COMMERCE CITY — For the Rapids it was a bleary-eyed yet glorious morning. They’d claimed their first MLS title the night before in heart-pounding fashion, withstanding heavy bombardment by FC Dallas in the waning moments of overtime while playing a man down.
On that rainy morning last November in a Toronto hotel, players basked in the dreamy glow of their historic 2-1 victory while awaiting their bus ride to the airport. Coach Gary Smith was sullen and annoyed, however.
Awake until 4 a.m. and back on the job four hours later, Smith had little time to make some wrenching decisions. Before the flight home he would have to decide which 11 players to protect in advance of an expansion draft two days later that would stock new franchises in Portland and Vancouver. Smith was going to have to tell two key players that the championship game might have been their last appearance in Rapids burgundy and blue.
More than three months later, Smith still resents being put in that position.
“It is very, very tough,” Smith said. “It doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. The fact that those lists are even published, so that everyone knows who’s exposed, makes it incredibly difficult.”
Having built his team with shrewd player moves — only four players remain from the team he took over from Fernando Clavijo with 11 games left in the 2008 season — Smith made three more moves to keep his championship lineup together.
First, he traded two players whose roles had diminished over time, defenders Julien Baudet and Danny Earls. Then he sought to avoid damage from the expansion draft by exposing starting defender Anthony Wallace and midfielder Wells Thompson, even as he was scheming to keep them.
When Portland picked Wallace, Smith was allowed to protect one more player, which would be Thompson. Then Smith traded “allocation money” (salary cap space) to Portland to get Wallace back.
The result: 13 of the 14 who played in the MLS final are still on the team, including all 11 starters. A team known for impressive cohesiveness would remain essentially intact.
“The morning after the game was spent making sure that we were doing what was best for any players that were going to be moved, and for the team moving forward,” Smith said. “It was difficult. That was why I was so grumpy and frustrated.”
Smith feels for players when he has to let them go or send them away. His father was a marginal player for Tottenham Hotspur in the early 1960s when the Spurs were one of England’s premier teams. Smith played for mid-level English sides before a compound leg fracture and other injuries cut short his playing career.
Smith spent four days in the hospital on morphine after the compound fracture, his right leg in jeopardy, his father at bedside. Smith does not make personnel decisions without thinking about the human cost.
“You think you’re doing the right thing,” he said. “You hope that the decisions you’re making are good ones.”
The only current players who were on the roster before Smith took over are Pablo Mastroeni, Omar Cummings, Kosuke Kimura and Conor Casey. Almost every roster move Smith has made since then has paid off handsomely.
In 2009 he traded for goalkeeper Matt Pickens and defender Drew Moor while importing midfielder Jamie Smith from Scotland. Last year Smith traded for defenders Marvell Wynne and Wallace, midfielders Jeff Larentowicz, Wells Thompson and Brian Mullan, and forward Macoumba Kandji, who created the winning goal in the Cup final.
In 2009 — Smith’s first full season in charge — the Rapids missed the playoffs for the third season in a row. A season-ending 3-0 loss at Real Salt Lake exposed weaknesses Smith had to address.
“We lacked pace in the back, and we really lacked that physical guy when we played against our rivals,” Smith said, referring to RSL. “They were stronger than us, they were more aggressive than us, they were in a more positive place than us mentally, and on the day we were well beaten. It left a very bitter taste in everybody’s mouth — not only to miss out on the playoffs, but to get beaten so emphatically by our rivals.”
RSL would win the MLS Cup that year.
Addressing the issue of “pace” on the back line during the offseaon, Smith traded for the speedy Wynne, a move he says was “vital.” Another preseason trade brought in Larentowicz, who formed a brilliant center midfield tandem with Mastroeni, and Thompson, who brought depth and feistiness to the midfield flank. At the trading deadline last September, Smith brought in Mullan, who played on four MLS championship teams before coming to Colorado, and Kandji, who brought needed depth to the front line.
But to get Mullan and Kandji, Smith had to give up Colin Clark and Mehdi Ballouchi.
“I didn’t want to lose those two guys,” Smith said. “They really epitomized what the group was about. They were hard-working, they were good people, they were good characters, and they were effective.”
Moor calls Smith the “ultimate players’ coach,” with a keen eye for character as well as athletic talent.
“It’s been nothing but a joy to work with him,” Moor said, “and to watch him build this team into what was a fantastic ending to the season last year.”
Now it starts all over again this week, and Smith believes his team is better than it was a year ago.
“The initial feeling from the group in preseason is one of added confidence and belief, to be expected maybe from winning the championship,” Smith said. “The relaxed air about the group hasn’t fallen into complacency. They’re in a good place. If I look back at where we were (this time) last year, there is no comparison.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
Busy schedule ahead
Because the Rapids won the MLS Cup last November, they will be a lot busier this summer.
As champions of MLS, they will compete in the CONCACAF Champions League, a tournament involving teams from North America, Central America and Caribbean nations. The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League enters a global tournament next year involving winners from five other regions to determine a world champion club team.
Colorado vs. Barcelona? It’s conceivable.
And if the Rapids win a play-in game for the U.S. Open Cup against Chicago on March 30, that could add several more games as well. That competition, which starts in June, involves eight MLS teams, 11 other professional teams and 21 amateur teams.
The Rapids will play at least 41 games by Thanksgiving: 34 regular season games, at least one U.S. Open Cup game and a minimum of six CONCACAF Champions League games.
John Meyer, The Denver Post
Road to the Cup
A look at the key personnel moves by Rapids coach Gary Smith:
2009
January: Traded allocation money (salary cap space) and a draft pick to Chicago for goalkeeper Matt Pickens and a draft pick.
July: Signed midfielder Jamie Smith, who was playing in Scotland for Aberdeen FC.
August: Traded defender Ugo Ihemelu for defender Drew Moor.
2010
January: Acquired midfielders Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson from New England in exchange for goalkeeper Preston Burpo, defender Cory Gibbs and a draft pick.
March: Acquired defender Marvell Wynne from Toronto in exchange for midfielder Nick LaBrocca and a draft pick.
July: Traded draft picks to Dallas for defender Anthony Wallace.
September: Acquired forward Macoumba Kandji from New York in exchange for midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy — and midfielder Brian Mullan from Houston in exchange for Colin Clark and allocation money.
John Meyer, The Denver Post
Rapids roster
No. Pos. Player Age Nation
19 F Andre Akpan 23 USA
12 F Quincy Amarikwa 23 USA
28 M Davy Armstrong 19 USA
9 F Conor Casey 29 USA
31 G Steward Ceus 23 USA
14 F Omar Cummings 28 Jamaica
13 M Steven Emory 21 USA
26 D Michael Holody 23 USA
17 GK Ian Joyce 25 USA
10 F Macoumba Kandji 25 Senegal
27 D Kosuke Kimura 26 Japan
16 M Ross LaBauex 22 USA
4 M Jeff Larentowicz 27 USA
34 D Tyrone Marshall 36 Jamaica
25 M Pablo Mastroeni 34 ARG-USA
3 D Drew Moor 27 USA
11 M Brian Mullan 32 USA
21 M Joseph Nane 24 Cameroon
23 M Sanna Nyassi 22 Gambia
29 D Scott Palguta 28 USA
18 G Matt Pickens 28 USA 20 M Jamie Smith 30 Scotland
15 M Wells Thompson 27 USA
6 D Anthony Wallace 22 USA
22 D Marvell Wynne 24 USA
Rapids schedule
Date Opponent Time TV
March 19 Portland Timbers 7 p.m. FXSOC
March 26 at Chivas USA 8:30 p.m. ALT2
April 3 D.C. United 5 p.m. ALT2
April 8 at FC Dallas 7 p.m. FXSOC
April 13 at Real Salt Lake 7 p.m. ALT2
April 22 Seattle Sounders 7:30 p.m. FXSOC
April 30 Chicago Fire 7 p.m. ALT
May 4 at Houston Dynamo 6:30 p.m. ALT
May 7 at N.E. Revolution 5:30 p.m. ALT
May 14 at D.C. United 5:30 p.m. ALT
May 22 Toronto FC 5 p.m. ALT
May 25 at New York Red Bulls 6 p.m. ALT
May 28 Sporting Kansas City 7 p.m. ALT
June 4 Philadelphia Union 7 p.m. ALT
June 11 at Portland Timbers 8:30 p.m. ALT
June 18 Los Angeles Galaxy 7:30 p.m. ALT
June 26 at Columbus Crew 6 p.m. ALT
July 3 Houston Dynamo 7 p.m. ESPN2
July 6 at Sporting Kansas City 6:30 p.m. ALT
July 9 Vancouver Whitecaps 7 p.m. ALT
July 16 at Seattle Sounders 2 p.m. FXSOC
July 20 New York Red Bulls 7:30 p.m. ALT
July 23 at N.E. Revolution 7 p.m. ALT
July 29 at Philadelphia Union 5:30 p.m. FXSOC
Aug. 5 Columbus Crew 7:30 p.m. FXSOC
Aug. 13 San Jose Earthquakes 8:30 p.m. ALT
Aug. 20 Chivas USA 7 p.m. ALT
Aug. 27 at Chicago Fire 6:30 p.m. ALT
Sept. 9 at L.A. Galaxy 9 p.m. FXSOC
Sept. 17 at Toronto FC 11:30 a.m. ALT
Sept. 24 San Jose Earthquakes 7 p.m. ALT
Oct. 1 FC Dallas 7 p.m. ALT
Oct. 14 Real Salt Lake 8:30 p.m. ESPN2
Oct. 22 at Vancouver Whitecaps 5 p.m. ALT
