Another terrific year for the club is over. In tru end-of the year spirit, I’ve browsed through our pictures from this year and will be listing the top 5 photo’s, one per day, over the next several days. Today, we start with the 5th best picture of 2009…

There is a 3-way tie for 5th place in the Best Pictures of 2009 . There were just too many interesting pictures to exclude Any of these three. Give em’ a look:

TIED FOR 5th

Matt Martinez rises to meet the oncoming cross. Matt is one of the only players that can volley a ball with his eyes closed! Pretty talented. Don’t remember if he scores or not, but the picture is great either way. This pic was was taken in Spring 09 when our Premier team played Colorado Crimson.

FOR 5th

Who’s gonna catch Chris Honeker? I’d be willing to bet that this keeper is not. Chris breezes by this unsuspecting keeper on the way to another goal. This picture was also taken in Spring 09 in the Premier vs Colorado Crimson game.

TIED FOR 5th

A great team picture for a great awards party. Thanks to all the guys that joined us @ Seriouz Pizzeria.

Tomorrow will be Picture # 4 as we continue to count down the best pictures of 2009.

Cheers!

The 4 pots for the World Cup draw are set.  The US was placed in the weakest pot — pot 2 — along with the rest of the CONCACAF teams and the Asia/Oceania teams.  Argentina managed to secure a seed even though they barely qualifed finishing 4th in CONMEBOL.  The Netherlands edged out France for a seed and rightly so in my opinion.

The top 8 seeds will be placed in separate groups.  No teams from the same confederation can be selected into the same group, except for European teams.  Only 2 teams from Europe can be grouped together.

Here are the pots:

Pot 1 (seeds):
South Africa (A1)
Germany
Brazil
Italy
Spain
England
Argentina
Netherlands

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and CONCACAF):
Japan
South Korea
North Korea
Australia
New Zealand
USA
Mexico
Honduras

Pot 3 (Africa and South America):
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Cameroon
Nigeria
Algeria
Paraguay
Chile
Uruguay

Pot 4 (Europe):
France
Portugal
Slovenia
Switzerland
Greece
Serbia
Denmark
Slovakia

My ideal group for the US would be South Africa, Uruguay, and Slovenia. A worst case scenario will see us get drawn with a top seed like Brazil, Spain, or England along with a top European team like France, Portugal, or Denmark.  The Africa and South America pot is the wild card.  Each of those teams can be as good as a seeded team or as weak as the pot 2  teams. Hopefully we stay away from Paraguay or Ghana.

Nonetheless, once the draw is over we’ll know what US has to do to prepare for the World Cup.  It should be exciting.

Share your thoughts on the draw.

Tomorrow, Saturday Novemeber 28th, we are organizing a pickup game at 10:30am at the Lowry Turf Fields (MAP). Open to all. Come down and work off that big Thanksgiving meal. Cheers!

Roy Keane drops some gems when asked about the Henry handball at a recent interview. Personally, I think he’s spot on. Take a look and let me know what you think.

The US Team, less a playoff-bound Landon Donovan and an in-season Clint Dempsey, lost 3-1 on Wednesday to a skillful Danish team in Aarhus, Denmark.

You can read a game report and opinions on several sites including Soccernet.

I would just like to add a few comments regarding the game below:

• The Danish team looked far superior technically. All of their passes were weighted perfectly and their passing remained generally precise throughout the game. The Danish finishing was sharp. This Danish team which was missing several of its best players looked like an excellent international team.
• It’s to early to anoint anyone, but it looks as though Jeff Cunninngham  may be a viable starting Forward option for World Cup 2010. He was the highlight of the game for the US team. He was sharp on the ball (much more so than Jozy, IMO) and dangerous with his chances.
• Benny Felihaber was the only US player that I thought matched the class that the Danes displayed with their touch and passing.  Benny will hopefully become a standout CM for the US team for years to come.
• Jonathan Bornstein does not look to be the solution at Left Back. Its not that we have a wealth of options on the left flank, but Bornstein looks to be too inconsistent for the international level. And to be honest, our defense has to be rock-solid in order for the team to progress in the world cup. I think, despite his pace, that Bocanegra is still a better option at left back than Bornstein.

Landon Donovan name MVP

Landon Donovan has quickly become the most recognized American soccer player of all time.  He has been a professional soccer player for over 10 years and won plenty of awards . . . except for the MLS MVP.  Well his long awaited MVP award has finally arrived.  Donovan scored 12 goals and provided 6 assists for the Galaxy this year.  The Galaxy were the Western Conference Champions and will face Real Salt Lake on Sunday for the MLS Cup.

I think he deserves it.  If New England would have made it deeper into the playoffs then you could have made a case that Shalrie Joseph should win the award.

Preki officially named Toronto FC coach

After two seasons at Chivas USA Preki walked away from the organization.  Their were plenty of rumors that he would take over at Toronto and now it is official.  Preki takes over for Chris Cummins who took the reigns after John Carver quit mid-season.

Dynamo midfielders on the move

Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden might not be returning to MLS next season.  Clark has already said his goodbyes to Dynamo and made it very clear that he will not be back.  Stuart Holden has been contacted by Scottish side Aberdeen and is trying to workout a winter transfer.

Ireland wants a rematch

Ireland feels cheated after their playoff loss to France. Henry handled the ball that lead to the goal that put France into the World Cup and eliminated Ireland.  The Ireland FA has petitioned FIFA to allow a replay of the match.  No one is confident that a rematch will actually be granted but they want through a big hissy fit anyways.

Ben Olsen retiring?

Goff at the soccerinsider is reporting that Ben Olsen is weighing retirement.  Olsen has struggled with injury the last few years and might hang up his boots.  He will make his decision within a week.

About a week ago, Jeff Plush, managing director of the Rapids, wrote a letter to the fans on the Colorado Rapids official blog LINK.  The letter was basically and apology for the failure to make the playoffs and expressed a feeling of disappointment by the club. The fans response to the letter was . . . let’s just say they weren’t happy.  I’ve taken a little while to chime in on this subject because, honestly, I didn’t really care.  The Front Office is always going to tell you what they think you want to hear and the fans are always going to be overly emotional and overly confident in their ability to spot the real issues.

Instead of giving a direct response to Plush’s letter I’m going to to recount a conversation I had today.

I had the opportunity to speak with an acquaintance of mine that works for Kroenke and is one of Jeff Plush’s peers.  Let’s call her Sara.  The conversation was brief but revealing.

Sara’s first contention about Plush is that he isn’t an idiot but a few people at Kroenke don’t exactly agree with the direction he is taking the club.  Blaming Plush is a start but everyone involved with the management of the club should be held accountable.

First off, most people believe that the quality of play is really going to make the difference. But the reality is that the Rapids will have poor attendance regardless of the quality of play.  The whole “attractive soccer and stadium attendance argument” really doesn’t hold much water.  In her experience it just isn’t the case, at least in this market.  Anything short of a crazy 30 game winning streak probably won’t attract too many more fans to the stadiums.  Quality of play will keep the existing fans and only slightly increase attendance.

So what will bring fans?

In Sara’s opinion, marketing is key.  The Rapids need to create a soccer culture in Denver and the club isn’t putting forward the funds to accomplish that.  For example, the Rapids cut their marketing budget in half this year.  Another poor decision, and, in her opinion the biggest mistake the club ever made, was offloading Beckerman for Ballouchy.  Not only is Beckerman a national team caliber player but he is very marketable.

In her opinion the club needs a Cuauhtemoc Blanco.  In the sense that he is a guy that will draw fans (most important) and make a difference on the field.  But guys like him are hard to come by.  Unless the club is willing to unload millions for a guy like Beckham (European superstar), which they aren’t, they need to look to a more reasonable alternative, which is Mexico.  Unfortunately, there is no one in Mexico that really fits the bill right now.

She conceded that there is no guarantee in that plan, but that isn’t the point. The fact is that the people they pay money to think up ideas and do research on what needs to be done to move the club forward are wasting their time.  When they presented the idea of bringing in a big Mexican player, Plush agreed and then went on to bring in Daniel Osorno, an ageing and forgotten player.  They can’t win. There is no commitment to the future of the club.

That seems to be the trend with Kroenke.  When I asked her what she thinks about Kroenke buying more stock in Arsenal.  She replied “good for him” but right now I have no 401K, no bonus, no staff, no budget, no raise, etc.  But she conceded that she is one of the lucky ones at Kroenke.  Kroenke had to lay off a lot of people to raise enough cash to get a controlling stake at Arsenal.

The stadium, in her opinion, up to now is a bust. The goal of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, aside from complying with the soccer specific stadium requirement, was to promote development.  The plan was to build the stadium and start developing the land around the stadium. Residential homes and a booming commercial district around the park is what creates a solid fan base.

With the down turn in the economy nothing has been developed.  While Kroenke is a patient investor other investors in the area are going under because of the lack of development in the area.  Northfield Shopping Center, off 70 and Quebec, is about to shut down completely.

Well that is the gist of our short conversation. Her comments are really just food for thought.  The anger and disappointment of the fans expressed in Plush’s blog post are fair.   There is a feeling that the club is letting the fans down but it is important to remember that the Rapids are a business first.

So what does this all mean?  Maybe nothing, but I think it does give us a bigger picture of the problem that plagues our beloved Rapids.  It seems to be a lot bigger than not having a healthy winger.

Share your thoughts on the letter or in general about the Rapids.

France made it to the World Cup off an Henry handball in overtime.  Take a look and let me know what you think.

Here are my thoughts.

He cheated. Plain and simple, he went outside the rules to give his team an advantage.  I think the importance of the goal scored off the hand ball multiplies the villainy of the act.  The majority of people have expressed their animosity towards Henry and I can’t really say I feel the same.  Probably because the goal doesn’t really affect me directly.  My team (USA) is already in the World Cup.

Maybe to Henry getting France to the World Cup was more important than his reputation and the respect he earned through the years.  Maybe he chose to become the villain so that France could move on.  I guess you could say it was a glorious sacrifice by a guy that sees the big picture.  He is like the Batman at the end of Dark Knight.   He was willing to be a hero or a villian . . . whatever Gotham needed.  Henry just lost all your respect but he gave his teammates, French soccer fans, and his country a chance, however slight, to lift the World Cup.

Share your thoughts.

The MLS Best XI has been released.  You really can’t complain about these selections as they are all deserving. Here is the lineup:

Thornton (Chivas USA)

Cameron (Houston Dynamo)   Conde (Chicago Fire)   Marshall (Columbus Crew)

Joseph (New England Revolution)

De Rosario (Toronto FC)    Holden (Houston Dynamo)    Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Ljungberg (Seattle Sounders FC)

Casey (Colorado Rapids)       Cunningham (FC Dallas)

I probably would have picked Omar Cummings and Schelotto for the best XI.  Stuart Holden had a break out year and I’m glad to see him recognized.  De Rosario quietly had one of the best seasons in his career. It is a shame that Toronto can’t get it together and make the playoffs.

Share your thoughts on these selections.

Another snowy weekend here in D-town with no games. Mother Nature has frowned on the Denver 2009 soccer season in general with multiple weather-related cancellations in both the Spring and Fall seasons. I was discussing the situation with the league president the other day and he was commenting that this year, by-far, has been the most difficult year for him to schedule the games. What does it mean for us? Well, it lengthens our otherwise short seasons, but without everybody being prepared for a longer season and without practices in the later part of the fall season, it’s harder for our teams, like all amateur adult teams to stay as organized as we were when everybody was hungry at the beginning of the season. With that said, we’ve been very fortunate that our teams have really hot their stride in the last few weeks and our momentum seems to be carrying us through this uncertain playing situation. I’m focused on keeping our rosters strong and in-tact heading into next season as consistency and cohesion will be the key for each team achieving their goals next season.

Without any games this past week, here’s what was on my mind:

- MLS SEMIFINALS & MLS CUP - 2 great semifinal games were played this weekend and both went to extra-time. As a fan, I hope you saw these two outstanding matches. The MLS Cup is this Sunday at 6:30pm MST on ESPN. The Best player in the States and the worlds most recognizable soccer player lead the Galaxy into Seattle against a RD-HOT Real Salt Lake team. I say Real take it with a 2-1 win.

International Soccer & WORLD CUP 2010 - What a weekend for International soccer. The most exciting results were Nigeria’s qualification against improbable odds and Eygpt’s last minute goal (5th minute in extra time) to set-up a playoff game vs. Algeria on Wednesday. Exciting stuff. The US Men’s team was also in action in a 0-1 loss against Slovokia. More work ahead for our boys in the red, white, and blue. We play in another friendly match on Wednesday against a good Danish side. Details HERE.