COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — The last couple of months have been especially good for Jeff Larentowicz.
Not only did the Colorado Rapids holding midfielder play a key role in helping hoist the club’s first MLS Cup in late November, but also he went a step further, making his international debut last weekend. The “Ginger Ninja” went 90 minutes in the United States’ draw with Chile.
“I was very happy with myself in that I made sure I had the attitude I would play all 90 minutes,” Larentowicz told MLSsoccer.com during a break from Rapids’ preseason training on Friday. “The whole experience changed my mindset coming back to the Rapids in that it has raised my own expectations.”
Larentowicz had to deal with a new formation for the Chile game, a kind of 4-2-3-1 in which he had never previously played. He had to adjust his game slightly.
[inline_node:323654]“My job was to sit in front of the defenders and dictate the midfield from there,” he said, allowing Dax McCarty and Mikkel Diskerud to be more attack-minded in the center of midfield. “The Chileans threw a lot of guys forward and, if we were all together further up the field, there would have been some big gaps.”
The “sitting” role didn’t keep Larentowicz from getting forward, but it was generally a less fluid approach than he enjoyed playing alongside Pablo Mastroeni for the Rapids. When one of them found himself further up the field, the other would typically drop back and vice-versa.
“There was more give and take and we were able to manage the game a bit easier,” Larentowicz said of last season’s highly effective partnership with the Rapids captain.
Larentowicz doesn’t know if he will be called in for the Egypt friendly on February 9. As he pointed out, his potential involvement could be moot anyway, given the sustained anti-government protests going on in Cairo right now. Egyptians have staged several consecutive days of protests against the current government.
Whether the game takes place or not—and whether Larentowicz is in the squad or not—he can enjoy the fact he has his first international cap out of the way. And he’s still thrilled by the whole experience.
“This was exactly what we were told it would be and more,” he said. “There was so much excitement and adrenalin out there.”
