MLS Season Preview: Colorado Rapids

With the MLS season set to begin on Friday, theScore runs down everything you need to know about each team heading into the league's 20th campaign. Here, we take a look at the Colorado Rapids.

Pablo Mastroeni will head into his second season on the Colorado Rapids' bench in full control right from the very beginning.

Thrust into the hot seat after the sudden departure of Oscar Pareja, the former club captain was technically at the helm during preseason in 2014, but was not handed the keys for good until the interim tag was dropped from his title on March 8.

"All through the preseason it was one of those things: 'Am I going to be the coach? Am I not going to be the coach?'" Mastroeni told Goal USA in a recent interview. "In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, 'Am I wasting my time or is this a good opportunity to audition for the spot?' But never are you fully focused on improving the group because there are so many other things going on in your mind."

Now, with a clear direction and a full offseason under his belt, Mastroeni will look to help the club rebound from a brutal 2014 campaign that saw them concede more goals than any other team in the league (Chivas USA included) en route to a ninth-place finish in the conference.

Significant changes (a whopping 28 in total) were made to completely retool a squad that crumbled at the end of the year, when they collected only five points from their final 16 matches - a run that included 14 consecutive losses.

Will it be enough? That remains unclear. What is a certainty, however, is that the Rapids would be a lock for the playoffs if teams were awarded points for the quality of their manager's facial hair.

(Courtesy: MLSSoccer.com)

Glorious. What were we taking about again?

2014 season: 8th in Western Conference

Playoffs: Did not qualify

Head coach: Pablo Mastroeni

Stadium: Dick's Sporting Goods Park

Season Opener: Saturday, March 7: Philadelphia Union vs. Colorado Rapids (PPL Park) - 4 PM EST

Key Arrivals

Marcelo Sarvas (LA Galaxy), Sam Cronin (San Jose Earthquakes), Lucas Pittinari (Belgrano - loan), Juan Ramirez (Argentinos Juniors) Zac MacMath (Philadelphia Union - loan), Bobby Burling (waiver draft), Michael Harrington (Portland Timbers), Axel Sjoberg (SuperDraft)

Key Departures

Jose Mari (Levante), Chris Klute (Columbus Crew), Marvell Wynne (option declined), Edson Buddle (option declined), Zat Knight (mutual consent)

Player to Watch: Juan Ramirez

The poster boy for Colorado's youth movement, the 21-year-old arrives at the club on a young Designated Player contract from Argentinos Juniors in, you guessed it, Argentina, where he made 81 appearances over four seasons.

A thrill to watch thanks to his combination of pace and trickery with the ball at his feet, Ramirez's signing went largely under the radar. That should change as the season goes along and he is allowed to showcase his attacking talents to a wider audience.

He's already showed flashes during limited preseason action of the creativity and skill that made him so enticing to the Colorado staff, and his development will go a long way in determining how swiftly the Rapids can recover from last season's debacle and return to prominence.

Keep an eye on: Axel Sjoberg and Shane O'Neill

Projected Starting XI

(4-2-3-1) Clint Irwin; Marc Burch, Drew Moor, Shane O'Neill, Michael Harrington; Marcelo Sarvas, Sam Cronin; Dillon Powers, Juan Ramirez, Vicente Sanchez; Deshorn Brown 

Season in a Sentence

With Pablo Mastroeni firmly at the helm and an intriguing young core supplemented by some impressive offseason signings, the Rapids should be better than last season, though expecting them to get into the post-season still seems like quite the stretch.