The 2009 Colorado Rapids are all about pace. In their first home game, a 2-1 win against Kansas City Saturday, the Rapids showed the ability to both set the pace in the first half and adapt in the second half, dialing up the tempo and finding an effective route to the goal.
If Omar Cummings can maintain the pace he's set in the first two games, scoring a goal in each, the Rapids will have the presence they long for up front as Cummings comes into his own beside Conor Casey, the team's leading scorer from 2008 with 11 goals in 21 games.
"As a forward, going into games and getting goals, that's what you want more than anything else," Cummings said of his early prowess hitting the net. Yeah, you want the team first and foremost, but as an attacker, scoring goals, that's what you're there for."
The Rapids have been an aggressive team under Gary Smith, both in his interim stint at the end of last season and as he opens his first season as head coach. Smith has a firm understanding of the team's strengths and weaknesses and is adamant about putting forth the extra work to ensure that the former makes up for the latter.
"We try to get teams on their back foot from the get-go," Cummings said, explaining an aspect of the attack's new identity. "Get them turned around, get them running back to their goal. That's always good. The ball is in their half. You have more chances of scoring. You can have mistakes, anything can happen once the ball is in their half. We're starting with more positive this year than last year. We're trying to play around, trying to have the confidence, play to feet, and have confidence with your teammates."
The combination of a quicker approach with the ball and the focus on sending balls to feet rather than launching long balls has helped give the Rapids a more consistent, sharper identity. They've shown the discipline to stick with a game plan, despite, for example, the Wizards' efforts to stifle the attack Saturday. Even more importantly, they've shown the ability to evolve and bring a new perspective out of the half, upping the ante and opening the game.
"Everything's starting to come together," midfielder Nick LaBrocca said of the club's offensive profile. "We've worked a lot during preseason about just seeing who we were and just forming that identity. Start with defensively playing as a unit and then getting after them, trying to get one-v-ones.
"We know what we're trying to accomplish when we're going forward," LaBrocca added. "At times, it's still early in the season where it might look like it's going to break down, but when it works, everybody's going in the same direction. Everybody knows what the next person's going to try to do."
Cummings gives credit not only to Smith but to assistant coach Steve Guppy, who joined the staff during the offseason and has been of particular help in shaping the offense.
"Steve mostly works on the attacks and Gary the defense," Cummings said. "[They bring] that experience at that level to come and show us the professionalism of being a top flight soccer player. Having Steve and Gary, both masters of different [parts of the game], defensive and offensive, I think that was great."
The close friendship and strong working relationship Smith and Guppy enjoy has helped keep the team focused and unified, operating with a singular mission. The 11-man approach to defensive responsibility and the sharply defined roles when moving forward are showing dividends in a purposeful approach and a determined work ethic.
"We really want to work hard," midfielder Jacob Peterson said, echoing Smith's assertion that "endeavor" needs to be foremost among the team's characteristics. "The defending starts everything. If we can get in good positions early, pick those up, and then as the game goes on we hit the channels, find Omar who's peeling off and playing great, and getting Colin, and myself or Terry running at the other outside back -- if we can do that, get some crosses in where Conor's dangerous, I think that's our whole scheme."
The scheme came to fruition in Saturday's second half, when the Rapids adjusted from a side that dominated possession but couldn't rattle the Wizards defense to a squad that could increase the tempo, open up the field, and make better use of the speed the team enjoys throughout its lineup.
A picture-perfect counterattack started by substitute Terry Cooke after a Wizards corner kick and finished when midfielder Colin Clark sprung a wide-open Cummings at the top of the area, leading to the game-winner Saturday and serving as the epitome of the Rapids' newfound ability to execute.
"They were sitting back, they were being very tight on defense," Cummings said of the Wizards efforts. "Once we got the fast break with the speed of me and Colin going on them, it just opened up the space for us."
Concrete evidence of the Rapids' adaptability shows up in their second-half ability to create opportunities in front of the goal. Despite dominating possession in the first half, the Rapids got off only four shots, two on target. In the second half, however, they exploded with 12 shots, four on target, and two hitting the net.
"That was partially due to the end of the first half," Clark said of the attack's coalescence. "The last five or 10 minutes we started pressing. Nick was phenomenal winning balls and distributing a couple shots he had. That just led us into the half on a high note, and when we came out we just continued that trend and we were fortunate to get away with a result."
Much work remains to turn endeavor into identity as the Rapids continue finding their way. The victory on Saturday only clarified Smith's sense of the ground the team needs to make up to play at the level he knows they're capable of, but the elements he has to work with are emerging, and the squad's willingness to work for a result and create their own fortune cannot be questioned.
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
