October 09, 2007
2007 Rapids Golden Boot...?
...or should it be renamed the Golden Bootie?
The Golden Boot is generally considered one of the top awards a player can earn in a season for scoring the most goals, along with Most Valuable Player and Best XI.
With two games left in the season, our leading goal scorer this year is Jovan Kirovski. After this weekend's victory over those toque-wearing, sin-bin loving neighbors of ours Up North, eh, Jovan put another penalty kick in the net to up his total to six goals.
On the other hand, LA's Landycakes has proven this year just how hard those PK's really are :-)
Next in goal scoring prowess is Herculez Gomez with four, and then Roberto El Boomerang Brown with three in his short visit to Colorado. So unless Jovan ups his goal-scoring rate tremendously, or Herc can acquire a certain TV cheerleader's healing ability, or Coach Clavijo decides Brown's one goal in eight games for USL's Montreal warrants a callback, the Rapids are likely to end the year with a new low for the Golden Boot Award.
Previously, the Rapids lowest goal total for a player winning the award was seven, achieved by Niko & Beckerman last season, and in the Nightmare of 2004 by "I chipped another fingernail" Pedro.
To gain perspective on how few six goals from a team leader really is, let's look at the rest of the league, where twenty players in MLS have seven goals or more, with DC United's Emilio putting away TWENTY himself! Put *that* in your fantasy team and smoke it. Emilio's 20 goals mark is just one less than the entire current Rapids roster!
Of course, this shouldn't be too surprising, considering the Rapids have the second worst offense in the league scoring 27 goals in 28 games.
(editor note: 27? Really?!? Bummer. Things appear to be going downhill. In Clavijo's first year, 2005, we had 40 goals in 32 games for 1.25 goals per game. Last year we had 36 goals in 32 games, or 1.1 goals per game. In Clavijo's' final year of re-building, we have .95 goals per game so far. But there's hope. Going less than one goal per game *has* happened to the Rapids once in history... in 2004, HankiBall's last season as head coach).
Okay, enough numbers "Mr. Editor", let's further give this some Rapids-style historical perspective. For example, in 1996, Rapids defender Marcelo Balboa had seven goals. In 2003 the widely-considered failed acquisition Zizi "Medicine Man Knee" Roberts had five. But aren't Rapids fans used to this kind of output? From 2004 to the present, exiled Jeff Cunningham is the only Rapids player to score more than seven goals in a single season. Off ya go, then! Get the MLS Golden Boot for some other team in 2006! So far Clavijo has had two scoring leaders shipped off in two years.
Must be that bad "goal-scoring attitude" they had.
Let's not feel too bad, however. Other MLS teams are in the same slow boat: Columbus, Toronto, RSL, and Los Angeles come to mind - teams we certainly don't want to be seen with at the November ball. And, while Houston and Chicago's leaders only have seven goals, they've got at least one other guy with six.
It's more than obvious that Colorado once again has major problems generating and finishing. Is it the midfield? Are our strikers not finishing? Is the coaching not able to put an offensive-minded game plan on the table? Is it the fault of the Rapids Front Office not acquiring the players we need?
Is it too early to start the blame game? Click Here to Discuss.
Take a look at more awards to be handed out during the final Rocky Mountain Cup match of the season October 20th.
Posted by mark at October 9, 2007 01:14 AM