MIAMI, Florida – A new preseason is underway for Colorado Rapids, who are already putting in the groundwork to try to defend their crown as regular season champions of the Western Conference of MLS.
But there is a second item on the docket for the Rapids in 2022 in the form of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. While it still feels like their Round of 16 series against Comunicaciones of Guatemala is far away, Rapids Head Coach Robin Fraser is acutely aware that the February 17 first leg in Guatemala City will be here before they know it.
“I think the reality is that when you first get to Champions League, it almost doesn’t feel real until you’re in it and then once you’re in it, it’s a really cool thing to be a part of,” said Fraser in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.
“It was the same way I think in every club I’ve been in. The club’s excited to be in Champions League and I know that this group is so dedicated that the focus will become much more about Champions League as we get closer,” added Fraser.
Since Fraser took the reins of the Rapids in the middle of the 2019 season, Colorado have shown notable improvement each season. Finishing with the best record regular season in the Western Conference in 2021 earned the Rapids their third SCCL berth and their first since 2018. For Fraser and the entire club, it means a lot to be back on the biggest stage.
“I think it’s huge and the club thinks it’s huge. Everyone in sports wants to play against the best. In our region, the Champions League is a unique opportunity to play against teams from other countries in a meaningful competition. Having been through it a number of times, I know how exciting it is. We feel like we are pushing the club forward in the last couple of years and this is a step for us that we’re really excited about,” said Fraser.
Since the inception of the Champions League format in 2008-09, no team from outside Mexico has won the title, although there have been four finalists from MLS. Colorado is aiming to become the first team to break Liga MX’s SCCL stranglehold.
“The Champions League is the pinnacle in terms of our region. It always comes back to no MLS has won it yet and it is a carrot dangling in front of us. We’d certainly like to be the first, just like every MLS team in it would like to be the first. It would be absolutely incredible to win it,” said Fraser.
The first hurdle that the Rapids will attempt to clear is 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf League winners Comunicaciones of Guatemala, who boast one of the most feared strikers in the region in Juan Anangono. The Ecuadorian finished the 2021 SCL as both the tournament’s Best Player and Top Scorer.
“They’re a very good team, they have very talented players, size up front. Anangono played in MLS briefly and actually, when I was at Chivas USA [2011-12], he was one of the players that we seriously wanted to try to go and get. It’s a small world, so here we are again. And their attacking midfielder, their number 10, Jose Contreras, he’s a very good player.
“I’ve never been a part of an easy international game. We know it’s going to be a really tough team. I’ve been to Guatemala, I’ve played in Guatemala before and I know that there are some very good players, very talented players, so it’s a big opportunity for us,” said Fraser.
While the 2022 SCCL will be Fraser’s first as a Head Coach, he took part in the Concacaf Champions Cup as a player with the Los Angeles Galaxy and then was an assistant coach on the 2018 Toronto FC team that reached the 2018 SCCL Final. That experience from four years ago should aid Fraser in his first foray as a Head Coach in the tournament.
“I think with our team in Toronto, we had some very good players, but to win against some of these good teams in the region, you have to have a sense of pragmatism. It was a really interesting lesson to learn. We paid attention as to how we were going to negate some of the strengths of these teams. When you play against these big teams, you need special moments, special plays and special executions to create goals. Obviously, in Toronto we were able to do that. We know it will be no different here,” said Fraser.
As he heads into a busy spring in which his team will be involved in two competitions, Fraser points to the squad’s unselfish nature as the biggest reason for optimism, a quality that will assuredly be called upon in their SCCL campaign.
“When you have talented players who are unselfish, you can do really great things. Because of that unselfish nature, they do whatever they need to do to support each other on the field and that can make us a formidable team defensively. Because we have a collective approach, everyone feels invested and everyone feels like they have the opportunity to make a difference day in day out,” concluded Fraser.
