The Rapids didn't have a very good year in 2011 when it came to injuries. After good health for the first three games of the year – three games that the Rapids won by combined scorelines of 8-2 – the injury bug bit and bit hard, crippling the Rapids all season long. A lot of big names went out with huge injuries like the Jamie Smith ACL tear and the Conor Casey Achilles tendon tear.
Heck, all you need to look at is the last game of each year's playoffs to see how healthy the team was in the last few years. Here was the starting XI for the MLS Cup final in 2010:
Today we see the start of a new year, hopefully a much, much healthier year. If Anthony Wallace's Achilles tear is the worst thing the Rapids have to endure all year, we certainly won't complain.
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Matt Pollard 