Although they haven’t been guilty of playing with fire, the Rapids’ defense has been getting burned this season.
In Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Houston, Dynamo forward Brian Ching twice beat defender Mike Petke with headers off corner kicks. Ching’s first header led to a goal and the second was saved by goalie Joe Cannon.
Ching’s headers were the Dynamo’s best scoring chances. That kind of minimum effort with maximum gain has been a theme for Rapids’ opponents.
Coach Fernando Clavijo would not point fingers outside the locker room, but said individual efforts were lacking, especially on corner kicks and free kicks.
“As a defensive unit, we are not doing a good job of defending on set pieces,” Clavijo said.
The Rapids (1-2-1) have given up the first goal in each game this season and wrap up a four-game homestand Saturday against D.C. United (3-0-2).
Giving up the early goal in three home games has let opponents pack it in defensively, as Houston did to perfection. Colorado is 1-1-1 at Invesco Field at Mile High this season, picking up just four of a possible nine points.
Winning battles in the air was a Rapids specialty last season when they had Nat Borchers and Jean Philippe Peguero to help Petke.
Some help is expected to come Saturday with the debut of veteran defender Aitor Karanka. Although not an aerial force, Karanka’s experience has Clavijo confident he can be the team’s defensive cornerstone.
Salary figures
Salary figures obtained by The Washington Post last week gave insight to the hush-hush world of MLS contracts, which are held by the league to promote fairness and keep teams roughly around a $1.9 million cap.
According to the report, Chivas USA forward Juan Francisco Palencia is the highest earner, with a guaranteed salary of more than $1.3 million. Los Angeles’ Landon Donovan ($900,000) is second, and Kansas City striker Eddie Johnson ($875,000) is third.
The highest earner on the Rapids’ payroll is Clint Mathis, who will make a reported $410,000 this season. Clavijo has confirmed that Mathis’ past team, Real Salt Lake, is picking up the majority of that tab for several seasons.
Clavijo could not confirm the accuracy of the payroll figures, but said they sounded close.
“They have to be somewhat around those numbers,” he said. “I don’t think they are too much off.”
Based on those figures, the Rapids rank eighth out of the 12 MLS teams in guaranteed salaries with a payroll slightly less than $2.1 million.
