There's something to be said for looking at Opening Day 2007 as the high-water mark for the Colorado Rapids season. Don't get the wrong impression - it's not as though everything was downhill after that cold April afternoon that saw the season kick off at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. But the thrilling victory against D.C. United in front of a sold-out house at the opening of soccer's newest state-of-the-art soccer specific facility was everything Rapids fans could hope for to launch a memorable season.
Ultimately, getting a handle on the largest field in MLS proved a season-long struggle for the Rapids. They went on to battle to three ties and a loss at their new home before notching another win against L.A. at the end of May, and they endured two more losses and a tie in Commerce City before finally establishing a sense of dominance at home, running off three consecutive wins in August and putting together a five-game undefeated streak on the new field before finally falling on the last day of the season.
"The three-game win streak at home was nice," said veteran defender Mike Petke. "We thought we were going to build on that. Unfortunately we weren't able to capitalize on it. That was a nice little stretch, but besides that there's no high point to the season, because we didn't make the playoffs and we kind of failed."
It was the Rapids' first failure to make the MLS Cup Playoffs in the past six years and the extended offseason left a bitter taste for the players after what had started out as a league-wide celebration of Colorado soccer.
Between the First Kick festivities, the midsummer hoopla surrounding the MLS All-Star Game with Scotland's Celtic FC, the Rapids' hosting of a SuperLiga match between Pachuca and Chivas, an exhibition match pitting Colorado against China and an international friendly between Mexico and Colombia, Dick's Sporting Goods Park was a happening place all season long.
The Rapids tried to adapt to their new facility early on, and new midfielder Herculez Gomez electrified the crowd with the park's first goal on opening day and another goal against Chicago in Week 2 that remained in the running late for MLS Goal of the Year, but it was a season-long learning process as they staked out ways to take advantage of their home field, and the Rapids ended up a disappointing 12th in goals scored among the 13 MLS teams, besting only expansion Toronto FC.
"In the beginning it was a little tough, because none of us had played on a field that size before," said Stephen Keel, a mainstay on the Rapids reserves who suited up for 13 Rapids games and saw his first 177 minutes of MLS action this year. "As the season went on, we finally kind of figured it out. That showed when we went on a three-game home win streak there at the end. Obviously the last game with Salt Lake we weren't so lucky, but we definitely figured it out."
The three-game stretch at home, besting Houston 1-0, New England 3-0, and L.A. 3-0, was the unquestioned highlight of the season, coming on the heels of an extended stretch that found the Rapids at rock bottom. Colorado had gone winless for 10 matches before knocking off a pair of first-place teams in Dynamo and the Revs and twice scoring a season-high three goals to salvage their season.
"We beat some of the better teams like Houston and New England," defender Ugo Ihemelu pointed out. "Those were positive things to look at. We tied Chicago, and they were doing well. We had some good games where we beat or played well against some of the better teams in the league. That's really promising. It lets us know that we have the talent and we have the ability, we just have to all get on the same page and bring it out at the right time."
There's the rub. Getting all the Rapids on the same page at the same time was no easy feat in '07, and the constant disruptions from national team call-ups, injuries, and trades made it challenging for the Rapids to develop a sense of consistency throughout the season. They found ample strengths in various pieces implemented on a stop-gap basis from game to game, but they were never able to solve the season-long puzzle of continuity and consistency.
"There was a lot of transition throughout the season," Ihemelu said. "Players being traded, lots of injuries. Herculez [Gomez], Daniel Gargan [both lost to season-ending knee injuries], so it was hard to really mend. We started off well, we were coming together, but all the changes threw us off and led to our inconsistency throughout the season.
"Every team in the league that has done well has come out and had consistent lineups," Ihemelu added. "Look at New England, look at Houston, D.C. - those teams have consistent lineups day in and day out. We need to get that. We have to focus on staying healthy and building ourselves up as a team so we're one strong unit."
The strongest unit on the Rapids this year was clearly their defensive unit, ranked third in the league with only Houston and Chivas USA allowing fewer goals. With Bouna Coundoul anchoring them from the net, the Rapids made dramatic improvement in an area they had targeted going into the season.
"Especially with guys going in and out of the lineup, that was our strong point," Petke said of the solid back line, while noting there was room for improvement for the team as a whole. "We were playing pretty much defense with only four guys usually the whole game. We didn't play good team defense. It seems like the guys in the back with Bouna clicked well, and that's something we have to change for next year. Not only do we have to score more goals, but we have to play total team defense. That's what the teams that you see in the playoffs right now did."
Coundoul's first full season in the goal was an unequivocal success. He posted a goals against average of 1.08, third in the MLS, and his 120 saves tied for second in the league. He recorded nine clean sheets on the season, including a big road win in New York (1-0), an equally big tie in Chicago (0-0), and the three consecutive home shutouts in August.
"Lot of pressure," Coundoul said of his first season as Colorado's No. 1 'keeper. "Now people are expecting more from me, and I also expect more from myself, because I know that I can do a lot better than this. I'm working extremely hard. I don't want any weaknesess. Wherever I left off, I'm going to take from there and go to the skies, unlimited."
As the Rapids look to improve in '08, the model of their defensive core should give them something to build from. As the last line between the ball and the net, Coundoul and the defenders came together as teammates with a common goal.
"Everything has to be with the team," Coundoul emphasized. "If it was only me standing there it's going to be something else. The guys got my back, and I've got their back. We all got to pitch in. That's why we're the third defensive team in the league. Everybody pitched in."
Coundoul was the most visible part of a progression of younger Rapids stepping up to take responsibility throughout the season. An "under-the-radar" highlight for the team was the second consecutive reserve division championship secured by the Rapids, a telling sign of the depth of talent the team has to draw on as they search for the elusive chemistry to take them back to the playoffs and above .500 in '08.
"To be the reserve champions back-to-back, that's obviously something," said Keel, who was recognized as the reserve team's MVP. "To do that back-to-back is obviously very difficult with turnover of players, having a good group of guys two years in a row.
"A lot of young guys with the reserves were getting chances at the end to make an impact, like Kosuke [Kimura]," Keel added. "He started the last four games and locked down that right back spot. Omar Cummings came in and he's such a threat. Jacob Peterson. Colin Clark started off with the reserves and now he's starting every game at left mid. So obviously there's a lot of hope and promise with the reserve guys, that's essentially a filter system into the first team."
And while Petke echoed Keel's praise of contributors like Clark and Kimura, he couldn't stop short of pointing out Keel's own accomplishments, despite the young defender only getting in four games and starting one.
"I thought Stephen Keel would have gotten in a couple more games, but the game against Salt Lake he played very well," Petke said.
Though the first season at Dick's Sporting Goods Park was a success in terms of eventually settling into a new home and giving fans wall-to-wall entertainment in an unparalleled facility throughout the season, there's no getting away from the Rapids sense of their season ultimately going down as a failure.
As they started a month of offseason training in November, practicing on the back fields in Commerce City while the teams they took during the peak of their season marched on towards the MLS Cup, the competitive fire continued to burn for the Rapids. There was little to be satisfied about in '07, and they are determined to turn the page and find the way back to the postseason next year.
"We need to get this training out of the way and go home and just reboot the engines," Petke summed up. "Time off is definitely necessary after going 10 months straight and then going right into offseason training. It's tough mentally especially, but that's what we're doing, and once that's over we need to go home and rest and come back with a good attitude and hopefully get a good game plan next year. It's a crapshoot. We'll just see what happens."
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
