June 16, 2008
CVI Questions with Coach Clavijo: Another Loss Eh?
Missing many key players due to National Team commitments, the Rapids dropped a 3-1 game to Toronto FC. Coach Claivjo has taken time to answers fans questions about the game.
I. Christian Gomez started on the bench and came in at half time for Kimura. Why didn't Gomez start?
I was certain that Christian Gomez would help us close the game down after going a goal up early on the game, missing the chances we had early on changed some of the outcome of our plans. Having a lot of young players on the field you open yourself for mistakes and inconsistency.
II. With all of our National Team call ups and Erpen's Red Card, you chose to start rookie Cesar Zambrano. How did Cesar get the nod and why not Rafeal Gomes?
Toronto is a fast pace, aggressive home team, my outlook coming into the game was very simple, control the tempo and counter in the early parts of the game, more experience players in the second half will allowed you to slow the game and control the result.
I felt that Zambrano did very well for his first game, and was punished in his mistake.
III. Twelve weeks into the season, the Rapids have scored 2 first half goals and 17 second half goals. Do you have a feeling why this discrepancy is happening?
We keep working on maintaining a same level of intensity throughout the game, but it is not the case, and it is something that many teams in the league are facing.
We are moving into a second pace in our season in which young players need to produce every game, the learning curve is over, and results are a must.
IV. With this weekend's loss in Toronto, the Rapids (who have a game in hand over the three teams ahead of them in the standings) have fallen out of a playoff spot. Is this a warning sign for the season or do you feel it's just a bump in the road?
We are facing a must win situation vs. Houston and that is our intent; we need to keep adding point and winning games.
If we do that we will not have any issues making the playoffs.
V. As we approach the midway point of the season, can you tell Rapids fans any area of concern that may be addressed with a player acquisition?
We need to be realistic here, we are not going to address any foreign player because we do not have allocation money or designated player slot, so we can only dream.
I believe that the biggest factor we need to address today is keeping our players in town and healthy,
Bouna with national team but has not play one minute
Pablo out with an injury in last US game vs. ????
Ihemelu missing the game vs. Toronto to play for Canada and later finding out that he may not be eligible to play for Canada,
Those concerns me more than acquisition of players right now
VI. A couple weeks back you stated to NoFanAlone.com, that fan favorite Terry Cooke was healthy, and to the Denver Post, you stated he had to "win his spot back". Fans have begun wondering if there are any personal issues with Terry Cooke and if that is why he has been an unused substitute in four of the last five regular season games?
Terry Cooke is healthy, and is working to get back to his form, no personal issues with Terry, and we expect to see Terry back on the field soon.
Thanks Coach and Class VI wishes you great success in the upcoming match against Houston this weekend!
Posted by mark at June 16, 2008 03:17 PM