TORONTO – Colorado Rapids captain Pablo Mastroeni says he spurned overseas interest from clubs in Italy and Spain to stay in Major League Soccer.
Mastroeni is in his ninth season with the Rapids and will play in his first career MLS Cup against FC Dallas on Sunday (8:30 pm ET, ESPN/Galavision/TSN2).
The height of the foreign interest in the two-time World Cup veteran began in 2007, when Italian Serie B outfit Brescia made advances. But Mastroeni says the club "didn't really offer anything to sway the league" at the time.
The following year, which saw the Rapids experience an upheaval with Gary Smith taking over for Fernando Clavijo as head coach, Spanish La Liga club Málaga inquired about the Argentine-born Mastroeni.
Those talks did not go far after Smith convinced Mastroeni of his plan to lead Colorado to be a contender.
“If I had pursued it any more it probably would have been a legitimate situation,” Mastroeni said of the Málaga interest. “It was always a possibility. But deep down inside I really wanted to stay in Colorado win in Colorado.
“When Gary took over and said, ‘I want you to stay on board and help me grow this,’ I looked at it like a perfect opportunity for myself. … It was close, but in the end I ended up where I wanted to be.”
