Burgundy Wave

Colorado Rapids Hawaiian Islands Invitational Preview

2012-02-22T17:00:04Z

Well, the big tournament that absolutely nobody has been waiting for is finally about to start! Back in September of 2011, the Colorado Rapids were informed that they were invited to the 2012 Hawaiian Islands Invitational Soccer tournament, kind of a re-branding of the old Pan-Pacific Championship.

The two semi-finals games -- it's a quick tournament with only four teams, eh? -- will take place on Thursday the 23rd while the final and 'consolation final' between the third and fourth place teams will both be on Saturday the 25th.

The first game will feature the Colorado Rapids and Yokohama FC of Japan's J-League at 11:30 PM Mountain Time. Yeah, the games are really late at night for us, thanks Hawaiian Standard Time! If you want to catch some earlier action, Melbourne Heart play Korean side Busan I'Park FC at 9 PM Mountain Time.

The championship game will be on Saturday at 10:30 PM MT if the Rapids make it past Yokohama.

You can watch all the games of the Invitational on ESPN 3 if you want to get your Rapids fix before the home opener on March 10th. It's always fun to win Mickey Mouse cups so... go Rapids!

Colorado Rapids 2012 Reserve League Schedule

2012-02-21T20:00:19Z

MLS brought back their reserve league last season and it was a good thing for the development of players; guys like Davy Armstrong, Steven Emory and Eddie Ababio got most of their minutes last year only through the reserve games. The 2012 schedule was released by MLS on Monday, and the Colorado Rapids have ten games in the reserve league, playing in the 'Central' division. They play each division opponent twice, once at home and once on the road.

Here's the dates for all of the reserve league games the Rapids will play this season:

March 13 - Colorado Rapids vs. Houston Dynamo
March 20 - FC Dallas vs. Colorado Rapids
April 2 - Chicago Fire vs. Colorado Rapids
April 8 - Colorado Rapids vs. Real Salt Lake
April 24 - Colorado Rapids vs. Sporting Kansas City
May 23 - Houston Dynamo vs. Colorado Rapids
June 9 - Sporting KC vs. Colorado Rapids
August 5 - Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids
August 15 - Colorado Rapids vs. Chicago Fire
August 29 - Colorado Rapids vs. FC Dallas

The home games for Colorado will be at Field 20 of the Dick's Sporting Goods Park complex.

Former Rapids manager Gary Smith finding success in Stevenage

2012-02-20T15:00:59Z

It's been a few weeks since we found out that former Colorado Rapids manager Gary Smith was headed to manage League One side Stevenage FC in England. Fantastically, he has been doing a fine job since taking over for Boro and just scored what is likely the biggest result in the history of their club.

Since joining Boro, Smith's side has not allowed a goal to be scored, grabbing a couple of wins and an FA Cup victory as well leading them to a record breaking Fifth Round appearance. Sunday, Boro took on Tottenham Hotspurs and drew them 0-0 at Stevenage, a fantastic result for a League One side against a team that was playing some pretty class guys and not just a gang of 17 year olds.

Looking at the game that Stevenage were playing, it looked like a mirror image of the Rapids 4-4-2 from the last few years. The strikers weren't as talented but they were playing a high pressure, clogged up midfield and a very wide attacking game - though they didn't attack very well at all - based off crossing from the fullbacks and earning set pieces. Pretty cool to see a team playing in the Rapids old style keeping Tottenham on their toes. Though, to be fair that's probably how most teams from League One would play against Tottenham if they wanted anything resembling a result.

Rapids make Huge Roster Cut before Hawai'i Trip

2012-02-20T05:00:52Z

Rapids make Huge Roster Cut before Hawai'i Trip

In a story that may have been missed in the hooplah surrounding Hawai'i, the Rapids cut a number of hopefuls this week. Including, interestingly enough, Jefferson Angulo. That one raised a few eyebrows, as Angulo seemed to be getting a good look from Colorado.

The Rapids have headed to Hawaii!

2012-02-19T19:14:14Z

The Colorado Rapids are going to the tropical island wonderland of Hawaii, but it's not for a vacation! Well, it's kind of a vacation... to Disney World, if Disney World were in Hawaii and were a soccer tournament featuring random teams who probably don't want to be there in order to win something shiny.

If you haven't figured it out, the joke here is that they're playing in a Mickey Mouse Cup.

Anyway, on Sunday morning the Rapids headed down to Hawaii to take part in the 2012 Hawaii Soccer Invitational Tournament, a new tourney featuring teams from MLS, J-League, K-League and A-League in Asia and Oceania. It follows a similar format to an older tourney called the Pan-Pacific Championship.

More coverage of the tournament will start here on February 22nd, before the tournament begins. One thing to note first though, if you want to watch the games they'll all be available on ESPN3, though quite late at night in Mountain Time.

Colorado Rapids sign Argentinian playmaker Martin Rivero on loan

2012-02-17T17:00:16Z

It took quite a while for the news to finally break ever since Paul Bravo announced that a signing was coming at the Supporters Fan Forum, but we've finally got our 'mystery #10' for the Colorado Rapids. The Rapids announced on Tuesday that they had signed attacking midfielder Martin Rivero out of Rosario Central. Rather than getting him on a full contract, he's going to be the first Rapids player to sign via a loan in quite a while!

Rivero has had a decent career with the club since they got relegated to the second tier of the Argentinian club, and knowing Oscar Pareja's ability to scout young talent, the amount of hype that Rivero was given should prove him to be a quite exciting player in Burgundy.

The 22 year old Argentinian is certain to feature big in the future plans of the team. No details on the loan contract have been released as per the usual MLS hiding everything. This is the latest in the huge midfield expansion that the Rapids have seen in the past couple of weeks, and another cog in the brand new 'attacking mentality' of the squad alongside guys like Tony Cascio, Jaime Castrillon and Kohei Yamada.

We would like to welcome Rivero to the club!

Rumor: Colorado Rapids looking at USMNT striker Eddie Johnson

2012-02-16T15:01:03Z

Well, we're still waiting to figure out if and when Martin Rivero is going to arrive for the Colorado Rapids, him being the most hyped move of the offseason so far for Colorado.

Steven Goff on twitter dropped a bit of a bombshell on Wednesday evening though, unrelated to our new #10. Apparently, the Rapids are looking at USMNT striker and former FC Dallas/Kansas City player Eddie Johnson.

Johnson has been lambasted for having a pretty ineffective career away from MLS since 2008, with failed stints in Fulham, Cardiff, Preston and others. Teams have been reportedly scouting him all offseason in MLS as he likely will want to get back home since that's the only league he's had any success in during his career.

Steven Goff on twitter said later in the day that the Rapids probably aren't going to end up with Johnson's services after all. I'm doubting that we're going to hear much complaining in that regard.

Martin Rivero still not in Colorado, Rosario Central trying to block transfer?

2012-02-15T17:00:42Z

It looks like we were correct - and by 'we' I mean the Denver Post - and Rosario Central midfielder Martin Rivero is indeed the 'true 10' player that the Rapids have been scouting all this time. Unfortunately, two announcement deadlines by Tim Hinchey later we're seeing no Martin Rivero on the roster for the Rapids.

The Denver Post reported late Tuesday that apparently Rivero is technically still under contract with Rosario Central and they're trying to keep him in Argentina rather than letting him come up to Colorado. Kind of funny when you consider the fact that people were making up rumors about Dallas or somebody trying to block the signing after the deadline got moved on Monday.

Hinchey is taking this in stride and is making up for his mistake, at least. Good man, him. Until we actually see a result from the overhyped media circus that surrounded the Rivero signing though, it's going to be a long week.

Thanks to our friends at The Terrace for the original news on this.