of a deal. This "competition" deserves less respect than it gets. It needs to be fixed.
I blame the Cup for setting Mickey Mouse rules. It's a fraud. Once one game is played on another's turf for money it is tainted like an Olymipc sprinters blood. Actually it's worse. I cannot for the life of me fathom where statements like your come from. RSL Portland and Seattle have paid for a competitive leg-up in a "tournament" and we have to go on pretending like its real? Where does it end? Spot you a goal for $500K? Make cards go away for $300K? IMO winning the US Open to Buyers Cup is worth about 1/4 of an MLS Cup Playoff match win. But all is not lost, USOC can still fix it, introduce competitively fair rules and focus on the tournament instead of money and the money will come as a result. If they could get out of their own way, this could be a very valuable and big trophy worthy of respect.
Lemme guess, you want to see the Cosmos come back too. Starters, or potential starters, that traveled and I expect to play at some point in the game (otherwise they wouldn't have traveled). Moor, Marshall, Freeman, Kimura, Palguta, Castrillon, Rivero, Thompson, Hill, Akpan, Cascio I don't think we can afford to lose any of these people right now. Oh, and how do cards carry over? If Marshall can't play why did he travel? Or do those cards only count for league play, and USOC cards for USOC play?
League cards apply to league games, USOC cards to USOC games, they don't overlap. If we lose and somebody gets a red card they'll be suspended for their next USOC game next year. Hell, if Blanco ever came out of retirement to play for an American side he still has a 3 game USOC suspension to serve IIRC. As for which starters I expect to play, I'm not assuming everyone who traveled will play. We've seen plenty of examples in the past of starters going on these trips and never getting off the bench. My guess: Marshall, Freeman, Rivero, Thompson, Hill, Akpan. Palguta will probably play as well but I don't consider him a starter or potential starter.
Well, if he gets hurt in this USOC game we won't have anyone to play CB during league play, unless Marvell is healed up by then.