Rapids' season over after semifinal playoff exit
Commerce City, Colo. – It was a little after 1 pm when the bus bringing the Colorado Rapids back from the airport pulled into the player lot at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Thursday to make its final drop off of the year. Nine months after their preseason trip to Arizona, the Rapids completed their 24th and final journey of the year after being eliminated from the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs last night by Sporting KC.
“It’s deflating,” head coach Gary Smith told ColoradoRapids.com. “When you’ve experienced the final, and victory as well, you know what there is on offer. And when you fall at the second hurdle as it was for us, and you know that if you can get through that double-legged affair, you’re one game away from the final again – where anything can happen - it’s hugely disappointing.”
Sporting KC defeated the Rapids 2-0 in both legs to win the series 4-0 on aggregate and move on the Conference Championship game. Unlike last year, when the Rapids played in the final on November 21, this season they find themselves already reviewing the year, and looking ahead at what comes next.
“When you have a little time to just look back and reflect on how the season unfolded,” Smith said, “You start to realize what the guys have been through, what we’ve had to endure, and it all plays into the equation. You can’t just say ‘well, we’re good enough, we should have got through,’ because timing, health, all those things go into getting to the final and winning the Cup.”
The way the season ended was a microcosm of the way it unfolded: with several key players unavailable for the final game through injury or suspended.
“We were talking briefly last night about when you try to keep a championship squad together, how many times they actually played together this year,” Smith said. “It’s not many.”
The 11 players that started the 2010 MLS Cup final for the Rapids all started the season opener on March 19 against Portland and played 61 minutes together in the 3-1 victory. That was the one and only time that group was on the field at the same time all year.
Injuries, suspensions, and international duty kept Smith from having everyone available at the same time the rest of the way, leading to weekly adjustments to the game day lineup. Still, the group managed to get themselves back into the postseason, and past the first stage. They had club’s best road record since 1999, and sustained only three losses at home – finishing each with only 10 men.
“It’s been a very good year, it’s been a very tough year, it’s certainly been an extremely draining season for all sorts of different reasons,” Smith said. “And to still continually compete and do well, I’m proud of the guys.”
In a League with competitive balance, where teams that don’t make the playoffs are assisted with higher draft picks and allocation money, the task to repeat as champions was going to be difficult. Since the inaugural two years of the League, when DC United won back-to-back titles, only 2005-06 Houston Dynamo repeated as Cup champs.
“It’s not easy, and there’s a reason why only one team has been able to complete a repeat,” said Smith. “It’s very, very tough.”
After 44 competitive games, hundreds of hours spent on planes, airports, hotels, and buses, the team is done with training sessions for the year. The players will come back on Monday for a team meeting and to begin exit physicals and get their offseason training plans. For Smith, who is out of contract at the end of the year, he’s awaiting a resolution on his status.
“Moving forward, of course there’s always thought of how and where and what might be needed to be successful again next year,” he said. “If I’m here, then of course there’d be one or two areas that I’d like to look at. But I think the first thing is to get some clarity for the club on where we’re going and who’s going to be in charge.”
Smith said he and the front office have been in negotiations for a new deal, and he’s hopeful a decision can be reached in the near future.
The first phase of the offseason is deciding which players to expose to the expansion Montreal Impact in the Expansion Draft on November 23.