2015 MLS Preview: Your Colorado Rapids
By Matt Hoffman
Barring a work stoppage, 2015 is quickly approaching and now it’s time to took at team who want to take a step forward after taking a few steps backwards in 2014, the Colorado Rapids.
Quick Numbers:
Crazy Eights
2014 Record: 8-18-8
Conference Standing: 8th Place
League Standing:
18th
17th Place
Finish: Poorly earning seven points in the team’s final 17 games (1-4-12)
Top Scorer: Deshorn Brown (10)
Top Playmaker: Dillon Powers (9)
Greatest Moment: Beating eventual MLS Cup Winner LA Galaxy 1-0 to improve to 4-2-2
The Colorado Rapids came into 2014 following a massive rebuilding effort that saw the make the postseason for the first time after a a two-year postseason hiatus. The team started the season well enough having positioned themselves in playoff position going into the all-star game at the season’s midpoint. An injury befell defender Brian Mullins and the center could not hold. The team spiraled off into the deep end leaking goals like a sieve.
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The team explored options at goalkeeper position but the insertion of Joe Nasco as the backstop only hastened the team’s demise. What had appeared to be a curious oddity because a wholesale tire fire that saw the team’s beat writer (allegedly) fired for suggesting (allegedly) that the coaching staff alone wasn’t entirely to blame for a team that managed to get only one single win during the entire second half of the season.
Sep 19, 2014; Sandy, UT, USA; Colorado Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni (right) looks on against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. Real Salt Lake won the match 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
FUN FACT: Despite having friendly sibling-like relationship with Arsenal (the teams share the same principle owner), we learned that not much has been shared between the two franchises other than a few stats here and there and perhaps a couple of volume software licensing agreements.
Key Arrivals:
If you’ll excuse the fact that every year ends with the LA Galaxy winning the championship, Major League Soccer is (with said exception) a very competitive and often unpredictable.
The Rapids made some big wholesale changes which could reap immediate dividends for the team including signing a young designated player. Designated players have seldom done well in Colorado (is it the altitude). The team has had a rumored dalliance with plenty of players (even promising to bring a “Peyton Manning” style name) but with the season nearly on us, it’s safe to such speculation was more aspiration than operation.
It was no coincidence that the team slid off the rails when Mullins went out last year. To address this, the Rapids brought in Marcelo Sarvas and Sam Cronin: two tough, veteran center of the field players who exude grit and toughness. Sarvas, the unsung hero of the Galaxy’s recent exploits and Cronin will protect a backline including Zac MacMath or Clint Irwin.
But the biggest acquisition may be in the front office. This move could be primed for failure: Padraig Smith has no experience in either building a team (he’s been a compliance officer for FIFA) or with Major League Soccer. Yet there is no denying the Irishman’s intelligence judging already on his ability to maneuver deftly in a salary capped league.
Key Departures:
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Rapids have cut ties with 19 players (so far) in this offseason, more than any other team in MLS (so far). The necessary change meant that both veterans such as Mullin, Edson Buddle, Nick LaBrocca (options declined), and Marvel Wynne (expansion draft) and young players former top draft picks who weren’t getting it done on the field (Carlos Alvarez and Danny Mwanga to name two) were shown the door.
The Big Question: Is it enough?
Likely no. The young talent is there in Deshorn Brown, Dillons Powers and Cerna (it’s hard to convince anyone that any team has done a better job drafting than the Rapids, go ahead and try. FC Dallas doesn’t count). The veteran leadership is there and the team is no longer coached by a guy who hasn’t coached a game before. It would take a series of unexpected, Job-like calamities to be worse than last year.
But every other team has gotten better too. And it’s probably been less than a day from the last time we reminded you that the the Western Conference has just included Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo, two teams that combined for three MLS Cup final appearances over the last four years.