We are less than two weeks away from the Rapids' first game back since the season suspension on March 12 and the focus now shifts to making sure the team is match-ready.
“Training for us has been great,” Drew Moor said. “It’s been intense since we started individual workouts, actually. Robin [Fraser] and the coaches and the training staff have put together workouts that are as game-like as possible in the individual session in phase two, got our heart rates up. It’s been intense. Then, since we started full team training, it’s been very focused. Just trying to pick up where the season stopped.”
The team has been approved for voluntary individual training since May 6 and then approved for full team sessions as of June 4. They depart for Orlando on July 5, one week prior to the team’s first match on July 12. While some clubs have chosen to go early to Orlando, the Rapids decided to train for as long as possible at elevation on their home turf before departure.
“I think everyone is feeling like we’re close to the tournament, and we need to keep going forward,” Diego Rubio said. “I think everyone was taking this very seriously from the start, but now even more so because we’re very close.”
“It’s been a long time since we’ve really competed against other teams,” Moor added. “And I think everyone is just ready to get there and start the competition.”
The Rapids' first match of the tournament is set to be a must-see affair when the squad will face rival Real Salt Lake. RSL is currently 0-0-2 on the season, the only team in Group D that is not entering with a 2-0-0 record. Despite the less favorable opening results in 2020, Real Salt Lake is coming off a 2019 campaign that saw them finish third in the Western Conference and no matter the records, these two sides always produce heated battles.
“It’s always an intense game against RSL. I don’t think it matters if we’re playing home or away or at a neutral site like we will be,” Moor said. “And it’s our first game. It’s important that we jump right into it and make sure we’re playing at a high level and put some emotions into it because that’s a game that I know our fans will be extra interested in, and that makes us extra interested in it.”
With only a handful of training sessions left before the matches begin, time is ticking. There isn’t just one thing that is the primary focus at this stage in the process.
“We’ve been trying to really work on our team attack, our team defending, specifically in our attack, our timing and precision, to take decent build ups and turn them into actual meaningful attacks,” head coach Robin Fraser said. “That’s been a big focus because we certainly feel like you’re going to need to be sharp down there, and, when you get your opportunities, you need to be able to take them.”
After the matchup against RSL, the Rapids will then take on Sporting Kansas City on July 17 and Minnesota United FC on July 22. Both teams, like the Rapids, came out of the gates with two consecutive wins. Only four total teams in all of MLS started off with back-to-back wins, and three of them are in Group D.
“We’re going to play three good teams,” Fraser said. “Everything we’re doing is keeping that in mind. It’s good to finally know who you’re going to play first and certainly that becomes your focus over the next couple of weeks.”
Above all else, the team is excited to get back on the pitch. The matches won’t be happening in traditional ways, but the fact they are able to commence in a safe way continues to be the most important thing to this Rapids group.
“I am so excited,” Rubio said. “I love soccer since I was a young guy, so it’s really good. It’s really good to play games. Of course, not the way that we probably imagined, but it’s fine, it’s good to go back. We’ve been waiting for this a long time.”
“It’s a great opportunity to play given the conditions,” Fraser said. “For us, it give us the chance to play again. We feel like we’re on the cusp of something pretty special.”
