By Brian "Soundbite" Jennings
Rapids midfielder Michael Azira made it through a globe-crossing road trip while away for international duty last week, but the fact that he started in Colorado’s victory at the weekend belies his effort and belief in his team over any exhaustion. “That was a long one,” he told the Voice of C38 while shaking his head. “It was 42 hours of travel so it wasn’t easy.”
However, that rough week behind him, Azira and the Rapids prepare to do battle at Salt Lake City for the first leg of the Rocky Mountain Cup this week. The first-year Rapid says as much as the fan base builds these matches up, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything different to the boys in burgundy. “Every game is important,” explains Azira. “It doesn’t matter who we play next, if it’s Salt Lake, the game is the game and we have to take it seriously. We just have to continue to get better.”
That even-keeled attitude has been noticeable in Azira since he arrived this offseason from Seattle. Colorado fans should take heart that this isn’t the same culture as in recent years. There is something special about this locker room and how the players relate to one another according to Michael.
“It comes out on the field-I play for you, you play for me, we play for each other not exposing anybody. We listen to each other. It comes all the way from the back-from Zach (MacMath), from Bobby (Burling), from Axel (Sjoberg), the fullbacks because we can’t do this thing by ourselves. Everyone is responsible on the field.”
“We have a good group of guys and no one has big egos. It’s not ‘I’m special’, no one is special on our team. Everyone is working hard even if it’s (Marco) Pappa, or (Shkelzen) Gashi, whoever gets on the field is working.”
Two of those working very well together to start 2016 are the pairing of Azira and Sam Cronin at defensive midfield, who are a big, unheralded part of just two goals allowed in four matches thus far for Colorado. “It’s teamwork, it’s not just me and Sam. It can’t be it’s such a big field,” says Azira deflecting the praise I try to heap on him.
“We work on a lot of stuff on the field in practice, plus Pablo (Mastroeni) helps us a lot with him playing in the midfield-he sees stuff. Playing in the middle takes a lot of work-it’s communication, running, connecting your passes.”
“We have respect for each other, love for each other, and trust for each other. Usually it’s good to have that relationship, that trust with me and Sam in the middle, with (Dillon) Powers, the guys around us too.”
Azira admits nothing has come easy for this Rapids squad, but that everyone to a man knows that’s how it will be and is willing to do their part in overcoming a history of bad results in places like Rio Tinto stadium. “The coaches encourage us a lot to stick as a group no matter what happens. If we go down, we don’t stop playing for each other.”
“It’s not easy, but it’s always good to get off the field when you’re tired, given everything out there. Everyone working so hard, day in and day out, 100% every day and so far it’s a good start. I know we’re going to find some bumps, that’s part of it, but we can’t put our heads down.”
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