Colorado
Toronto FC makes a deal with Colorado Rapids to add to Robin Fraser's coaching staff
TORONTO — New head coach Robin Fraser added to his coaching staff Friday with Toronto FC making a deal to pry loose two of his former assistants from the Colorado Rapids.
To get assistant coach Neil Emblen and video coach Jase Kim on board, Toronto sent its first-round pick in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft to the Rapids. As part of the deal, TFC may receive US$175,000 in general allocation money and retain a sell-on percentage if the pick turns out to be one of the top three in the drafts.
“I’m really happy that we were able to get them,” said Fraser. “I know it comes at a price but I think it’s worthwhile … I do feel like this project needed a fresh kind of feeling. And certainly these are people that I’ve been through a lot with and have a great deal of trust in.”
The two new additions join incumbent goalkeeping coach Simon Eaddy, director of performance Cesar Meylan and performance analyst Peter Galindo.
TFC left Friday for Spain to continue its pre-season preparations.
Emblen has spent the last seven years with Colorado, where he served as both an assistant coach and “the main coaching link to the recruiting department.”
A former defender and midfielder whose playing career stretched from 1987 to 2011, Emblem had stints with Tonbridge Angels, Sittingbourne, Millwall, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Walsall in his native England before moving to the Southern Hemisphere to play for the New Zealand Knights and Waitakere United.
“They still chant his name at Wolves,” said Fraser.
“I love his character. I love his enthusiasm for the game,” he added. “He’s a very good coach.”
Emblen coached Waitakere to three straight New Zealand league titles between 2010 and 2012. He managed New Zealand at the 2012 London Olympics before serving two matches as New Zealand’s interim head coach in 2014.
Kim joined Colorado in January 2018 as a first-team video analyst after serving first as a performance analyst and then head performance analyst for the New Zealand national team. Kim was also part of the New Zealand technical staff at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2025
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
Colorado
Dangerous fire situation looming for parts of Colorado’s Front Range, as another day of strong winds lies ahead
Dangerous weather conditions in Colorado are expected to team up for a surge in the Front Range fire danger. For most of the day Friday conditions will be favorable for rapid fire spread. Avoid outdoor burning and any activity that may produce a spark. Friday will be a First Alert Weather Day.
The triple threat of hurricane force winds, record heat and single digit relative humidity will all be in force from 10 a.m. to midnight on Friday. That is when a red flag warning for high fire danger is issued.
For the first time in Colorado, the National Weather Service office in Boulder has issued an extra warning know as “A Particularly Dangerous Situation” for northwest Jefferson and western Boulder counties for possible wind gusts of 85 to 105 mph.
The worst areas will be from Highway 93 up into the higher foothills. That, combined with single digit relative humidity, will make conditions worse that what the state experienced on Wednesday.
For the northern Front Range, the strongest winds will be west of I-25 into the foothills. Along and east of the I-25 corridor including the Denver metro area, winds may gust up to 40 mph with humidity levels as low as 8%. For that reason, the entire Denver metro area is in the warning area.
The strong winds will be warming downslope winds for eastern Colorado with highs on Friday shooting up into the 60s and 70s. Denver may have a new record high of 70 degrees. The old record is 67 degrees last set in 2023.
Top wind gusts may likely be stronger than Wednesday. Those gusts were hurricane force in some areas of the foothills and mountains with gusty winds comparable to those of a category 2 or 3 hurricane.
DENVER (KDVR) — Strong wind gusts at the speed of a Category 3 hurricane swept through two Colorado counties on Wednesday.
Strong winds blew through the state on Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands without power, causing safety road closures and recording wind gusts reaching over 100 mph. In some areas, winds were even higher, with Summit and Grand counties seeing 124 mph wind gusts.
At 9 p.m. on Wednesday, one weather station on top of Breckenridge Peak 6 picked up a wind gust of 124 mph in Summit County. Then, at 9:52 p.m., another weather station at Parsenn Bowl Summit in Grand County picked up a wind gust of 124 mph, according to National Weather Service records.
These two wind gusts weren’t only the strongest gusts on Wednesday, they were so strong that they were comparable to the strength of a devastating hurricane.
The Pinpoint Weather team said it was the strength of a high-end Category 3 hurricane. These winds also compare to a high-end EF2 tornado, which could damage one or two family residences, according to NWS.
These weren’t the only areas that saw high winds. Several counties across Colorado saw winds higher than 100 mph throughout Wednesday.
The Pinpoint Weather team expects the wind to continue into Friday with continued fire danger. The winds are expected to slow down throughout the weekend.
Some students at Colorado schools won’t be going to school on Thursday. That’s after strong winds on Wednesday on the Front Range and in the foothills caused power outages.
More than 100,000 customers were without power late in the day on Wednesday.
The closed schools include all of the Boulder Valley School District and 25 schools in Jeffco Public Schools. Schools in Gilpin County and Clear Creek County are also going to be closed.
See the full list of school closings.
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