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Last night Colombia defeated Mexico 2-0 in a friendly played in Miami. Today I asked Rapids and former Colombian National Team midfielder Jaime Castrillon if he aims to get back on his country's squad. He says his only concentration right now is to do well with the Rapids, and then who knows if that will help him get back in the mix for his country.
Jaime has scored five goals with the Colombia national team, and you might be surprised to learn what two of those goals have in common with the Rapids.
Goal #1: July 17, 2005. The opener for Colombia in a 2-1 win over Mexico in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinals in Houston's Reliant Stadium, thus eliminating Mexico from the tournament.
Goal #2: December 28, 2005. The lone goal in Colombia's 1-2 loss to Comunidad Valenciana in a friendly played in Spain.
Goal #3: July 2, 2007. Against Argentina in a 4-2 loss in group play of the 2007 Copa America played in Venezuela. His goal made the scored 3-2.
Goal #4: July 5, 2007: Against the United States in a 1-0 win in group play of the same tournament. He beat now teammate Drew Moor (right) to the ball before heading it in the goal. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE GOAL:
Goal #5: August 22, 2007: The game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Mexico in a friendly played at Dick's Sporting Goods Park (watch below):
On any given day, one can walk by the break room here in the front office and be happily surprised to see free treats sitting there waiting to be snapped up. I've seen sandwiches, bagels, burritos, chips, cookies, etc. Different departments take turns, and even individuals are known to bring goodies to share.
But there's one day each month where we've come to anticipate - even get excited for - the sweet treats.
The KSE Spirit Committee - among other roles - sends out a company wide email on the first of every month wishing Happy Birthday to all employees who were born in that particular month. They also send celebratory birthday treats to each facility later in the afternoon. We never know what it will be - but you often see staff casually passing by the break room to see if the treats have been delivered.
In the theme of St. Patrick's Day, today's March birthday treats were green frosted cupcakes and cookies.
Happy March Birthday, KSE staff!!
If you've ever been out here at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park complex during this time of year, you've likely noticed the 'coyotes' that are sitting all over the fields. They are actually wooden cut outs places throughout to look like coyotes in an effort scare away the prairie dogs that like to dig their holes everywhere.
The reason the park uses coyotes? Because they, too, like to roam around the complex - like this guy (below) that was running through the parking lot this morning.
Rapids forward Omar Cummings today helped the Jamaican national team defeat host New Zealand 3-2 out in Auckland, New Zealand.
From the video highlights we see that Omar assisted on Tramaine Jones' goal in the 53rd minute with a nicely weighted through ball which Stewart hammered home.
According to the Jamaican Observer, Omar played 65 minutes before he was replaced by Navion Boyd, who would go on to scored Jamaica's third goal.
And here's odd note to Stewart. He was on the same flight with Omar that left LA for New Zealand last Saturday. Once they landed, apparently Tramaine forgot he had brought an apple with him, and was consecuently fined for not declaring the 'risk goods' upon landing. The Jamaican Observer has this story, stating the Jamaican National Team lawyer said an appeal 'would be fruitless.' No mention if the pun was intended: HERE'S THE STORY.
Before the team departed for Hawaii, Oscar Pareja had invited fellow Colombian midfielder Andres Sarmiento as to train with the group. El Michi, as he's known in Colombia, has now returned to his former club in South America, with a positive experience of his week in Colorado and towards Pareja and assistant coach Wilmer Cabrera.
"Training with that club was a great pleasure for me in my career," he told Vanguardia.com. "(Pareja and Cabrera) were kind with me and made me feel like a compatriot. My relation with them is very good."
Sarmiento has already begun training with Atlético Bucaramanga. FULL STORY (SPANISH)
We want to give a shoutout to the Colorado Rapids front office staff for taking the Fight for Air Climb on Sunday. The group was part of the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment team that climbed the 56 stairs - 1096 steps - of the Republic Plaza building in downtown Denver in a fundraiser to help fight lung disease and promote lung health. The KSE team finished 3rd overall as the individuals collectively raised over $5000 for the American Lung Association of Colorado.
The staff that participated were: Caleb Alexander, Jordan Allerding, Wayne Brant, Gretchen Claypool, Christa Dellebovi, Sara Frazier, Ossie Hamrick, Chris Hoffner, Emily Kilcoyne, Lindsey Nielson, Chelsea Hedrick, Kristen Sonsma, and Traci Swanson.
One of the common conversations heard among the players after Friday's game was about seeing the Rapids colors in the stands at Aloha Stadium. It was a welcome surprise to the players, especially since these are preseason games being played so far away from Colorado.
We knew that Kosuke, Pablo, and Kohei had friends and family in the stands, and we also heard fans calling out players names from the stands both before and after the game. Unfortunately we didn't get to find out who these fans were.
But we did get to talk to eight Rapids season ticket holders that are here for the games. The photo above shows Brandi and Bruce Mahaffey, Pamela Houpts, and Art, Ana, and Joddy Shipley, who ended up moving over and sitting right behind the team bench.
I also met third-year season ticket Stephanie Adams, who timed her busines trip just right to catch Friday's game before flying back to Colorado that evening. And some of you may have followed the tweets from Richard Bamber, a member of the Bulldog Supporters Group that flew out and posted photos and videos on the Bulldogs twitter account (@BulldogSG).
Finally, we met this group (below) of fans from Hawaii that have taken the Colorado Rapids as their team, mostly because of their interaction via twitter with Drew Moor and Eddie Ababio. They brought signs for both players and got to meet them in person. They then helped keep fans in Colorado updated on the game by tweeting their thoughts from inside the stadium. On Friday they stopped by at the hotel and met and got autographs from a bunch of the players.
And finally, we also want to thank and recognize the fans that stayed up late throughout the country late Thursday / early Friday following our tweets.
Forward Andre Akpan made an astute observation the other day on twitter that got us thinking. Are there other players who look like people we've seen - whether other celebrities or just people down the street?
Holy look-a-like! Tony @Cascio14 = Adrien Brody image.toutlecine.com/photos/o/x/y/o…
— André Akpan (@auakpan) February 23, 2012
Rapids rookie Tony Cascio (left) and Academy Award winner actor Adrien Brody:
The Hawaiian Islands Invitational hosted all four teams in the tournament at the 
Starlight Waikiki Luau on Wednesday evening. A nice traditional Hawaiian dinner was followed by a live show. At one point the dancers went around and grabbed one player from Rapids - Stew Ceus, and a player from Busan and brought them on stage to dance. Imagine what the other teams might have thought of the Rapids when they saw the huge Stew up there. CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS.
The skills competition continued after Wednesday's practice inside Aloha Stadium. Today is was the Crossbar Challenge. It's very simple: kick a ball from 20 yards and try to hit the crossbar. The team that hit it most wins. It was funny to see how many guys hit the bar while goofing around, but then...well, here you go: