God, Country, Soccer

By: Kevberto (@Kevberto) (While I'm working on my article, let Kevberto keep you company. - CdeA) image via Colorado Rapids El comienzo de la temporada ha sido muy de fantasia para los fanaticos de los Rapids de Colorado. El final de 2-0 en contra de el Crew de Columbus fue solo una de las tantas promesas que se han dicho cumplidas para los fanaticos departe de los directivos del equipo. Con la playera puesta, claro! Me siento emocionado, ilusionado y con gran expectativa. Ya con la camisa del equipo quitada, hablando de el primer juego, se noto la diferencia de los cambios hechos desde la ultima directiva. Empezando con el hecho que el estilo de juego esta mas en el suelo, se juega con idea, la mentalidad es ofensiva y hay muchos mas disparos al arco. El mediocampo comandado por Jaime Castrillon, Jeff Larentowicz y Pablo Mastroeni es totalmente lo opuesto que se vio el equipo bajo el mando de Gary Smith, no quitandole credito por lo logrado (Copa MLS 2010). Los jugadores en la me...

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 ...

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...