No team wins a championship without talent, endurance, determination, spirit, luck, good coaching, and various other intangibles. For the Colorado Rapids, other elements of their play proved indispensable as they captured their first MLS championship.
Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney analyses how the Rapids won the title.
'IT’S A MINDSET.’ Colorado’s unorthodox methods of scoring goals in the playoffs mirrored a resolute stubbornness that imbued players with mutual confidence and belief regardless of results. Down a goal to Columbus on aggregate in the conference semifinals and trailing by a goal again in the final, both times the Rapids prevailed. When it squandered opportunities to subdue San Jose with a second goal, it preserved that precious 1-0 lead to the final whistle.
Only once did the Rapids come back from a goal down to win in the regular season – against the Galaxy in the 29 th game of a 30-game season – yet captain Mastroeni believes that even if that feat hadn’t been attained he’d have been confident it could be done in the playoffs. “Coming from behind it’s not so much the result at the end, but the belief that you can get the result,” says the 34-year-old midfielder who played 13 seasons and 312 games before reaching his first MLS Cup.
“Too often in this game it’s too easy to be down a goal or two and just quit. We finish every game 90 minutes, it doesn’t matter if we’re on the wrong end. It’s a mindset. You lose a lot of games in the season but you learn from those games. You realize you’re not far away from getting the result you want. We did it late in the season against LA and against Columbus, to come back, and today was another example of that.”
Moments after Kandji’s bank shot, he hobbled off injured, leaving his teammates to fight off desperate FCD attacks with 10 men. Keeper Matt Pickens broke FCD’s hearts with a stunning, diving parry of John’s blistering low shot, and defender Drew Moor cleared an attempt that might have been going wide but presented danger nonetheless.
“I just reacted and thankfully I came out on top,” said Pickens modestly in the locker room just before shaking up a bottle of champagne, one of more than a dozen to be sprayed and poured on Mastroeni, surrounded by his teammates, as he danced and laughed with the team’s new trophy.
A few of his teammates praised not just the save, but an excellent season for which he’d received scant praise. “Matt was someone who deserved much, much more credit,” said Jeff Larentowicz, the ex-Rev whose own contribution drew heartfelt acclaim amid raucous, joyous horseplay in the locker room.
“That’s a compliment to Drew and Marv [Marvell Wynne] who played in front of him all year. They took all the defensive accolades but Matt was always there, and tonight our jaws dropped, because it was an unbelievable effort.”
Early in overtime, center back Julien Baudet had replaced left back Anthony Wallace, dinged up and slowed by a hamstring strain. Moor moved to left back. In the final minutes, as FCD crashed the goalmouth again and again, with Pickens’ save and Moor’s block and a few howitzer headers from Baudet and Wynne, the Rapids held on.
“It was the longest 10 minutes ever,” said an effervescent Kimura, saturated in bubbly and exuberance. “Even after the 10 minutes passed in overtime, but still they had extra time, added minutes, and we had no idea what’s going on. It seemed like they were never going to blow the whistle. They had a couple of good chances, but Matt Pickens, Julien came in and did well, Marvell and everybody did their job. That’s why we got it.”
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