CHULA VISTA, Calif. – It’s a new season, and the Colorado Rapids have made a lot of changes.
Sure, head coach Pablo Mastroeni is still in charge, as he leads the team for the second season. And the young up-and-comers like Dillon Powers, Deshorn Brown, Clint Irwin, Shane O’Neill, and Dillon Serna are back.
But the Rapids have brought in considerable MLS experience in the offseason, obtaining goalkeeper Zac MacMath on loan from Philadelphia, defenders Michael Harrington and Bobby Burling, and midfielders Sam Cronin and Marcelo Sarvas, all of whom started the majority of their teams’ games last season.
It was an approach that worked wonders for D.C. United in going from worst to first in 2014. Can Colorado, who finished in eighth place in the Western Conference in 2014 and went winless in their final 14 games, make a big comeback this season?
For starters, having a full offseason to prepare appears to have put the coaching staff in a better position heading into the new season.
“It was the first time I’ve been involved with bringing players into the group and molding them to what we currently have, and continuing to bring in players that think alike and that can bring some experience to a relatively young group,” Mastroeni told MLSsoccer.com last week from preseason training in San Diego. “Just having that time to prepare is critical, let alone bringing in players.
“My staff and I started working the day our season ended in lieu of this year and what we needed to do make sure that we were well planned for the preseason. Bringing in the right kind of players, and continuing the foundation that we started last year. So it’s a whole different perspective, and one that’s for me much easier to deal with on a day-to-day basis.”
Given the on-field struggles last year, there has been an emphasis on making sure the veteran players, new and returning alike, set the tone for the group this season.
“I tell my guys, this is their team, you need to own this team, you need to make the right decisions on and off the field,” Mastroeni said. “You guys control each other and I think that’s the most important thing in having guys like Marcelo [Sarvas] and Bobby Burling and Sam Cronin that come over to this group, Michael Harrington, these are all guys that have played for a while in this league and it’s important to get those guys to feel like it’s their [team].”
For his part, Sarvas, who is coming off an MLS Cup win with the LA Galaxy last year, said he was prepared to step up for his new team.
“Well, it’s hard to talk about myself but every time I have the opportunity to bring something to the table and add something to the team, I try to do [it] in the right way. And if I become a leader I will be glad to help the boys and help Colorado,” Sarvas told MLSsoccer.com.
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When discussing a benchmark of success for the Rapids this year, opinions differed somewhat between coach and players. While Sarvas, Powers, MacMath and Argentine import Lucas Pittinari all said the minimum objective would be to get the team back into the playoffs this year, Mastroeni took a more philosophical approach.
“Success for me is continuing to improve with every phase of the preseason. Continuing to develop a philosophy and a mentality that not only I instill but that the group takes ownership of. To build an environment where we’re the hardest team to play against and one of the most attractive to watch,” he said.
“…I don’t spend any time talking about where we want to go. I look at what we’re trying to achieve day to day, and how that fits into the weekly plan, how that fits into a three-month plan…And if we do all those things right, with the kind of quality we have, I think we’ll be in a much better place than we were last year.”
