Clark Continues Making a Name for Himself in Colorado

By Zac Lee Rigg

The Los Angeles Galaxy-Colorado Rapids game last weekend had everything a fan could want: five goals, two red cards, and a stadium of fingernails gnawed down to stumps.

When a team goes three-nil up, as LA did, the word “tense” hardly applies. But tense it turned out to be, as Colorado took hold of the game and unleashed wave after wave of dangerous and incisive attacks.

Sparking most of the attacks was young Rapids winger Colin Clark. He owned the last twenty minutes of the game.

“They were pushing on, trying to get the third and then a fourth and fifth possibly,” Clark told Goal.com after the match. “I found a few more open spaces between [David] Beckham and [Chris] Klein which gave me the chance to run at Klein a little bit. I think that’s where I found my success.”

Indeed, Beckham spent much of the second half pushed up alongside Carlos Ruiz in the Galaxy attack, leaving Clark acres of real estate to work in on the Home Depot Center’s massive pitch. After collecting the ball, he would give his customary skip/hop and tear at the frail LA backline. Klein, making his record setting 96th consecutive start, won’t have had many 20-minute spells like the last stretch of this match.

And Clark eventually made the Galaxy’s defense pay with a scorcher that gave the Rapids some hope. Omar Cummings made inroads into the Galaxy box before sliding the ball back to Clark who had drifted to the top of the area. Clark, as willowy as a cat’s tail, swayed to his right, sending Abel Xavier sprawling, then cut back onto his preferred left and drilled a shot home.

Clark’s first two goals of his career also came against the LA clubs (Galaxy and Chivas USA) and he’s found more success against them since then.

“We need to play them more often,” he joked. “Or we need to change that trend.”

Goals, however, are not Clark’s bread and butter. He is actually more of a set-up man. Against LA, Colorado’s second goal came from Clark’s deliciously arched ball to the far post, where Herculez Gomes waited to pull another one back for the visitors. After that, the ‘Pids spent the last 10 minutes chasing an equalizer. But it wasn’t to be despite all of Clark’s efforts.

For himself, Clark admits he’d one day like to ply his trade in Europe. But for now, he’s focused on Colorado. “I’d love to see the team succeed, to get to the playoffs and the finals and have a chance at cup glory. Personal goals are more to the back of my mind in favor of the team goals.”

Clark debuted for Colorado late in 2006, but didn’t really break in until the following year, when he started 16 games, scored two goals, and posted two assists. Born and raised in nearby Ft. Collins, he admits he needed some time to develop further after an unremarkable career at Southern Methodist University. A full year with the reserves made a big difference, and fit in with club’s strategy of youth development.

Colorado’s reserves have won the past two MLS reserve championships, and the club has seen an inordinate number of players graduate from the second to the first team. Along with Clark, Stephen Keel, Nick LaBrocca, and John DiRaimondo all recently made the leap.

“Earlier this season we had 5 of 6 of us from the reserves in the first team,” Clark told Goal.com. “It shows the quality that we have in the second team. I think it shows our coaches’ ability to scout younger talent, to bring us in and keep us sharp. And when we get the chance we’re doing very well to keep our spots.”

Clark himself lost his spot earlier this season, and has just now begun to string some starts together again. His take on that blip is that it had little to do with form or ability, but was a tactical shift for a few matches.

“It was more about style of play against the teams we were facing,” he said. “We played with a drawn-in left midfielder more so than just a straight-forward left midfielder to help the void with Christian [Gomez] going forward. It worked for us but I think it made it very difficult for us to attack the way we sometimes like: to go down the width. We’ve gone back to that and I hope we stay as we are now.”

With Clark’s performance in the second half against LA, things are looking up again for the winger. He recently signed on with an agent, and there have been whispers of him breaking into the national team setup. As yet, US national team coach Bob Bradley has yet to contact him. But Clark certainly could offer something to the side. After all, there aren’t too many crafty, attack-minded wingers out there, and this one is starting to look like the real deal.

Zac Lee Rigg is a regular contributor to Goal.com.