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23 May 3:00 pm

BREAKING: It may be difficult for Colorado Rapids fans (and perhaps some staff or players) to believe, but we have good reason to believe that the coin used by U.S. Soccer to determine the home team is not double-sided.

Earlier this week U.S. Soccer announced that the Rapids - should they win their Third Round U.S. Open Cup match at Orlando City on May 28 - would face the winner of the Sporting KC vs Des Moines Menace match in the Fourth Round on June 12. Of course, if Sporting KC defeats Des Moines, Colorado would travel to KC - marking the Rapids' 12th consecutive road match in the Open Cup for Colorado.

U.S. Soccer - which is based in Chicago - invited Chicago-Fire.com editor Jeff Crandall to attend the flip for both the Third and Fourth Rounds, and gave Crandall the opportunity to report what he observed. Crandall was admittedly skeptical of the process, but he provides a thorough description of both draws (READ HIS DESCRIPTION OF THE THIRD ROUND DRAW).

After going into greater detail for the bigger Third Round draw, Crandall today shares details of the much smaller Fourth Round draw, stating it was "a bit more straight forward and regional compared to last week’s. In fact, the fourth round draw didn’t utilize envelopes or slips of paper, just as much geographic sense as possible and the bicentennial silver dollar."

What we know is that U.S. Soccer Competition Secretary Paul Marstaller overseas the draw. He placed the Fourth Round matchups into geographical pairing. From the Rapids-Orlando and Sporting KC-Des Moines pairing, all but Des Moines applied to host the fourth round game. In other words, the flip was won by the Sporting KC-Des Moines pairing - so the Rapids didn't win the flip with Des Moines,but rather would host the game by default since the Menace didn't apply. READ THE DETAILS HERE

21 May 3:37 pm

On Saturday I wrote how Colorado Rapids rookie Dillon Powers was hoping to get from San Jose to Indiana in time to make it to his graduation ceremony at Notre Dame on Sunday morning. It was a trip that afforded no room for error or delays. Powers was held out of the match at San Jose - which probably helped him the pursuit. He didn't need to clean up and was able to get a ride to San Francisco Airport in time.

From his twitter handle we knew he made it to Chicago on time, but we didn't know if he made it to the Commencement in time

Well, on Monday he tweeted that he had made it. Here's Dillon in cap and gown in front of touchdown Jesus.

14 May 10:54 am

Take a look at the photo above of a youngster in Haiti and see if you notice anything familiar.

Most see a kid or young man about to kick a soccer ball - looks like a corner kick. What you might not notice is that it's an adidas MLS match ball. And his cleats? They used to be worn by a Colorado Rapids player.

Here's how this came about.

The team's chaplain, Rev. Brad Kenney - who, by the way, used to be part of the Rapids Media Relations department back in the day - is part of the CrossTraining ministry. One of the functions of the ministry is to put organizations in touch with others that may be able to provide assistance through what they call the Timothy Project.

A couple of months ago Brad was contacted by a local church that was going to Haiti to work with children. So Brad casually mentioned it to a few of the Rapids players in their weekly chats. The players got together to donate some well-conditioned gear which included cleats, pinnies, shin guards, and soccer balls from previous seasons. Brad said that Stew Ceus, who has played for the Haiti national team (his parents are Haitian), also donated personal items.

Thought it was neat seeing these items put to use - and positively affecting a group so far from here. Here's more on the Timothy Project - Haiti for those interested.

13 May 11:09 am

You might have seen the other article on how Denver's Roger Espinoza helped Wigan Athletic win the FA Cup on Saturday. Here are some additional highlights of the big upset as posted by the FA.

Extended highlights...

Pitchside highlights...

09 May 11:27 am

There were a bunch of games on Wednesday (watch all the goals here), but none had as impressive of a highlight as the NYRB vs Montreal match - in which New York's Thierry Henry almost casually scored on a bicycle / over head kick.

Here's what Henry said after NY's 2-1 win: "It was a good goal, don't get me wrong, but at the end of the day we had to score a goal," said Henry. "I've had the opportunity to score some good goals in my career but you kind of think about it at the end of you career, not right now."

I don't agree with announcer Shep Messing's call. It was an awesome goal, and he made it look way too easy. It also became the Top Play on ESPN's SportsCenter. But goal of the decade? Really? What do you think?

01 May 5:22 pm

It was a story that went viral early in the week, and then spread like wildfire through twitter on Wednesday. You'll quickly realize why when you watch the video above (warning, might need tissues), but I wanted to give another shout out to the Portland Timbers and their fans for this amazing show of compassion towards a young fan. If you're hearing/seeing this for the first time, here's how Portland described the day though a press release:

In front of more than 3,000 Portland Timbers faithful – converted for a day to support a special wish made possible by the club, the Timbers Army and Make-A-Wish® Oregon – eight-year-old Atticus Lane-Dupre netted four goals, including the game-winner in the waning moments of the match, to power The Green Machine to a 10-9 victory over the Portland Timbers at JELD-WEN Field Wednesday afternoon in Portland, Ore.

The Timbers teamed up with Make-A-Wish® Oregon to grant the wish to Atticus, who learned he had cancer last fall and missed his last soccer game of the season with his teammates on The Green Machine. Guided to victory by Timbers head coach Caleb Porter, The Green Machine faced a formidable Timbers side that included a Starting IV.

When Atticus had the chance to make a wish, he chose to scrimmage the Timbers at JELD-WEN Field, home of the Timbers. Prior to Wednesday’s game, Atticus was outfitted with his own locker next to Timbers captain Will Johnson, while he and his family were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the Timbers locker room and workout facilities.

After the game Atticus exchanged jerseys with Johnson, and then, in keeping with Timber's tradition, he held up a slice off the victory log for his four goals.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTO GALLERY HERE

22 April 5:17 pm

Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of the group, Rabbit, nor of their song, "In My Blue Jeans." But now I can't get the song out of my head.

I first heard the song in video called Soccer Walking New York, then in Soccer Walking Philadelphia, and Soccer Walking Chicago, and, you can see where I'm going...all across America!

Former MLS player Jared Montz runs his own soccer drills website called OnlineSoccerAcademy.com. Jared is using his site to promote Soccer Walking America - a 45 day, 15 city video series tour he created to raise awareness of the fight against malaria and encourage soccer players worldwide to juggle to save lives in the OSA World Juggle-a-thon for Nothing But Nets on April 25, 2013; World Malaria Day.

Jared came to Colorado to shoot his video on April 8-9. He was able to get a lot of footage before one of our now weekly snow storms, and then went to the Sports Dome to get Clint Irwin, Drew Moor, Tony Cascio, and Edson Buddle to join in. Jared also juggles with Academy midfielder Bryan Windsor and his brother and dad.

You can participate, too. Join the "Juggle to Get Better, Juggle to Save Lives" World Juggle-a-thon for Nothing But Nets on April 25th at 6pm from anywhere in the world.

Click here to become a Juggler and Fundraise

Or Click here to make a One Time Donation

Then go watch the rest of the videos from each of the other MLS markets on the OnlineSoccerAcedmy YouTube page and get that song stuck in your head, too. Hey, oh, oh!

22 February 10:13 am

Edson Buddle has only been with the Rapids a few weeks. But as a MLS and U.S. national team veteran, he's known some of his new teammates for some time, including Marvell Wynne. That has made the transition to the Rapids that much easier, as evidenced by the fact that Marvell trusted Edson to give him a new haircut.

On the right is what Marvell looked like at the start of preseason camp. On the left, a few weeks in when he saved his head before the group went to Vegas.

Apparently, he wasn't done with his new look. Here's the image Edson tweeted on Thursday:

21 February 4:36 pm

Obviously, Colorado is no stranger to snow, although it's been a bit sparce in the Denver metro area the past couple years. On Feb. 20-21, 2013 Commerce City received it's first decent snowfall since last October. So when I got to the stadium on Thursday I couldn't pass up the chance to take new photos of the new adidas Prime match ball on the field at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

 

01 February 6:04 pm

The past few days have been a little unnverving for Rapids midfielder Martin Rivero. The 23-year Argentinian suffered a broken bone in his right foot just before the end of the first half of the first preseason game on Tuesday. It was the first broken bone that he's suffered as a professional, and the ensuing surgery was also a first for the second-year playmaker.

But one thing that has kept him positive is the connection he's built with fans through his twitter handle. Rivero has chronicled and given fans - in Spanish and English - a unique behind the scenes perspective of his week, starting prior to the match, as he returned to Denver, on the surgery table, and afterwards. See below: