Clavijo finally booted, is life beautiful?

Mediocrity no longer holds sway in Mile High land, as Colorado have finally done what they should have done a year ago and fired head coach Fernando Clavijo.

Clavijo will be replaced for the remainder of the 2008 season by Gary Smith, but we all know he's keeping the seat warm for Colorado's former fan favorite John Spencer, currently an assistant with Houston.

The Rapids front office tried to make it seem like it was Clavijo's decision. They even let him arrange a bogus "family medical emergency" to Uruguay to make it appear as if he left for personal reasons and not the stinking 40-49-25 record since 2005.

"We appreciate all that Fernando has done for this team over the last four years and wish him and his family the best," said Rapids' managing director Jeff Plush. "He has worked tirelessly on behalf of our organization and brought us some of our greatest successes. We are poised to achieve great things, and when we do we will look back fondly and appreciatively of Fernando's tenure with our club."

As of press time, the owners of the web site fireclavijo.com was still up and running. No doubt that the webmaster is out boozing it up in celebration of his successful campaign. Congratulations, how's poor Fernando going to feed his kids now?

An oldy, but a goody.

Notes from around MLS

Introducing Thierry Henry? Ronaldo? Nah.
Next year's newest MLS franchise, Seattle Sounders FC, is inviting fans to come out the Qwest Field a little early, as in this Thursday, to attend a "special player announcement" press conference. Seattle is calling it an "historic event." Could it be the unveiling of Thierry Henry as Seattle's first DP? Probably, not. What's more likely is that it is Washington native Kasey Keller. But I wouldn't call that historic -- at 38 years old maybe you could call it prehistoric. I kid because I love.

A baseball fan, a NASCAR fan and a soccer fan walk into a bar...
Chivas USA have teamed up with Auto Club Speedway and the Los Angeles Angels of MLB to create ticket packages for those imaginary people who like all three of those sports. But I have to say, I've never met a soccer fan who liked baseball or NASCAR OR a NASCAR fan who liked foreigners or soccer OR a baseball fan who liked exercise.

Time to fire up the FIreClavijo web site again
The Rapids are 2-5-3 in their last 10 matches. They have scored a paltry 14 goals in 10 matches and allowed 16. Their only wins came against a Angel-less New York and a team in just as much turmoil as they, FC Dallas. But for some reason Fernando Clavijo is still employed. Could a change be in the thin air of the Mile High City? It depends on how you interpret Hercules Gomez recent post-loss comments:

"This one hurts. Three in a row at home hurts. The last three games we have had the better of the play. That's soccer and let's be honest: Something is not working, something is not right, something has to change. We are all professionals and we know what comes with the territory. I think we need to come out with a different attitude. Deciding to play the last 15-20 minutes of the game, every game, isn't really working out."

Clavijo must have naked pictures of Stanley Kroenke.

DC go deeper than Wells
DC have added a new goalkeeper to challenge current starter Zach Wells for time between the sticks. Liberian keeper Louis Crayton has been participating in practice with the team while paperwork is completed to add him, possibly before Saturday's match at Chicago. Crayton has played for eight Swiss clubs in 11 years and made 36 national team appearances.

RSL stands for Recycled Striker Land
Guess who's returning to MLS? Everyone's favorite, fat beer-guzzling Georgian -- no, not this guy -- Clint Mathis. The Galaxy currently hold the rights to Mathis, but are reportedly willing to trade them to RSL. A deal is close to being finalized.

Revs target Tico tough guy
After acquiring, then trading Pat Noonan, it appears that the Revolution are going to use their higher allocation spot to bring in 24-year-old Costa Rica defender Gabriel Badilla from Deportivo Saprissa.

Disarray in Dallas continues
I've said it many times before, but the firing of Steve Morrow was the beginning of the end of a team that at one time had potential to be a force in MLS, now they're just a farce. Their latest brain fart? Let's ship our future, MLS All-Star Juan Toja, off to Bucharest. Ok, so they were successful in keeping one player from jumping off their sinking ship (Kenny Cooper), but how do you allow Toja to be lured away by a team called FC Steaua Bucuresti. Oh, but they're not done, as they added forward Jeff Cunningham from Toronto FC (where neither got significant playing time) in exchange for a third round pick in the 2009 SuperDraft. Cunningham? Are you serious? I won't rehash my feelings on Cunny, but FC Dallas' incompetence in player personnel is mind boggling. The 'oops also added Dutch striker Victor Sikora, 30, who doesn't appear to bring a lot of firepower, having only scored three time in 46 appearances with NAC Breda.

RSL adds Double-R, the second
No, not Robbie Rogers. Robbie Russell. I know what you're thinking. Who? Russell is a 30-year-old American right back who has never been capped and has plied his trade in Norway and Denmark. So, there's that.

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)