Marked for Cameron Johnson
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 May 2035
A defender's goal wins it for Colorado Rapids — 7.35
1 for Max Bruns, marked 7.35, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market7 May 2035
“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 The request is on a desk at Colorado Rapids, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 May 2035
Zavier Gozo 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.
Squad7 May 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jalen Hawkins commits to Colorado Rapids for another 2 years.
The dugout7 May 2035
The manager makes an example of Zack Steffen
“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.
Squad7 May 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Jones was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 May 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings7 May 2035
Marked 8.14 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Apr 2035
Toronto FC go through and Colorado Rapids go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces9 Apr 2035
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Market9 Apr 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.
Market9 Apr 2035
“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.
Transfer targets9 Apr 2035
Everything agreed with Los Angeles Football Club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad9 Apr 2035
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.
Match7 Apr 2035
A 1‑0 win over Los Angeles Football Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words at Colorado Rapids training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Magallón 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
The manager makes an example of Jalen Hawkins
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Mar 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colorado Rapids is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2035
Fee done, terms next for Adam Yedlin
Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles Football Club have settled on $250.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Luca Wright: 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.
Market12 Mar 2035
“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.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Josh Acosta arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Josh Acosta has, at Colorado Rapids, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
New York Red Bulls will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Cristian Lora has pre-agreed a move to Colorado Rapids, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Player ratings12 Mar 2035
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.