God, Country, Soccer

Best 11 – (442) G – Hartman D – Olave, Gonzalez, Wynne, Pierce M – Donovan, LeToux, Morales, Ferreira F – Cummings, Wondolowski Awards MVP: Omar Cummings Defender: Jamison Olave Coach: Schellas Hyndman Playoffs RBNY vs. SJ – RBNY wins 4-2 agg. Colorado vs. Columbus –Rapids win 5-3 agg. FSL vs. FCD – FSL wins 6-1 agg. LA Gals vs. Seattle – Seattle wins 5-5 agg. (Advances on Penalties)

I was asking myself in the shower, "If I were to make a team, picking one, and only one, player from each MLS club..who would I take and how would my team look?" I know, I know, I really gotta start daydreaming about other, more normal, stuff...like winning the lottery. So, here's my picks from each team and how my team would shape up. Chicago Fire - Patrick Nyarko (F/W) C.D. Chivas USA - Jonathan Bornstein (D) Colorado Rapids - Conor Casey (F) Columbus Crew - Andy Iro (D) D.C. United - Andy Najar (W) FC Dallas - David Ferreira (MF) Houston Dynamo - Geoff Cameron (D/M) Kansas City Wizards - Ryan Smith (W/MF) Los Angeles Galaxy - Landon Donovan (M/F) New England Revolution - Marko Perović (MF) New York Red Bulls – Thierry Henry (F) Philadelphia Union - Jordan Harvey (D) Real Salt Lake - Kyle Beckerman (MF) San Jose Earthquakes - Ike Opara (D) Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller (G) Toronto FC - Stefan Frei (G) -----------Casey------Henry--------- ---------------Donovan-----...

There's been an interesting discussion going on over on The Shin Guardian regarding the USA's soccer logo. The one now is bad, real bad. I've been talking about that for a while now with friends. The colors are wrong. The use of "US" instead of "USA" is wrong. The clipart looking soccer ball is wrong. It's just bad. So, I decided to come up with some alternative ideas and using my limited graphics knowledge, put some of them together. So here it goes. Version 1: I made minor changes to this, using the correct colors and the correct nomenclature and eliminating the soccer ball. I like it, kinda plain though. Version 2: This version is based on Nike's Don't Tread campaign badge. It has a snake on it which I don't like so I took it off. I also corrected the colors and added "USA Soccer" to it. Version 3: For this I was looking at other USA symbols and came across this and loved it. I added the badge to it and gave it more of the h...

This Rapids season feels just like the past few Rapids seasons. Off to a great start and then crawl to the finish. If you break it down into 3 ten game segments, the Rapids started off great with a 6-3-1 (W-L-T) record and 19 points. If you look at the second 10 game segment, it hasn't been very good. The Rapids were 1-3-6 (W-L-T) with 9 points in the last ten games they've played, including the 3-1 loss in Columbus over the weekend. Let's take a look at who's been on the field and how I grade them. (In order of minutes played) G - Matt Pickens (1800 mins) B+ He's been pretty good in goal, he's started every game thus far. He and the defense have had good communication. I would say has been one of the top keepers in MLS this year. D - Drew Moor (1800 mins) B+ I don't think that Rapids fans, myself included, knew just how good this guy was when the Rapids traded for him. He's been a rock in the back line, whether it be in central defense or on the wing,...

Did you know that soccer existed in the USA before MLS? Of course you did...hopefully. Well my friends over at Pot Hunting specialize pre-MLS American club apparel. They sent me a shirt of the Fall River Marksmen and the first time I wore it, I got a compliment on it. So please, give them a visit, check out their wares and tell them God, Country, Soccer sent you. Thanks. If you or your company are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact GodCountrySoccer[at]gmail[dot]com

Brwosing around the internet, looking at forums and the like, I came across a site that lets you make your own formation graphics. It's pretty cool, I spent way to much time messing with it. Well this is what I came up with. My desired formation and personnel for the Rapids. I know the biggest thing off the bat is that Pablo Mastroeni is not out there. I just don't see the need for 2 destroyer type midfielders on the pitch at the same time. At this point in their respective careers, Jeff Larentowitz is better at that position than Pablo is. Another thing is that Mehdi Ballouchy isn't in the middle, he's replaced by Claudio Lopez. This seems like it should be an automatic, but for some reason, Gary Smith likes Mehdi more than Lopez. In this formation Omar Cummings moves back up top to partner with Conor Casey. Putting them on the wing as they have this year just isn't working. He's scored 2 stunning goals, but the rest of the time hasn't performed up to par ...

It's been a busy week for me, check out some of my latest appearances. VI Questions with Class VI - 07/20/10 Claudio Lopez Bleeding Burgundy Podcast - 07/15/10 from Class VI Around the League - 07/21/10 from CSRN If you want to contact me about being on your show/podcast, feel free to me an email to GodCountrySoccer[at]gmail[dot]com

This week, blogger Andy Edwards from the upstart website "The Daily Wiz" interviewed me for an article called "Five Questions With An Opposing Blogger". Check it out .

I know this is a bit tardy to be posting about, but I'm mainly posting this as a bookmark for easy access to the following videos. I know down the road I'm going to want to go back and watch these, and heck, you may too. First off is the ESPN call of Landon Donovan's amazing 90+ minute goal vs. Algeria to push the USA into the knockout round. "Go Go USA!" Second, let's get the crowd reaction as they were watching this goal all around the globe. I saved the best for last. Legendary voice Andres Cantor on the Futbol de Primera Radio Network with the call. What a great moment for the USA, what a great moment for the National Team. I will always remember this and get goosebumps every time I do.

Red Bull New York have officially announced the signing of French Star Thierry Henry. This move comes as no surprise, it had been rumored for over a year. Being a Rapids fan, you would think that I would be upset, or anxious that this hurts the Rapids chances of a title. That is not my emotion this morning. I think this is a great move. Much better than that of David Beckham. I really hope this works. I hope that it pays off for them in the form of multiple championships...even at the expense of our Rapids. Am I off my rocker? Yes, but still, this move can mean so much to the future of soccer here in the USA. Say RBNY wins 2 maybe 3 championships with Henry and Juan Pablo Angel, and another DP whom they're rumored to be bringing in this summer. How is that good? Well, my hope is that it will create an elite in the league and other owners will have to be more proactive about their clubs in order to survive. Competitive balance sounds great, but really it creates reason for manageme...

I don't really have anything better to say than what's already been said. What a great World Cup. What a great performance from Spain. South Africa 2010, I will always remember you.

Do you ever listen to the "Around the League" show? If you don't, you should. It's quality entertainment from correspondents, well...around the league. Last week (05/05/10) I was asked to be a part of the show as a correspondent for Colorado. Of course i said yes! If you want to hear it, check it out here . I have to say thank you to Brian Rants for recommending me to them, and also to the folks at "Around the League" for having me on. I look forward to doing it again.

Herculez Gomez has found great success playing for Puebla in Mexico's Primera Division. So much so that over the weekend he found himself in contention for the scoring title. That was until the referee remembered that Herculez, although being Latino of Mexican descent, is also an internationally capped American. Now, most people when they hear the words conspiracy curl their nose and stop reading. But conspiracy, corruption and collusion are all in play in Mexico, especially when it comes to soccer. Here's where the conspiracy theory comes in. In the second to last game of the season, Herculez scored his second goal of the game against Cruz Azul in the 37th minute bringing him into a tie for the "Golden Boot" with Chivas de Guadalajara's Javier "El Chicharito" Hernandez. Chicharito as you remember was sold a couple of weeks ago to Manchester United and left immediately, leaving his goal scoring lead at 10. When Herculez scored his tenth on the season...

MLS Players and Owners finally agreed to terms on a new CBA merely a day before the strike deadline was about to hit. Free Agency wasn't quite accomplished, but the minimum salary was raised from 21,000 to 40,000 and players have greater rights to movement once their contracts expire. Overall I'd say it was a pretty fair compromise between the two. If anyone got the better of it, I would say the players set themselves up pretty nice to make even more headway in 5 years when the two sides go at it again. Players have never really garnered any kind of control over anything, this is the first sign that things are starting to balance out.

Here's the link to my first Class VI interview of the season. There should be plenty more to come this season, along with another project we're working on too. If you want Rapids coverage from the fans prospective, stay with NoFanAlone.com and GCSblog.

The Rapids in recent days have been busy. They have announced the signings of Colombian defender Oscar Murillo and Irish defender/midfielder Danny Earls from Rochester Rhinos. Also it seems they are on the verge of signing two other players. Jamaican striker Devon Hodges, which has been in the news for a little while now , and more recently Eire, PA native Andy Lorei from Rochester Rhinos. Lorei seems to fit a need for flanker depth with the injuries to Jamie Smith and Colin Clark last year and the loss of Jacob Peterson to Toronto FC earlier in the off season. All 4 of these recent additions look pretty good, especially Devon Hodges who once scored 10 goals in a professional game. It also seems that the most important signing that Gary Smith has ever made was to bring in Steve Guppy. In Guppy's short tenure with the Rapids so far he's had influence in bringing at least 3 players to the fold, Scott Palguta, Danny Earls and Andy Lorei. All spent time with Guppy during th...

Major League Soccer has unveiled it's 2010 schedule today. Looking deeper at the Rapids' portion of that schedule, there are some interesting notes. - Finally a schedule that looks like an actual soccer schedule. Philadelphia joins MLS this year and makes the total number of teams 16, which means if you play everyone twice, home and away, you end up with 30 games total. Perfection! - With it being a World Cup year the schedule got crunched up a little bit with 6 games scheduled in July, including trips to opposite ends of the landscape, one to Seattle and one to Toronto. - David Beckham won't be making an appearance at DSGP this year, he will still be with AC Milan when the Galaxy come to Denver on 5 de Mayo. - The two games against rival Real Salt Lake are spaced a month a part at the end of the season, with the final game of the season being at home against them. - The Rapids first look at the 2 new stadiums entering the league this year are 8/14 in Philly and 9/1...

Defender Rob Valentino who has yet to see the field for the Rapids in an MLS game is being loaned out to Løv-Ham of the Norwegian First Division (Second Level). Norway's domestic league is a summer league so he could be gone all season. If he wasn't going to play for the Rapids, loaning him out isn't a bad deal for him or the team. Let's hope he gets playing time over there to make it worth it. The only caution is that with this move the Rapids have sent away 3 defenders (Cory Gibbs, Jordan Harvey, Rob Valentino) this off season without replacing any. Depth going forward on the back line could be an issue.

Is it time the Rapids got rid of Pablo? I know this may come off as heresy or disloyalty to some, and others may be thinking "it's about time someone else has said it!", but is it time for the Rapids to move on without Pablo Mastroeni? With the recent trades the Rapids made it looks like the Rapids may be thinking that too. Bringing Jeff Larentowitz in to the fold along with the emergence of LaBrocca as a consistent contributor to the defensive midfield has left the fans with the question, what do we do with Pablo? At this point in their careers Larentowitz, 26,is a better player at the position that Pablo, 33, currently occupies. Pablo has always been a tweener type of player, not really big enough to play defense, not really much of a passer to link with the attack when playing d-mid. That's not to say he hasn't played both of those positions, and played them well, he very much has. Not only that, but he has also become an icon for this club, and it wouldn...

Last week the Rapids confirmed the long rumored trade of Preston Burpo and Cory Gibbs to New England for Jeff Larentowitz and Wells Thompson. I don't really have a problem with the trade, both Burpo and Larentowitz are out of contract. If Larentowitz doesn't resign with MLS then the trade becomes lopsided. All signs point to him coming back however. With that trade happening, let's take a look what a potential line up on opening day might look like for the Rapids. ----Cummings--------Casey-------- Clark-------LaBrocca--------Smith ----Larentowitz-----Mastroeni---- Kimura----Baudet----Palguta---Moor Right now there isn't any real left back on the team. You might be able to put Harden over there, but his pace would hurt you. Kimura has shown flexibility in his play and I think could transition to a speedy left flank that would make overlapping runs with Colin Clark. The other option would be to put Pablo in the defensive line and move LaBrocca to D-Mid and Ballouch...

It had been speculated over the past few days that Peterson had been traded, but getting any information out of the Rapids about player movement is always a dead end. So, today we get conformation via Toronto FC's website. So who gets the best of this trade? Well it's easy to say that TFC does because they get a player and the Rapids just get allocation money out of the deal. However, Jacob Peterson has never turned the corner and turned his potential into results. If it was up to me I wouldn't necessarily have given up on him, I still think he can be an effective player. But considering he shredded his knee towards the end of the season last year, and his game is mostly based upon speed, I can see why Colorado did what they did. I've interviewed/talked to Jacob a few times and he's always been nice and accommodating, and seems to be a nice guy, so I wish him luck and success in Canadia. UPDATE: The Rapids have released a video explaining the trade and why ...

The Rapids went into the SuperDraft 2010 without a first round pick but came out with first round talent. The man pictured above is Andre Akpan. He is a forward from Harvard University. He was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy (College Soccer's Best Player). He scored 47 goals and 33 assists in college. He was projected as a first round pick. He had a poor combine. He fell to 6th pick of the second round (22nd overall) to the Rapids. He's no young project. He's 23 years old and ready to play. If and when Conor Casey gets called to the World Cup, Akpan could be ready to step in and play. I mean he couldn't be any worse than Pat Noonan right? Oh yeah, if you were wondering why the Rapids didn't have a first round pick, in a draft that was supposedly the deepest talent pool MLS has ever seen, it's because of the Pat Noonan trade. Here are the rest of the Rapids picks.