Colorado Rapids Reserve Win Second Championship...
I don't know if I should be excited by the above or not. Last night the Colorado Rapids Reserve team did what the senior team has never done, won its second MLS Reserve League Championship. I am not trying to take anything away from the victory and accomplishment. I should be excited by the Rapids having the best reserve team in MLS, two years running. However, I'm not very excited by that and neither is MLS. The fact hasn't even made it to the league website and the reserve division web page is terribly out of date.
Folks, the reserve league is for developing young players, not crowning champions. The players who do well for the reserve team are supposed to make the senior team better by challenging for starting positions. That hasn't been completely true for the 2007 Rapids. While Collin Clark has stepped gracefully from the reserve team to the senior team, ineffective Jovan Kirovski has been playing on the senior team ahead of youthful talent. Kirovski is the second most played player in terms of minutes behind Terry Cooke (not counting goal keepers). As a forward we expect Kirovski to take shots and score goals. In 2007 he has 12 shots on goal. That is a 0.66% SOG/Min ratio. 12 Shots on goal all season from our most "productive" forward. There is something wrong people!
Yes, the Rapids have injury problems up top, however Jovan wasn't playing because better players weren't available. He was paired with Conor Casey up top when Herculez Gomez sat on the bench. Jovan was paired with Herculez Gomez while Casey sat on the bench. Reserve team standouts Jacob Peterson and Omar Cummings sat on the bench while Kirovski got the start week in and week out. The two top, up and coming strikers on the team were relegated to a seat while Kirovski continued poor on field production. I'd give you some better stats but the league website hasn't been updated with Rapids Reserve stats since July.
That's how I feel folks. I hope the reserve league plays some more games next season since there will be another team or two out there. Getting these young guys games helps them develop for the senior team. Next season I hope to see more talent moving from the reserve team to the senior team like Collin Clark.
Folks, the reserve league is for developing young players, not crowning champions. The players who do well for the reserve team are supposed to make the senior team better by challenging for starting positions. That hasn't been completely true for the 2007 Rapids. While Collin Clark has stepped gracefully from the reserve team to the senior team, ineffective Jovan Kirovski has been playing on the senior team ahead of youthful talent. Kirovski is the second most played player in terms of minutes behind Terry Cooke (not counting goal keepers). As a forward we expect Kirovski to take shots and score goals. In 2007 he has 12 shots on goal. That is a 0.66% SOG/Min ratio. 12 Shots on goal all season from our most "productive" forward. There is something wrong people!
Yes, the Rapids have injury problems up top, however Jovan wasn't playing because better players weren't available. He was paired with Conor Casey up top when Herculez Gomez sat on the bench. Jovan was paired with Herculez Gomez while Casey sat on the bench. Reserve team standouts Jacob Peterson and Omar Cummings sat on the bench while Kirovski got the start week in and week out. The two top, up and coming strikers on the team were relegated to a seat while Kirovski continued poor on field production. I'd give you some better stats but the league website hasn't been updated with Rapids Reserve stats since July.
That's how I feel folks. I hope the reserve league plays some more games next season since there will be another team or two out there. Getting these young guys games helps them develop for the senior team. Next season I hope to see more talent moving from the reserve team to the senior team like Collin Clark.
Labels: Colorado Rapids, MLS, MLS Reserve League
posted by Bonji at
10:34 AM
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