West notes: Rapids making noise
Colorado no longer strangers to MLS foes
The Rapids are currently in fourth place in the Western Conference, but are nipping at the heels of their conference rivals, despite having played two and in some cases three fewer games. And their current position is largely down to the contributions of Smith, who since taking over last August has made only minor adjustments to his roster, but gotten far more out of his side.
Smith indicated that his decision to largely stand pat was down to the team's solid play during the latter part of the 2008 season, a run that saw them go 5-4-2 in their last 11 games, even if they did fall just short of making the playoffs.
"Just every day working with those players, and being able to mold things more they way I wanted them, the record showed that they were a side that given more time that would have made the playoffs," said Smith. "There were a lot of encouraging signs."
But there was also still plenty of work to be done. For captain Pablo Mastroeni, the biggest change instituted by Smith was the creation of a challenging training environment that still maintained team chemistry.
"Any time you have good competition within the group, you're going to get the best out of everyone," said Mastroeni. "It's ironic, because you'd think that kind of competition would ruin the clubhouse because of the challenges and the fight to get onto the field. But we have a great clubhouse, great training sessions, and a real disciplined team."
Smith's success so far is all the more impressive given how MLS has tended to chew up foreign coaches. But Mastroeni indicated that Smith has taken an open mind to his time in MLS, and that extends to the way he interacts with the players.
"I feel like now the lines of communication are open," said Mastroeni. "Everyone knows where they stand from a playing perspective, and any time there is any gray area, Gary's door is open. That makes a huge difference, especially when you're going to be working with each other day in and day out. If you don't have that, things can go awry quickly."
The Rapids have also benefited from several players coming into their own at the same time. Forward Conor Casey has finally shaken the injury bug that has haunted him for much of his career, while running mate Omar Cummings has also stepped up his game. In midfield Colin Clark and Nick LaBrocca have made massive contributions, while in defense Cory Gibbs and the underrated Jordan Harvey are also getting closer to reaching their respective peaks.
Of course, the Gold Cup is looming on the horizon, meaning both Casey and Cummings are set to miss much of July, this after Casey spent much of the last month with the U.S. national team at the Confederations Cup. Smith for one isn't relishing the prospect of missing his two starting forwards for such a long time, especially with Mastroeni on the list of alternates.
But this is where the simplicity of Smith's approach comes into play. Teams like Houston and Columbus don't change their system when players are absent or injured, and Mastroeni feels that under Smith, a similar strategy is being adopted.
"In this league, with the parity, when you try to change too much, you lose a lot of players [mentally]," said Mastroeni. "The more simple it is, the easier it is to execute, and the easier it is to stay competitive. Gary likes to keep it as black and white as possible, and by doing that new players have an easier transition."
With eight of their next 11 matches at home, the opportunity exists for Smith's approach to translate into even more wins, not that he's taking anything for granted.
"We're certainly on our way, and we're pleased with what we've achieved in a short period of time," said Smith. "But there's still some ground to cover and some room for improvement. We're pleased at the moment, but we're not going to get overly excited."
Don't drink the water: Rarely has something as innocuous as a water break caused so much consternation among some of the participants.
With the game-time temperature in Houston in the low 90's during last week's set-to between the Dynamo and Real Salt Lake, referee Jair Marrufo blew his whistle at the 26-minute mark, and directed the players to take in some additional fluids.
Both teams were borderline stunned at the directive, with Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear -- sensing that it was another way for RSL to break up the rhythm of the game -- clearly not amused by the decision. During an in-game interview with Houston's broadcast team, Kinnear said sarcastically that the next time his team plays in Colorado, he plans to ask the refs for "an oxygen break."
So how was it that both teams were so blindsided by Marrufo's decision? According to an RSL spokesman, during the captains' meeting prior to the game, Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman -- with tongue firmly planted in cheek -- made a comment along the lines of, "Jair, it's going to be hot tonight. Can we play 35-minute halves?" To which Marrufo suggested that maybe they should have a water break instead.
When the idea was communicated to Houston captain Richard Mulrooney, he thought Marrufo was kidding, saying "Great idea, let's have two." As it turned out, Marrufo was being serious, although Kinnear felt the decision wasn't necessary.
"We've had hotter nights in Houston," said Kinnear. "It was warm, don't get me wrong, but we've had worse nights than that. I don't see the need for water breaks. If we're playing at noon here in July, then yes, you need it for safety reasons. But I don't think the setting on Saturday was dangerous."
Player safety is what they have in mind in places like Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, where water breaks are rare, but not unheard of. There was even a break during last year's Olympic final between Argentina and Nigeria, where the decision to have a noon kickoff saw on-field temperatures reach 107 degrees. This compelled FIFA to consult with the medical staffs of both teams as well as the respective managers, who all agreed to have a water break midway through each half. While the interruption did little for the flow of the game, both sides didn't complain too much given the oppressive conditions in Beijing.
In the case of last weekend's match, clearly the decision, as well-meaning as it was, needed to be communicated higher up the chain of command.
The silent assassin: One downside of being on a struggling side is that otherwise breakout performances tend to get overlooked. Such is the case with San Jose forward Ryan Johnson.
The Jamaican international tallied his sixth goal of the season in last week's 2-1 win over Los Angeles, tying him for fifth place in the race for the Golden Boot, alongside such luminaries as Brian McBride and Landon Donovan. That's heady company for a player whose previous high for goals in a season was the five he tallied last year in a supersub role.
Yet it's Johnson's effort -- and not just his goalscoring -- that has won the respect of his teammates.
"Ryan has been the heart and soul of this team so far," said defender Chris Leitch. "People have been feeding off of him. When you have a guy like Johnson doing it game in and game out, guys can draw inspiration from that."
Jeff Carlisle is a regular contributor to ESPN Soccernet, and covers the San Jose Earthquakes for Center Line Soccer and MLSnet.com. Jeff can be reached at eljefe1@yahoo.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
