COMMERCE CITY — Pink, after all, is just a color. In men’s sports, however, it’s the hue of humor.
Colin Clark — the once unheralded Fort Collins midfielder, turned starter, turned potential national team player who also has become the unofficial sex symbol of the Rapids — examined his pink Puma cleats Thursday and smiled beneath his purposeful scruff.
“When I saw them I was like, ‘Oh, boy,’ ” Clark sighed. “I’d like to have sent them back, but they came from France. I’ve been wearing them and . . . ”
“They’re terrible,” teammate Ciaran O’Brien deadpanned in passing.
Fortunately, Clark, 25, has developed thick skin. It’s a locker-room necessity when you’ve been featured in a recent “MLS Eye Candy” spread in CosmoGirl magazine, where Clark described himself as “shy, charming and chivalrous.”
Other descriptions of Clark, who admits trash talk fires him up, sound tougher. Blessed with a left foot many players and coaches around the world covet and a fearless attacking style, Clark has been tapped as the left winger of the future for the U.S. if his evolution from raw to refined continues.
Coach Gary Smith always has spoken generously about Clark’s potential, and the offseason addition of friend and assistant coach Steve Guppy has provided the perfect mentor. Guppy, whose professional career spanned nearly 20 years in England, Scotland and the U.S., was considered by many in the U.K. to be second only to David Beckham in crossing the ball into the penalty area.
“The hardest thing in soccer is to score a goal,” Guppy said. “The second-hardest thing in the game is to take a player on. When you look around Europe and the world, there’s not too many people that can do it.”
Give Clark a yard and he’ll usually make something happen.
“I don’t need to beat the player to get the ball in the box; I just need a yard,” Clark said.
But speed and a tireless engine are only two dimensions. Guppy is working with Clark to whip his crosses, rather than strike the ball with his laces, and improve his repertoire of moves that will stun a defender long enough for separation.
“To get to the next level, and to be continually beating players and being effective, you do need a trick,” Guppy said. “You can’t just push it by players all the time.”
In last week’s 2-2 draw with the Seattle Sounders, Clark’s first cross — off his laces — sailed long. His second, following a step-over and shoulder dip, whipped in just inches over Conor Casey’s head.
Clark said he surged with confidence after that sequence. He went on to score his second goal of the season minutes later.
The irony is that Clark’s inability to cross the ball to the standards of previous coach Schellas Hyndman, and a disagreement about playing time, led Clark to leave Southern Methodist after three seasons. Hyndman wanted Clark to approach the ball straight on and whip his foot around it, rather than swerve his run. Clark blames that attempted change for a regression that took a while to overcome.
Not anymore, he hopes. Not with his confidence and pink cleats, which he saw on the feet of Chelsea standout Nicolas Anelka when Clark was training with Aston Villa in England this past winter.
Anelka, however, can pull it off.
“He can. I definitely can’t,” Clark said. “I’ve gotten kicked a few times for it. That’s another thing that fires me up.”
Rapids today
What: Rapids (3-2-4) at New York Red Bulls (2-6-3)
Time: 5:30 p.m.; TV: ALT
Note: Unbeaten in their past four games, the Rapids visit the dreaded turf of the Meadowlands for the last time before the Red Bulls unveil their new stadium next season.
Brian Forbes, Special to The Post
