There's an vintage announcing that goes around: 'be so excellent, they could't forget about you'.
With the lowest salary spend inside the league, one Designated Player who is only on loan and neglected a bit of the season thru damage, and a median crowd of just over 11,000, you'd be forgiven for now not noticing the Colorado Rapids.
But at the pitch, Robin Fraser has created a juggernaut that's hard to overcome and fiercely unswerving to every other - enough to complete top of the West in 2021. As the MLS Cup Playoffs method, the Rapids nonetheless gained't get the recognition they deserve. Even of their own conference, the likes of Sporting Kansas City and Seattle Sounders are greater fancied. But to the players, this handiest serves to make them stronger.
“If they don’t want to talk approximately us, that’s nice. As lengthy as we’re champions at the end of the season, I don’t simply care," midfielder and group captain Jack Price instructed 90min in an special interview.
For this sort of steady group, it's a travesty that the Rapids haven't received more reputation with character awards. After being snubbed completely for the MLS All-Star roster inside the summer, Colorado's only award finalist is Fraser himself, up towards Bruce Arena and Brian Schmetzer for Coach of the Year.
Scaling lower back a little, Price - himself a worth candidate for this year's MVP award - admits the Rapids do get a touch irked at the manner they're neglected. But once again, he doubles down at the reality he and his teammates will use that to their benefit.
“It does hassle us a little bit, we communicate about it within the changing room," he introduced. "We talk gamers deserving popularity for a way well we’ve achieved this year. As does Robin, the gaffer has been incredible and merits the [Manager of the Year] award in my view.
“But I just suppose it’s something we use in opposition to other groups. We word in our games that they don’t apprehend us as a big group, or me individually as an MVP or something. That’s first-rate, we simply use that. We have a fireplace in our bellies. And we take into account that on every occasion we do a crew communicate or a huddle before the sport, we simply put that in there, to mention ‘recollect lads, they don’t honestly care about us, so we have nothing to lose’.
"We can simply go out there and carry out and, at the end of the day, if we win MLS Cup, they’re going to have to talk about us. So we just maintain to do what we do exceptional."
The problem of actually winning MLS Cup comes up plenty speakme to Price. As it should do, given the ordinary season the Rapids enjoyed. But it's a dream that's best started out to end up a fact now way to Fraser, who has labored wonders at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on the grounds that taking on from interim head train Conor Casey in August 2019.
