2011 Colorado Rapids season

Colorado Rapids

2011 season
Owner	Stan Kroenke
Coach	Gary Smith
Major League Soccer	6th
CONCACAF Champions League	Group Stage
U.S. Open Cup	Qualification Round 2
MLS Cup	Conference semi-finals
Rocky Mountain Cup	Runners-up
Average home league attendance	14,140
Home colors Away colors
← 2010 2012 →

The 2011 Colorado Rapids season was the club's seventeenth year of existence, as well as its sixteenth season in Major League Soccer, and its sixteenth consecutive season in the top-flight of American soccer.

The Rapids will be entered the season as the defending MLS Cup champions.

Background[edit]

The Colorado Rapids are coming off a season, where the club's success was highlighted by winning the MLS Cup, their first postseason title in the process. It was the first time in 17 years that a soccer club based in Colorado won any league/cup title, the last being the Colorado Foxes of the APSL.^[1]

In MLS regular season play, the Rapids finished in 7th place overall. The club was eliminated during the top-tier qualification propers of U.S. Open Cup, losing 3–0 to Red Bull New York in the fifth round play-in match.^[2]

In the Rocky Mountain Cup derby series against cross-mountain rivals, Real Salt Lake, the clubs tied one another 3–3 in season play.^[3] Because of this, the Cup was retained by Salt Lake for the third-consecutive year.^[3]

Club[edit]

Roster[edit]

As of September 11, 2011.^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 2 DF Danny Earls 3 DF Drew Moor 4 MF Jeff Larentowicz 5 MF Joseph Nane 6 DF Anthony Wallace 7 MF Josh Janniere 8 DF Eddie Ababio 9 FW Conor Casey 10 FW Macoumba Kandji 11 MF Brian Mullan 12 FW Quincy Amarikwa 13 MF Steven Emory 14 FW Omar Cummings 15 MF Wells Thompson 16 MF Ross LaBauex

No. Position Player 17 GK Ian Joyce 18 GK Matt Pickens 19 FW Andre Akpan 20 MF Jamie Smith 21 FW Caleb Folan 22 DF Marvell Wynne 23 MF Sanna Nyassi 25 MF Pablo Mastroeni (captain) 26 DF Michael Holody 27 MF Kosuke Kimura 28 MF Davy Armstrong 29 DF Scott Palguta 31 GK Steward Ceus 34 DF Tyrone Marshall - DF Miguel Comminges

Team management[edit]

Position	Name
Managing Director	Jeff Plush
Technical Director	Paul Bravo
Head Coach	Gary Smith
Assistant Coaches	Steve Guppy Brett Jacobs
Goalkeeper Coach	David Kramer
Fitness Coach	John Ireland
Team Administrator	Erik Carlson
Head Athletic Trainer	Jaime Rojas
Assistant Athletic Trainer	Craig Magri
Equipment Manager	Carlos Garcia

Player movement[edit]

Transfers[edit]

In[edit]

Date	Player	Position	Previous Club	Fee/Notes	Ref
November 22, 2010	Peter Vagenas	MF	Seattle Sounders	Acquired in exchange for Julien Baudet and Danny Earls; subsequently released	[5]
November 24, 2010	Sanna Nyassi	MF	Vancouver Whitecaps	Acquired in exchange for an international roster slot	[6]
November 24, 2010	Anthony Wallace	DF	Portland Timbers	Acquired for allocation money	[7]
December 3, 2010	Joseph Nane	MF	Toronto	Acquired for 3rd round 2012 SuperDraft pick	[8]
December 15, 2010	Tyrone Marshall	DF	Seattle Sounders	Re-Entry Draft	[9]
March 1, 2011	Steven Emory	MF	Metro State College	Free	[10]
March 1, 2011	Michael Holody	DF	Unattached	Free	[10]
March 16, 2011	Caleb Folan	FW	Hull City	Undisclosed	[11]
March 30, 2011	Danny Earls	DF	Seattle Sounders FC	Free	[12]
March 30, 2011	Josh Janniere	MF	Toronto FC	Acquired for 3rd round 2013 Supplemental Draft pick	[12]
April 14, 2011	Eddie Ababio	DF	University of North Carolina	SuperDraft, Round 1 pick	[13]
September 9, 2011	Miguel Comminges	DF	Southend United	Free	[14]

Out[edit]

Date	Player	Position	Destination Club	Fee/Notes	Ref
November 22, 2010	Julien Baudet	DF	Seattle Sounders FC	Traded for Peter Vagenas	[5]
	Danny Earls	DF	Seattle Sounders FC		[5]
November 24, 2010	Anthony Wallace	DF	Portland Timbers	Expansion Draft, subsequently reacquired	[15]
November 24, 2010	Ross Schunk	FW		Waived	[16]
December 8, 2010	Peter Vagenas	MF	Vancouver Whitecaps	Option declined, free transfer	[17]
December 8, 2010	Claudio López	FW		Option declined	[17]
December 8, 2010	Ciaran O'Brien	MF	Atlanta Silverbacks	Option declined, free transfer	[17]

Standings[edit]

Conference standings[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Qualification or relegation
1	LA Galaxy !LA Galaxy (SS) (W1)	67	34	19	5	10	48	28	+20	2011 MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2	Seattle Sounders FC !Seattle Sounders FC	63	34	18	7	9	56	37	+19
3	Real Salt Lake !Real Salt Lake	53	34	15	11	8	44	36	+8
4	FC Dallas !FC Dallas	52	34	15	12	7	42	39	+3	2011 MLS Cup Play-In Round
5	Colorado Rapids !Colorado Rapids	49	34	12	9	13	46	42	+4
6	Portland Timbers !Portland Timbers	42	34	11	14	9	40	48	−8
7	San Jose Earthquakes !San Jose Earthquakes	38	34	8	12	14	40	45	−5
8	Chivas USA !Chivas USA	36	34	8	14	12	41	43	−2
9	Vancouver Whitecaps FC !Vancouver Whitecaps FC	28	34	6	18	10	35	55	−20

• ^Note 1 - The top three clubs in each conference are guaranteed spots in the 2011 MLS Cup Conference Semifinals. The other four clubs in the playoffs enter via wild card entrees, regardless of their conference, based on their overall standings in a single table.

Overall standings[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Qualification or relegation
1	LA Galaxy !LA Galaxy (SS) (W1)	67	34	19	5	10	48	28	+20	2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage 2
2	Seattle Sounders FC !Seattle Sounders FC	63	34	18	7	9	56	37	+19
3	Real Salt Lake !Real Salt Lake	53	34	15	11	8	44	36	+8
4	FC Dallas !FC Dallas	52	34	15	12	7	42	39	+3
5	Sporting Kansas City !Sporting Kansas City (E1)	51	34	13	9	12	50	40	+10
6	Houston Dynamo !Houston Dynamo	49	34	12	9	13	45	41	+4	2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage 2
7	Colorado Rapids !Colorado Rapids	49	34	12	9	13	44	41	+3
8	Philadelphia Union !Philadelphia Union	48	34	11	8	15	44	36	+8
9	Columbus Crew !Columbus Crew	47	34	13	13	8	43	44	−1
10	New York Red Bulls !New York Red Bulls	46	34	10	8	16	50	44	+6
11	Chicago Fire !Chicago Fire	43	34	9	9	16	46	45	+1
12	Portland Timbers !Portland Timbers	42	34	11	14	9	40	48	−8
13	D.C. United !D.C. United	39	34	9	13	12	49	52	−3
14	San Jose Earthquakes !San Jose Earthquakes	38	34	8	12	14	40	45	−5
15	Chivas USA !Chivas USA	36	34	8	14	12	41	43	−2
16	Toronto FC !Toronto FC	33	34	6	13	15	36	59	−23	2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round 3
17	New England Revolution !New England Revolution	28	34	5	16	13	38	58	−20
18	Vancouver Whitecaps FC !Vancouver Whitecaps FC	28	34	6	18	10	35	55	−20

• ^Note 1 Teams qualify for the MLS Cup Conference Semifinals by finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their respective conferences.
• ^Note 2 Since the LA Galaxy won both the 2011 MLS Supporters' Shield and the 2011 MLS Cup, a place in the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League became available. The Seattle Sounders, the 2011 MLS Supporters' Shield runner-up, had already qualified as they also won the 2011 U.S. Open Cup. Therefore, the CCL place went to Real Salt Lake, the 2011 MLS Supporters' Shield third place. Houston Dynamo, the 2011 MLS Cup runner-up, also qualified for the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League. All four teams directly enter the Group Stage as the Preliminary Round has been eliminated from CCL.
• ^Note 3 Toronto FC qualified for the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League as winners of the 2011 Canadian Championship.

Results summary[edit]

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	Pts	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
34	49	12	9	13	44	41	+3	6	2	9	25	16	+9	6	7	4	19	25	−6

Last updated: November 13, 2011
Source: MLSSoccer.com
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

Results by round[edit]

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	H	A
Result	W	W	W	L	L	L	T	W	T	T	T	T	T	T	W	L	L	T	T	W	L	W	T	W	W	W	D	L	L	L	D	W	D	W
Position	2	2	1	2	3	5	7	5	4	7	7	7	7	8	6	8	8	8	8	8	9	8												5

Matches[edit]

Preseason[edit]

Major League Soccer[edit]

Regular season[edit]

All times Mountain Daylight Time.

Last updated: October 22, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids

MLS Cup Playoffs[edit]

Last updated: November 2, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids

CONCACAF Champions League[edit]

By winning the 2010 MLS Cup final, Colorado Rapids have qualified directly into Group Stage for the 2011-12 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. It will be Colorado's debut in the Champions League and their first time participating in a CONCACAF club competition since 1997.

Group Stage – Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Santos Laguna	6	4	1	1	16	6	+10	13
Isidro Metapán	6	3	0	3	10	15	−5	9
Colorado Rapids	6	2	1	3	9	12	−3	7
Real España	6	1	2	3	9	11	−2	5

All times Mountain Daylight Time.

Last updated: October 19, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids

U.S. Open Cup[edit]

Last updated: March 30, 2011
Source: Colorado Rapids

Miscellany[edit]

Allocation ranking[edit]

Colorado is in the #12 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club’s ranking.^[18]

International roster spots[edit]

Colorado has 7 international roster spots. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots, which can be traded. Colorado dealt a spot to Vancouver on 24 November 2010. Press reports did not indicate if or when this roster spot is to revert to Colorado.^[19] The club also traded a spot to New York Red Bulls on 14 September 2010 in the Macoumba Kandji trade. The trade of this spot was not included in the press release and it is not known when this spot reverts to Colorado.^[20] The club acquired a spot permanently from Real Salt Lake on 29 June 2005.^[21]

There is no limit on the number of international slots on each club’s roster. The remaining roster slots must belong to domestic players. For clubs based in the United States, a domestic player is either a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (green card holder) or the holder of other special status (e.g., refugee or asylum status).^[18]

Future draft pick trades[edit]

Future picks acquired: 2013 SuperDraft Round 4 pick acquired from Houston Dynamo.
Future picks traded: 2012 SuperDraft Round 2 pick traded to San Jose Earthquakes; 2012 SuperDraft Round 3 pick traded to Toronto FC; 2012 SuperDraft conditional pick traded to FC Dallas; 2013 Supplemental Draft Round 3 pick traded to Toronto FC.

References[edit]