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The Colorado Rapids made plenty of moves this offseason to turn around a franchise coming off a historically bad season. The minimum objective for new head coach Chris Armas is a return to the playoffs. Here are five keys to getting there.
Start, finish halves swinging
The Rapids consistently played worse, and gave up more goals, in the first and last 10 minutes of halves. Of the team’s 54 goals against, half of them came within those time frames.
Former head coach Robin Fraser often chalked it up to the team struggling to settle in, but the pattern never resolved itself and nobody could pin a definitive cause. Teams pounce on any hint of vulnerability, which last season sunk the Rapids on multiple occasions. That must change.
To be effective this season, the Rapids have to execute Armas’ strategy of pressing hard and out-hustling teams in the midfield and attacking third from kickoff and dictate their own tone, not the other way around.
Be better on set pieces
Losing Jack Price to a ruptured Achilles just 37 minutes into his season last year was a huge blow, particularly on set pieces, where the Rapids struggled on both sides of the ball. The Rapids parted ways with him when the season ended.
Connor Ronan proved to be a worthy replacement in that role and was formidable in live play as well on his way to being named the Rapids’ MVP. For comparison, Price had seven assists on set pieces in 2021, when the Rapids finished atop the Western Conference. Last year, Ronan recorded six.
Since aerial threats like Andreas Maxsø and Cole Bassett remain on the roster, set pieces are intriguing to think about, especially with new additions who can put themselves in good positions to score directly off services or clean up rebounds.
Culture shift
There were times last season when it appeared the Rapids were going through the motions and not enjoying the game. To be fair, it’s hard to find the fun in being a bottom-of-the-table team.
Since being hired, Armas has said the right things and shown he is serious about shifting the culture and getting the Rapids back to winning ways.
So far, it appears the team is having more fun at practice. Players joke with each other more frequently and help clean up cones, balls and other equipment whenever possible.
If anything, it’s a good start.
Advance to Leagues Cup knockouts
Armas and crew have made their intentions clear: competing for and winning every trophy available to them. Step one is making it into the knockout stage of a competition.
There is still some uncertainty around the U.S. Open Cup and who exactly is allowed to participate from MLS, be it first-team players or MLS NEXT Pro squads, so put a pin on that for now.
The Rapids were abysmal in the group stage of Leagues Cup last year, losing 2-1 at eventual runner-up Nashville SC, then getting walloped at home by Liga MX side Deportivo Toluca 4-1. They followed that up by being outscored 9-0 in their following three league matches.
This year, the Rapids drew Portland, which missed the MLS playoffs by a point last season, and Club León, which has been sliding down the Liga MX standings as of late.
With the tournament coming right before the final stretch of the MLS regular season, a deep Leagues Cup run — even if the Rapids don’t win it — could be the confidence boost they need to solidify a spot in the playoffs.
Find depth
The Rapids were ravaged by injuries early on last season, which set a horrible tone for how things would turn out as a whole.
On paper, the roster is top-heavy, which makes sense considering the attention needed and given to putting together a quality starting lineup. In comparison, few moves were made for depth over the offseason, meaning many of the reserves from last season will play the same role again. With an improved starting lineup, bench players have no choice but to improve, too.
Through preseason, Calvin Harris and Jonathan Lewis seem to have improved, with both scoring in multiple preseason matchups. Kévin Cabral and Darren Yapi have also found the back of the net, which is encouraging given some confidence issues from both last season.
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