Rapids Class VI

VI Questions with Coach Clavijo: LA Victory

Rapids Coach Fernando Clavijo takes some time to answer some questions for Rapids fans in light of our 4-0 victory over the LA Galaxy on Saturday which starts our 2008 quest for our first MLS Cup.

I. A lot of young inexperienced players stepped up against the likes of Beckham, Donovan, Xavier, and Ruiz. Can you give us you thoughts on the performances of Kimura, DiRaimondo, Cummings, Keel, & LaBrocca?

I believe that actions speak louder than words, but the level of play and the maturity of play of our young “old” players were excellent. Kimura was up to the task in stopping the best American player today in Landon Donovan; John Dirainmondo and Nick LaBrocca control the midfield like to season veterans’, Stephen Keel was very solid and did an outstanding job complementing Erpen and Omar Cummings was always busy, needs to make better runs and be able to keep the ball a little longer to allow Christian to get forward.

II. Terry Cooke and Colin Clark were able to attack Los Angles relentlessly. Can you give us your thoughts on how Christian Gomez's and Jose Burciaga's successful Rapids debut contributed to the play of our flanks?

Terry Cooke was the engine on the right side; He found ways to be in the ball more and his constants run forward force Gavin and Landon to be more defensive that they anticipated. Colin Clark outstanding speed kept Klein and Beckham most of the night defending and Christian Gomez connected well with those two. Jose Burciaga was excellent defending but also was able to go forward and creating lots of problems for LA,

III. You went into the locker room with a one goal lead. Can you tell us what was said at half time and what adjustments or focuses you had going into the second half?

The message was clear, keep the pressure on LA back four, don’t allow Beckham or Landon space to play and keep playing. The other point was that we need it was to found Christian more and early than before.

IV. Can you describe what the atmosphere inside DSG Park was like from the field and how it affects the players?

Every time to have a sold out stadium you notice it, and the level of energy is there, but I was a little disappointed after watching the game in TV that the announcers mention how quiet the fans were, I didn’t understood it at the beginning but the energy from the fans was less that many people expected.

V. Rookie Ciaran O’Brien comes in late in the game and gets ejected. Can you give us an account of what happened and how a coach handles such a devastating event for a player's first 15 professional minutes?

Emotions run high for a younger player, more in a game of that magnitude, Ciaran is an incredible talented player and situation like that we hope make him a better player in the future. He made the wrong decision at the 90 minutes mark to chase down the play and tackle Ruiz. As a coach you need to bring the situation back and make him see why he right choice was not made at the 90 minutes mark.

VI. Next up, KC. A couple dozen of us are taking a bus to the game to give the team our support. Can you tell the fans what sort of affect that has on a team?

Fans can have a positive or negative impact on the Team, when you see the fans going the extra mile for the team, make all the players and coaching staff more appreciated, Look at Toronto fans, 2,000 fans into Columbus for a game, do you think for a minute that anyone in that team will not like that?

As always coach, we appreciate your endless efforts in taking time for the fans! Congratulations on the win and good luck in Kansas City. Be sure to stop over and say hello to the Road Trip Supporters.

Posted by mark at March 31, 2008 12:35 PM