Colorado's rapid decline or 'Life is(n't) beautiful'

BigSoccer moderator prk166, whose real name is Allen according to his profile, recently registered the web address fireclavijo.com, calling for the head of Colorado head coach Fernando Clavijo. After being called out on Dino Costa and Marcelo Balboa’s radio show, he called in and defended his position (as much as he could with ’Celo talking over him). The gist of the conversation was that he believed it was time to make a change.

Look, I like Clavijo. He’s funny and reminds me of Italian director Roberto Benigni, but Allen might have a point. Clavijo has never coached a team that has finished above .500 in either New England or Colorado, and he is near the bottom in winning percentage among MLS coaches both current and former.

If statistics aren’t your thing, consider Colorado’s 4-1 most recent loss, to DC United last night. The Rapids were without Kyle Beckerman and Herculez Gomez, while DC was missing Ben Olsen due to national team duty in Copa America. ’Celo and other Clavijo sympathizers have pointed to injuries and call-ups as reasons for Colorado’s 4-7-3 start, citing a lack of team depth to deal with the losses. But last night, Colorado had Pablo Mastroeni back from Gold Cup duty to solidify a defense that has become notoriously porous late in games.

With Colorado up 1-0, veteran defender Mike Petke was injured and substituted in the 29th minute and then Greg Vanney handled the ball in the box, giving DC the equalizer from the penalty spot. It was still 1-1, though, until Clavijo decided to sub Mastroeni, in the 71st minute, bringing on Stephen Keel for his MLS debut. And like removing the lynchpin from the axletree, that’s when the wheels fell off the truck, and DC scored three goals in 16 minutes.

Today, the Rapids made a move to perk up the shrinking violets of their defense by trading defender Greg Vanney to DC for Argentine defender Facundo Erpen. Vanney handles the ball in the box and gives away a penalty; the next day he’s traded…wow that’s cold.

But the young Argentine defender, while a decent addition that makes the backline younger immediately (average age now 29, instead of 30), has been inconsistent with DC, so he’s certainly not the answer to Clavijo’s backline problems. And rumors swirl around another Argentine acquisition, forward José Luis Calderon, who currently plays for Estudiantes de La Plata. But, again, not going to help with the defense.

Allen (prk166) quotes Clavijo on his pink-slip site as saying, “I’ve been saying all along it would take 3 years to put a group of players together and this is 3 years, so no excuses. Everything is falling into place and you have to believe that this is our time.”

Well, at least one fan doesn’t believe, Fernando, and he’s calling for your head.

(Click here for Allen’s soccer bog, where he takes TYH to task on the Cunningham-Esky trade)
Just for the record: Cunningham has 2Gs, 1A in 5GP for TFC; while Esky has 1A for RSL in 5GP. But I’m not ready to concede, just yet. For my take on the trade, click here)