Before the 2012 season began, I counted down the Top 10 keys to a successful season. Obviously, the season was anything but successful, so looking back at them is probably not going to be that much fun. Here's No. 3, Oscar Pareja.
At the end of the original article in March, I finished off with this:
Well, we're gonna go with a resounding 'no'. To call Oscar Pareja's tactics 'naive' would be kind, going in with far too much of a gung-ho 'win every game' mentality for the amount of talent and the mixed bag of players that he had available. Some of his player acquisitions were solid, but he was a bit too stuck into what he called 'the tactics in his blood' throughout the season.
Those tactics led to 19 losses and only four ties all season long.
Next season, Pareja's tactics and mindset will be a year older and ideally, a year wiser. That alone should give the Rapids a boost for next season, big name signings in the off season or not.
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Matt Pollard 