Rapids Class VI

6/28 Man Of The Match

Ya, ya, the Rapids lost on the road again. You can't tell me that was a big surprise. The question is, who did think was the man of the match despite the loss? Class VI members can cast their vote on our member site [click here].

And as another sign that interest is wanning in our stuggling team, even our Grand Poobah forgot about Man Of The Match Voting for the last game. So drop over to that poll which was just created [click here] and vote for that match while you're at it!

VI Questions with Coach Clavijo

After a difficult loss where the difference between the tie and the result was finishing, Coach Claivjo takes time to answer some questions many fans wonder about:

I. Pablo played the game anchoring the back line. Can you tell us why you decided to insert him in to the defense instead of the midfield?

Pablo is a very experience player, and we considered necessary to make sure that we were not chasing the game from the beginning.

When he plays in the back everyone feels much more in control.

II. Terry Cooke came on to the field with some fanfare from the crowd, and seemed to have an instant positive impact on the game. Can we expect Terry next game and how badly is Jacob Peterson's injury?

I believe so, Terry is a very good player that we can use every game, but there are things to his game he can do much better.

I was very happy to see Cooke back in the line up, and working hard.

Terry will be playing because he did bring a lot of energy to the team, and I expected him to do the same against the Crew.

III. Mike Petke got some time with the reserve teams. What's the expected time table to see him back in the starting lineup?

Mike should be back in the lineup in about 2 weeks, finally he is training without restrictions and the game vs. San Jose in California is the game we are targeting

IV. It was reported about Bouna Coundoul that there was some concern that he didn't maintain contact while he was in Africa. Can we expect him back in the nets?

That is not correct, this time we had Bouna under control, but I was not to happy that Bouna Didn’t play any games, he was one month without any games, and we didn’t know if his training was good enough.

V. In Brian Forbes article about the release of John Murphy as assistant coach, he wrote that you claimed it was your decision. Is this true and if so, what triggered your decision to replace John Murphy?

The article by Brian Forbes was correct, I don’t think this is the proper time to answer to the question, but be sure that I will more than happy to answer that at the end of the year.

VI. David Kramer replaces Murphy as Goal Keeper coach. Can you tell us a bit about David Kramer and what he brings to the Rapids?

Former player, respect, knowledge and honesty, we have a very good group of young goalkeeper that need challenge and experience.

As a former goalkeeper is have all the credential and the locker-room experience to help our goalkeepers.

Thanks coach, and good luck in Columbus and climbing back into the playoff picture!

Rapids Jersey Sponsor coming soon?

Which statement reflects you more?

Walmart brings an exchange of goods at low prices benefits everyone.

Walmart destroys more jobs than it creates.

I know, who wants politics served up with their sports. We've already had a taste of that when the Rapids hosted China.

So will 2008 see Walmart as the Rapids jersey sponsor? The easy path would be for Silent Stan to tap the wife's ear and get a deal done using the family connection according to conventional thinking.

But this is MLS and we are the Rapids! According to inside team sources, 2008 has a small chance of seeing the Rapids secure a jersey sponsor, if the league will grant permission, like they gave to DC United, for a mid season deal. But 2009 is the year that the Rapids will most certainly role out the new sponsor.

The good news is, we can keep separate our politics from our sports and not discuss how we feel about the controversial retail giant being on the chests of our Rapids players, because Walmart is not going to be the Rapids first jersey sponsor.

We can only hope our jersey will feature this guy's face! If you don't undrestand, you don't watch enough late night TV.

Tonight's Weather

Our Colorado Rapids take on the Houston Dynamo at Dick's Sporting Goods Park tonight. Tailgating starts at 5:30 in Lot AA (NE corner of the complex). Bring the family down for some of Dave's famous cooking and enjoy another fine Colorado summer evening. Game kicks off at 7:30.

Don't forget the Rapids reserve team plays Dynamo's reserves tomorrow, Sunday, at 10am. The game is free. It's played on the field next to where we tailgate.

Murph & Cooke Staying Put

While we're sadden to see a good man like John Murphy relieved of his assistant coaching position, we're happy to see him move into his new role. According to team insiders, while Coach Clavijo and former assistant coach John Murphy's relationship deteriorated enough to end their ability to work together after many years, Murph's value is certainly thought of well enough by the Rapids Front Office.

Promoted to Director of Player Development, instead of being released from the team, John Murphy now has been moved to a position he's well known for. Responsible for the discovery of a youth team that is the envy of the league, his new position puts him in charge of finding talent for our team full time.

So while Coach Clavijo, in the last year of his contract, is in a battle to be behind the benchn in 2009, his decision ensures us that John Murphy will be a key figure in the future development of the Rapids quest to put a trophy in the cabinet after thirteen years of mediocrity. Hopefully, Murph can accomplish another Taylor Twellman, but this time for the Rapids.

Also according to team insiders, despite the uneasy relationship between Terry Cooke and Coach Clavijo, Cooke fans can rest assured that Terry Cooke will not being going in the same direction as Kyle Beckerman. With multiple years on his contract, the league's second best crosser will be on the field again wearing the Rapids colors. The question is, how long will Terry have to wait to be a regular again.

Insider News: Friday Edition

You know, one of the biggest complaints about MLS - and particularly our beloved Rapids - is that there is very little coverage of the team. If a Broncos player has to spend an extra 20 minutes in the bathroom - you're going to to find out why! Terry Cooke doesn't appear for weeks on end ... nothing. Avs Defenseman has an argument with his wife about the landscaping - check the newspaper for details. Assistant Coach John Murphy loses his coaching position ... when did that happen?

We'll we're lucky enough to have CVI's Nick Thomas to give you some insider info about the Terry Cooke situation. Take note, fellower CVIer Allen doesn't seem to buy Coach Clavijo's reasoning. Read Nick's Blog WeWantRapidsMan.com to get some great information.

We're also fortunate to get Balboa's newest Radio co-host, the Denver Post's Brian Forbes who gives us the news that Assistant Coach John Murphy is no longer the Rapids Assistant Coach.

It's efforts of Rapids fans like this that keep Rapids fans informed and interested. Of course, two fan favorites losing their spots in the team has the opposite effect, but stay tuned.

Houston Saturday....Will They Do It Again?

Houston comes to Denver this Saturday to face our Rapids. The game kicks off at 7:30pm. Tailgating starts at 5:30.

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!

CVI Questions with Coach Clavijo: Drama in La La Land

As always Coach Clavijo took some time out to answer some questions about the game. Enjoy. I'm going to start adding a link for CVI members comments.

I. You inserted Mehdi Ballouchy in the game at halftime, taking Jacob Peterson out. What were you looking for from Mehdi with this substitution and how did you feel he performed?

At half time we knew that LA was not giving us much to do on Peterson side, and the change with Ballouchy was simple to have another creator on the field that could get together with Gomez, may be Mehdi didn’t do incredible well, but his technical ability help us in many other ways.

II. Facundo Erpen has started every game this season, along with Christian Gomez and Nick LaBrocca, but he'll be sitting out next week due to his red card. What will the team miss without Erpen anchoring the back line?

Erpen is going to be very difficult to replace, and also Ugo Ihemelu that was called to play for Canada, we will be very young in the back in Toronto but I hope the young players taking this opportunity to shine and make a case for themselves.

FYI Ugo Ihemelu was called by USA and Canada to play for them, Ugo felt that Canada was the best option for him to play right now.

III. Los Angles dominated the first 70 minutes of play in this game. Is this another case of inconsistent efforts from the team or do you feel there were other specific factors that played into this loss?

On the first 45 minutes of that game I believe that LA had the better play, completely different on the 2nd half,

I believe that error make things easy for the Galaxy, the first goal was a ball into the box that individual players could not control and landed on the fits of Pires (first goal of the season and may be the only one) 2nd and 3rd goal we can argue that offside was not called but also we can blame ourselves for playing flat in the back……. And pushing forward to get a goal back and lacking discipline and not keeping the lines compact.

IV. When the team suffers a loss in which many things didn't work out, what kind of training schedule do you implement to get things back on track for the upcoming game?

I believe that many positive things happened on that lost to the Galaxy, and we are concentrating on those factor, also looking at what we didn’t do well and making sure that they will not happen again.

V. The word is, Greg Dalby is signing with MLS after an unsuccessful spell in Belgium, with his rights still belonging to the Rapids. You drafted Dalby in the second round, 17th overall, taking the chance that he'd sign with MLS some day, and it seems that day is here. As a highly touted player before the draft, what can Greg bring to the Rapids and where do you see him fitting into the team?

When we drafted Dolby he was a player we thought very highly, he can either play in the central of our defense or in the midfield, also can cover the right side of our back four.

With many players in and out because of call ups to the national team, any good player is welcome.

VI. Quite an impressive win by the Dutch over Italy this week in the European Championship. Do you follow Euro 2008 and if so, which team do you think is going to win the crown?

We all follow the games and watch those most of the time together, great win by the Dutch team but Italy will bounce back.

Portugal is looking very good, and if the Orange Machine can keep the same level, those two teams could be on top at the end of the tournament. Sorry I don’t have England up there.

Portugal winner

Click Here to Discuss. Class VI members only.

Rapids vs. Galaxy, June 7th, 2008

by Geoff McPherson

There are days where internet just straight out ROCKS!!! With limited coverage from mainstream media it allows us to lose ourselves in our addiction with self minded MLS information deprived fans to the wee hours of the morning. In the big picture it provides the ability for the MLS and the Rapids to grow cost effectively at the grassroots level.

This week while the group of Class VI fans jet to LA for the weekend, I head to St Louis for family commitments. For a town that is trying obtain a MLS franchise finding a MLS friendly pub on Saturday night is nonexistent based on my research endeavors to date but thanks to a quick Visa transaction with MLSLive.tv my Rapids fan persona is quickly back to a peaceful equilibrium in this baseball obsessed town.

The Rapids are providing all the same excitement and frustration that surrounded us in our youth, you know that cute girl at college when you thought you had a chance one weekend was then quickly wiped away the next as she was out on a date with some Eddie Vedder wannabe from her woman studies course. The high low teasing cycle would continue for months similar to this seasons’ Rapids ability to get a great win one week and then stand us up at the bar the following week, maybe this weekend we will get over the hurdle of obtaining two wins on the trot.

We go with 4-3-1-2 formation with Mastroeni in NY for the national team providing LaBrocca a massive task in the midfield. Casey and McManus are upfront, Harvey and Clark get have the honors of canceling out Beckham, Peterson I question on the right. The Donavan less Galaxy go with 4-4-2 with Beckham given the freedom to do what ever he wants on right because he’s David Beckham.

Live internet feed of the game is great…….then bollocks, Beckham delivers a great cross from a free kick in the 4th minute, Casey goes up like a bobble head doll missing the header, Pires reacts quicker than the Rapids defense and we are down 1-0. Where was the defense? Fifteen minutes in and we don’t have the same solid platform coming from the midfield with Mastroeni out.

We can’t get a shot off from inside the box, the Galaxy defense is hold strong in open play but looks ugly defending corners, we are attacking the offensive corners like 5 year old cluster instead of a couple of us holding off for the rebounds. Somewhere around the 25th minute we start playing the Rapids fast pace game, creating holes in the LA half, with three in the midfield we look vulnerable to the quick break.

Jimney Cricket two chances, two goals for LA, defense is pointing fingers of who should pick up whom and Burpo is not exactly a confidence builder, 2-0 LA.

4-4-1-1 may have been better with Casey rested for the game or even 4-4-2 with Gomez on the bench (sacrilegious I know) but Beckham and crew have too much space. Casey is playing too deep, basically because he is not getting any service from the midfield, our midfield transition to Casey and McManus is disjointed like a first preseason game

Just before the end of the half Gordon for LA is rightfully sent off for retaliation against Erpen who should have had a yellow card but gets a red as the ref who is having a good game to this point, suddenly starts implementing the letter of law.

Half time 2-0 Galaxy and time for some proactive Rapids Father's day shopping at www.mlsgear.com to avoid getting some 'what the hell were they thinking' dust collector.

For the second half Ballouchy comes on for Peterson and we go for a more 3-4-2 formation, its 10 v 10 which provides Beckham more space than you can poke a stick at. The Rapids are wearing borrowed blue shorts from the Galaxy due to logistical pant issues from Denver and are on borrowed time if they want to turn this around.

For some reason when the Rapids go down a couple of goals they start believing in themselves, take on more players and be more creative, its like the kids are given the creative freedom they need to express their ability. Is the constant changing formation restricting their ability? Is the liberty to try something different stifled by the culture within the dressing room? Or do the rigid strategies from the coaching staff not blend well with this year’s squad? Questions that are impossible to answer from our vantage point, but when these guys believe in themselves the soccer is fantastic.

Ok enough of my soap box monologue…..now where was I?…..oh yeah Casey, Clark, McManus, Ugo all huff and puff for the second half, with three at the back we roll the dice, go down another to a first career goal by Allen for LA, 3-0. Finally we just relax and have fun which results in the team showing its creative energy which provides glimpses of a possible come back.

Liveliness of Cummings and Herculez are brought on in the 60th and 77th minute respectively and supply the space for Clark who makes Xavier the ‘Poodle hair Donkey’ look comical for the second time this season with a great strike from the edge of the box 3-1 LA. Herculez reacts quicker to a lose ball in the box 3-2 with 8 minutes and time added on left. We throw everything forward, LA Galaxy look exhausted but manage to hang on.

As I finish the rest of this match report from Starbucks in suburban St Louis, tracking my Rapids merchandise purchase that has just left Louisville, KY reflecting back on the game I realize that with the world of the internet, Myspace, Facebook, widgets, it also unfortunately allows the communication of how we got stood up by the Rapids again to be very visible just when we thought this summer was going to be a flirty fun trips across the county like the montage footage of every early courtship seen in a romantic comedy.

Come Thursday after we would have finished the emotional roller coaster of what happened Saturday night; we will text\email\Google the Rapids and see what the plans after this weekend.

Road Trip Report

Well, I'm finally feeling a bit more rested after the weekend Supporters Road Trip to LA. We had eight people fly into LAX and we met up with another Rapids fan, who brought an LAG fan (but Jose was cool, so we'll forgive him!).

We took our rental van over to Hollywood and walked around the Chinese Theater looking at all the hand prints. I was quite excited to see R2-D2, C3PO, and Darth Vadar! And then we took a double decker that had the roof chopped off, for a tour around Hollywood. I must say, I never do these kinds of tours when I venture away from Colorado, but I really enjoyed the tour and Hollywood.

Game time was approaching, so we had to jet, but not before we did another thing I thought I'd never do in my life - bought a map of the Stars Homes. Why would I do that? Well, we packed in the van in search of the home of every girls' favorite MLS player. We have a very nice picture of the group and even left a warm Colorado Rapids gift! Don't worry LAPD, nothing you need to be concerned about.

We headed to our hotel where I watched Big Brown drop a Big Brown and then headed over to Alpine Village, a sort of German Market/Inn/Restaurant near the stadium recommended by our good LA Riot friend, Shooter. We enjoyed some frothy German beverages, some potato pancakes, sauerbraten, and hasenfeffer in the good company of Shooter, our newest LA Riot friend Bill, and "the Portuguese guy".

We then headed over to the Home Depot Center where we were hooked up with more new Class VI friends, the Angel City Brigade. Now many here in Colorado feel we get a raw deal from the Rapids, so I'm going to highlight some of the things we certainly should be happy about. Number one, we're allowed to tailgate. That's not the case at HDC and it rather sucked a big one. But ACB certainly work with what they got, and we enjoyed a few beers and good conversation before heading into the game.

Which takes us to our second wonderful thing about DSG Park - no metal detectors to pass through! After Chris got his artificial knee through security, we hit the head and then went looking for our $50 face value seats (we thank Andrew of LAG for our supporters price). We now examine fact number three which we should all feel lucky about - $50 seats at HDC are corner bleachers! For you keeping track at home, if you had midfield front row seats at DSG Park - you'd be paying $35. If you had a corner seat at DSG, $12. But hey, they got Golden Balls right?

The Home Depot Center is an excellent place to see soccer. I was excited to go and honestly, it lived up to the expectations. The stadium, which does seat 9,000 more than DSG Park, feels BIG. When the stadium was only half full, meaning less than a DSG Park capacity crowd, it was louder than our fine field. So that's one thing that they certainly have on us, the acoustics are either wonderful in LA or terrible in Colorado - or maybe a little of both. But it made a big difference and explains a lot of the "cathedral" criticism DSG Park gets.

You all saw the game if you're at NoFanAlone.com, so I'll skip the torture that the first 70 minutes gave us. But the LA fans were all very respectful of us sans a few spit balls. Shooter came over and brought Dave to stand with him, Bill, and the LA Riot Squad, right down front. That's when we proceeded to score two goals. To LARS credit, they were all very good hosts of Dave, but after the Rapids buried two and looked like maybe they could tie it up, Dave had the good sense to come back to us.

The LA Supporters were great and very vocal. LARS had a nice call and response with the ACB and both groups were loud and supportive all game. Good stuff. And after the game was over, as we were leaving, ACB asked us to come over and have some beer with them. Good people I'm telling you, and I hope they come to Colorado next year so we can show them our rockin' tailgate.

The next morning, since the Reserve game got canceled, we met up with Bill and Shooter in Santa Monica at a pub who's name escapes me (Ye Ole ... that's all I can remember). The place is great! We watched more Euro 2008 and then walked over to the beach, strolling along the pier and water after a great lunch there. We then returned to the pub for some US Men's team action, but were only able to see a half since we need to get back to the airport. We grabbed In 'n' Out Burgers and then waited for our delayed flight back to Colorado.

Once again Tina and Kelsey put together an awesome road trip and we thank them mightily. We got to know German a little more and Perry a whole lot more and everyone really had a good time. And if you hear any stories about any close calls with me and the rental van - they are all lies!

Springtime Progess

Well, we're a third done with the season and it's time to take a look at the team.

Goalkeeping: Bouna is doing his job, there's no doubt about that. He's only had to make a few spectacular saves this season, so we've yet to see the best of Bouna Time. Hopefully the team will be able to hold on to him during the transfer window.

The backup situation looks to be very solid now as well. With an injury to Justin Hughes, the Rapids acquired a very capable keeper in Preston Burpo. I know a lot of people are very high on Justin Hughes too, so if Bouna gets what he deserves, we should be fine for 2008! A+

Defense: The Rapids defense has allowed 12 goals in 10 games - among the top half of MLS teams. Our back line doesn't always stifle the opposition, but they do have four shutouts. Right back is still a questionable position, but there are options to be had with our deep bench. Erpen has been the constant this season, and is proving capable.

Combine the above average defense with stellar defensive play from the midfield, and the Rapids are not an easy team to score on. Nick LaBrocca's emergence this season, along with a healthy Pablo Mastroeni has even enabled the Rapids the option of playing three in the back. B+

Offense: Surprise, the Rapids have put the ball in the net 16 times this season, fourth most in the league. The acquisition of Christian Gomez is proving the spark to put the 2007 offense in the past. The question still remains whether one of our strikers will emerge as a consistent threat but Conor Casey, Tom McManus, and Omar Cummings are certainly players opposition need to be wary of.

The play on the wings hasn't been great with Colin Clark not looking as effective as last season and Terry Cooke spending time on the bench. But Gomez is making up for that with not only his play, but his ability to draw away attention from his teammates, giving them more space. But four of our five wins have come via shutouts, so there certainly is room for improvement.B

Coaching: Coaching was the number one criticism of the team in 2007. 2008 is proving otherwise. Fernando Clavijo, faulted in the past for playing players out of position and sticking with others that weren't getting it done, has turned over a new leaf this season.

The starting line up has featured 22 of the 28 man roster regularly. When a player goes down, the next player on the depth chart has stepped up (instead of putting strikers in the midfield, for example). He's changed the shape of the team three times this season, each time with success.

The team is in first place in the West, and yet, consistency seems to be this team's biggest hurdle. We've enjoyed some tremendous efforts, followed by some games where nobody showed up to play. Having yet to win two games in a row this season the question remains, which Rapids team is going to emerge? B

Front Office: A busy off season that has had it's successes and failures. Among the failures has been the inability to get a Technical Director in place and to land a jersey sponsor.

But I've yet to find a person that isn't much more pleased about the on-field product. Player acquisitions seem to have been successful so far with the additions of Christian Gomez, Rafael Gomes, and Tom McManus as well as shipping off Kirovski, Niko Hernandez, Tony Sanneh, and Jose Cancela.

Is McManus the striker everyone knew the Rapids needed in the offseason? Time will tell, but with a nice little influx of the Rapids $250,000 share of the Altidore transfer to Villareal, perhaps the team will consider adding a goal scorer this summer. B-

Overall: The team is doing much better than at any point in the KSE and Fernando Clavijo era. Bowing out of the US Open Cup is a bit of a disappointment and we're certainly not the favored team to win MLS Cup. But if our young players continue to grow and the team can achieve a winning mentality where every game counts, we should make the playoffs and could very well battle for a Super Liga spot for 2009. B

CVI Questions with Coach Clavijo: Sunday Victory!

After a hot day in the Sun coaching the Rapids back to the top of the Western Conference, Coach Clavijo checks in with Class VI

I. editor note: Question not answered.

II. The first half was played very with the Rapids controlling the game in just about every aspect. But a poor header by Rafael Gomes, Pablo Mastroeni catches a Conor Casey elbow, and suddenly with thirty fortunate seconds for Dallas at the end of the half and the game is even. What affect did that goal have on the players heading into the locker room and what did say or do at the half to get the players back on track?

Every time you give up a goal at the end of the half is not a good thing, but the boys knew that that was a fluke and we could correct what happen with a different approach.

We talked about our intensity and what we need to do to get a result.

III. Casey gets his first MLS start and goal of the season this game, but he was taken out of the game at halftime for Omar Cummings. Was was the reason for that substitution?

Precaution, he has not play a 90 minute game in over 7 months, when at half time mentioned to me that he may be able to go for another 20 minutes because of his hamstring. I pulled the trigger there… no need to risk anymore.

IV. Jose Burciaga, Jr. hasn't played in a while and wasn't on the bench this Sunday. What's the issue with Burciaga?

Jose Burciaga is healthy right now. Something he was not in the last couple of weeks, he is a very good player and will make us a better team when healthy.

V. With one third of the season down, you've got the team in first place in the Western Conference with a 5-5 record. There have been some spectacular games and a couple stinkers. What do you think is working well with the team, and what do you think needs improvement or change. How do you feel overall about the team and their performance so far?

Consistency is the biggest obstacle for us, changes in the line up has worked for us, sometimes because of tactical reason others because of injuries. But we need to find out a way to be at a level of playing and maintaining it.

VI. Well you got a very, very well earned victory Coach. What did you do with the rest of your day? How does Coach Clavijo celebrate after a game like that?

Most of the time I go home and look over the tape 3 or 4 times before I can make a clear evaluation of what happen.

The only way for me to disengage from Thinking about soccer is with my wife and my long time friend Marcelo Balboa, get my Harley Davidson and go to the mountain and later a dinner in Boulder is the weather is right.

P.S

I was approach by many people to thank me about the shirt for Preston, the kid with cancer.

Make sure that they know that I also want to thank them and especially Preston for give me the opportunity to help in any way,

My prayers are with him and his family

Fernando Clavijo

Thanks Coach and good luck in the Open Cup Qualifier this week!

CVI Questions with Coach Clavijo: Chivas Loss (Late)

Well this is a bit late due to some circumstances beyond anyone's control, but I wanted to get them out there since Coach Clavijo gives us some answers to questions many people are wondering

I. The team came out in the first half looking sloppy and having no sense of urgency. At half time, Pablo Mastroeni told Altitude Sports that the biggest change that was needed was a change of attitude. Was Pablo accurate in describing the most serious problem with the team?

Absolutely, the attitude was not right, but it is up to every single individual to motivate yourself, you just said it before, how anyone can not embraced this game. But it happens, we hope that was only 2 games and we are over with it.

II. Referee Baldomero Toledo let the game be dictated by physical play, which Chivas seemed to take advantage of. Is having an opponent who's style is exceptionally physical something the Rapids need to address as a weakness?

Our league is physical, and anyone that is not prepare to receive that kind of play is in the wrong league,

I hope that the league and the referees do a little better job in protecting the skillful players a little more

III. When Pablo Mastroeni went out of the game, it seemed perhaps he hurt his knee. Is there any injury concerns for Pablo?

Pablo was sick, and never was reported back to the coach because he wants to play, I only find out when at half time he was having big problem breathing

IV. We were fighting hard for a goal after Tom McManus' beautiful long range goal and Christian Gomez was substituted for Conor Casey in the 84th minute. What was the reason that Gomez was selected as the player removed to add another striker?

Gomez is one of the most skillful players in our team and in the league, but sometimes his lack of movements becomes an easy target defender.

V. Unable to put together back to back wins this season, the biggest challenge you seem to face is getting the players to find consistency. When you have made large tactical changes to the team, they have always responded well. When you stick with the players that brought success, they seem to come out flat on you the very next week. Why is this team having problems maintaining success game to game?

I know for a fact everyone wants to win; the issue is that not many people know what it takes to win.

Players sometimes get to comfortable on there positions and field that the effort that brought them to play is not needed, so this is why you see changes,

VI. Terry Cooke hasn't seen the field since May 4th, but has been on the bench for the last few games and hasn't appeared in the injury reports. Has Jacob Peterson beaten out Terry for the starting position?

Terry was complaining of hamstring problems from May 8th on, just about 10 days ago he is back healthy and we are looking to get him back into the lineup.

Sorry again for the delay!