Sam Vines Interview: “I’m a little bit off still.”

COMMERCE CITY – Sam Vines returned to Colorado this past off-season to a much different landscape from the club he grew into over 10 years ago. The new staff, many unknown teammates to suddenly get accustomed to, trying to re-establish a home. It’s no wonder the season started a bit up-and-down with a bit of uncertainty for both Sam and the Rapids.

However, he sees the progress in both himself and the club months into the project. Honly wants to keep working at that this summer. “As a group, it’s not easy to start the season with a new coach and a bunch of new players so I think that takes time,” the Rapids Homegrown told Burgundy Wave last week.

Despite a few blips on the road earlier this season, the Rapids have had some excellent performances and come away with four wins away from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in 2024, just one fewer than their entire win total in 2023!

“The season’s gone up and down and now we’re kind of on an upward trend, and I think that’s just from time with the coach, time with the new players, just gelling as a team. Now, we’re doing a lot of things the coach wants and that’s translating to wins and scoring a lot of goals. I think it’s just based on the time and amount of work we’re doing together on the field.”

“The upward trend we’re on is what we need to keep doing. Just overall, as long as we keep doing what we’re doing, listening to coach, everyone plays their role, I think at the end of the day we’ll hopefully get a home playoff.”

That upward trend has blossomed in the months of June and July so far, especially within the friendly confines of Commerce City, with Colorado having picked up four wins and a draw to currently slot them into fifth in the Western Conference.

That improvement, according to Vines, is not difficult but just down to the group coming together both on and off the field and continuing to execute the vision of Head Coach Chris Armas and the staff.

“It’s pretty easy,” admits Sam. “We all just got along from the beginning and as long as we’re all working hard and working together to the same goal, we all started to gel. We all hang out outside of the field, in the locker room we have a lot of fun. The more fun you have as a team, the more gelled you are, and the more that translates to winning games.”

Coming from an obviously disappointing situation in Belgium the past couple of seasons, Sam appreciates the way Armas, Ian Sarachan, Chris Little, Neil Emblen, Chris Sharpe and the entire staff have been to work with since his return home.

“Chris (Armas) has been really good for all of us. I think we all relate to him and all get along with him really well. He’s very personable off the field. It’s very easy to go in and talk to him, which makes it easier for all of us. It’s nice to have a coach you can go talk to and say how you feel and you know he’s not going to judge you based on how you feel.”

Sam adds, “As long as we’re all working together to do what he asks, and everyone does their own job and wins their individual duals, you can see that’s a testament to the staff and how they’re preparing us.”

As far as his own performance in 2024, Vines is happy with the direction, but by all means not satisfied with the status quo. “I think it’s similar to how the team is going – I feel I’m on an upward trend,” the fleet left-back explains. “I feel I’m still not at the level I should be at, and I’m getting there slowly.”

When asked what that means, Sam explains from the point of view of someone who, given the experience he’s had in MLS, internationally, and for the US, knows what he’s looking for in himself.

“It’s just a feeling I have. When you get to a certain level, you’re playing at a high level and you’re playing every week and playing well, you know what that feeling is like. I just feel like I’m a little bit off still. I’m still working and still getting there, but I feel like there’s a lot more I can give to the team.

With Vines on the left, and more often than not Keegan Rosenberry on the right, there’s an expectation for the two of them to provide a real forward push for the Rapids while still being responsible for shutting down the usual speed from the outside attackers – no easy feat for sure! “In general for the outside backs, (the coaches) just want us to win our duals, win our 1v1s, build out obviously, be an option wide. I enjoy it, I love to be on the ball, I’m always open to be the guy to drop and get it.”

That has been more and more apparent recently, as Sam has often times been the driving force down the left sideline into the attacking third. Case in point – Wednesday night in Los Angeles saw him start the sequence for Colorado’s first goal and equalizer with a nice feed to Jonathon Lewis leading to Kévin Cabral’s score.

As for returning home to Colorado, Vines admits that it’s been great being close to not only his immediate family, but that of his better half as well, with both living in the Front Range and able to lend support.

“It’s been alright,” Sam laughs, describing settling back in Denver.

“Not everything is perfect, but I came back and we were able to find a house, I had to do the landscaping, just the little things. Obviously, in the scope of everything going on it’s nothing compared to what a lot of people go through. We’re very fortunate to be in the situation we’re in. You still feel a little stress here and there like getting my landscaping done, I need to pay these bills, I need to manage that, but at the end of the day it’s really small compared to what a lot of people go through so it makes me feel life is good.”

Speaking of good, Vines also says that keeping a good thing going is what the Rapids are all about at the All-Star break next week. That will only come by sticking by the game plan and efforts they’ve been putting in on the training pitch all season.

“Coaches put together a good game plan. (It’s important) Just taking in every meeting, every coaching session, taking in what the coach says and doing what he asks…..when you’re on the field you still have your creative freedom to do what you want, but as long as you’re sticking to the base core goals we have then you can express yourself.”

“It’s always good to see guys out doing extra (work) so it’s just the work ethic of the team trying to get better. If everyone’s doing their job we’re a hard team to beat.”

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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