Reason for hope in 2025

In some ways, the Colorado Rapids’ 4-1 loss in their elimination game against LA Galaxy on Friday night was an example of the season they had put together: down, all the way up and then all the way back again.

First, a one-off goal was stopped via a deflection at a bizarre angle that you might encounter once in a thousand games. Then a roar of a shot to tie it up and gain momentum. In the end we conceded two goals in the final phase.

The Rapids’ season followed much the same pattern: a 4-0 flop at Portland in the opener, an unlikely run to third place in the Leagues Cup and a thirteen-game unbeaten streak at home, followed by seven defeats in their last eight games.

But the Rapids showed energy and character in many big moments, something that couldn’t be said the two years before.

As painful as the season ended, 2024 offered a glimmer of hope. Like the sea of ​​burgundy and blue flags that pulse back and forth in the 39th minute at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Friday night, football is alive again in the Centennial State.

Life back in the stands

When Keegan Rosenberry reflects on the 2024 MLS season, his first as captain of the Rapids, one of his proudest achievements was reviving the fan base.

The fanbase had just come off the worst season in franchise history in 2023, just a few years after crashing out in the first round of the 2021 MLS Cup playoffs as the Western Conference’s top seed. And the fans started to forget what winning felt like.

The 2024 season, with a revived culture behind coach Chris Armas, washed that flavor away until the latter part of the season.

“Part of our goal to start the year was to regain that fan base after a few failed seasons. Last year in particular was very disappointing and difficult to get through. We had to win some people back,” Rosenberry said. “I think we’ve done that and I think we’ve made new fans out of people and that’s a big achievement in our eyes.

“There are some tangible achievements with the Rocky Mountain Cup, third place in the Leagues Cup, (a spot in) the Champions Cup, all these things, but I think the way we’ve come together and immediately, under new leadership , started this new system with new tactics and ramped it up. It is very difficult to achieve such a major turnaround from one year to the next.”

Lessons learned

Armas doesn’t go a day without learning something about his team, a player or some aspect of coaching. For the first-year Rapids coach, it’s one of the best ways to improve at any level.

The foundation he helped lay in Colorado was built in part by encouraging everyone around him to do the same. For midfielder Oliver Larraz, who scored on a long-range effort against LA and forced penalties with a better goal in the third-place League Cup match, training came quickly.

After some injuries left the defensive midfield thin, Larraz was thrust into a starting role early on after playing just 22 minutes in the MLS. After 27 starts, 36 games and more than 2,200 minutes, the 23-year-old discovered that whatever he uses to rest and recover, he should probably get the high-mileage stuff next season.

“(I learned) what impact a season has, how long it is and how important the playoffs are, because I feel like we had a very, very good season and ultimately, in terms of the MLS Cup, we don’t do that’ I have nothing to show for it,” Larraz said. “So going into next year, just focus on doing the right things throughout the year and preparing yourself for the end of the year because that’s when what really matters is making it to the playoffs and then being done having to go for it completely, which was new for me. .

“In my mind (in the past) you always go the same way all season, fighting until the end of the season and then it’s kind of a relief at the end of the season, we’re done. But this season has shown me that it is important right now.”

Valuable investment

Aside from the culture of Armas, whose urgency matched his grandiose goal-setting, the fact that the Rapids have poured relatively big money into players who made immediate and consistent contributions is encouraging. After signing former center back Moïse Bombito for a club-record $7.7 million, they are in a good position to do more of the same this season.

The most glaring need for club president Pádraig Smith this season, apart from finding a new star out wide and in defensive midfield, is adding depth to the squad.