Marked for Tate Johnson
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Mar 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market10 Mar 2036
Tate Johnson hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colorado Rapids can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
Gio Acosta: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colorado Rapids have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Mar 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Connor Robinson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colorado Rapids the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Words at Colorado Rapids training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Max Bruns is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match8 Mar 2036
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. San Diego Football Club had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad10 Mar 2036
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Olger Escobar out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colorado Rapids will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Feb 2036
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Colorado Rapids, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Feb 2036
The name of Zavier Gozo has come up in conversations Colorado Rapids were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Zack Steffen in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colorado Rapids this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Max Bruns falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
Max Bruns gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market18 Feb 2036
Tate Johnson is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Colorado Rapids has been clear about where Tate Johnson stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market18 Feb 2036
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Colorado Rapids know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Boardroom18 Feb 2036
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Feb 2036
46 days out for Olger Escobar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Colorado Rapids will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Olger Escobar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market4 Feb 2036
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Tomás Stagnari falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
Something was said to Tate Johnson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of Connor Robinson
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market4 Feb 2036
The Zavier Gozo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Zavier Gozo signs something — a contract at Colorado Rapids or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
Gael Delgado has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gael Delgado has written the date down.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colorado Rapids, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Oct 2035
Zack Steffen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Jalen Hawkins falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
Marked 8.47 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Market8 Oct 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Jul 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colorado Rapids they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings23 Jul 2035
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.92, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Lazar Stefanovic has agreed terms with LA Galaxy for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Frankie Westfield was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
Zack Steffen gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Jul 2035
Jalen Hawkins falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings23 Jul 2035
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match21 Jul 2035
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Jul 2035
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.