Oli Larraz Interview: Four Years of Incremental Progress to Becoming a Starter. It’s Beautiful.

EDITORIAL – Coming into 2024, Oliver Larraz had five MLS appearances for 42 minutes for Colorado Rapids. This year, he’s played in all 26 league games, starting 19 of them, and playing 1,674 minutes. He even opened his first team account on 4th of July, scoring against Sporting KC. The Denver native started in the Rapids Youth Soccer Club in 2009. Fifteen years in the making, he’s a starter for the Burgundy Boys.

“At first I didn’t believe it. It took awhile to set in. At the same time, you have to believe in yourself and think ‘I should be here. This is where I belong,'” Larraz told Burgundy Wave in a recent interview.

Chris Armas provides clarity and confidence:

The 22-year-old came into this season with an uncertain future. He was coming off a Best XI year in MLS NEXT Pro. Rapids 2 nearly won the playoffs with him bossing the midfield. The first team had possibly its worst season in history and he could not break into the squad.

He re-signed a one-year deal with a club option for 2025. The terms seemed to indicate it was now or never for both sides. Scholesy needed to prove he could make it in MLS. The club needed to show they believed in him. Some Rapids fans were prepared to start the hashtag #FreeLarraz, preferring he’d go somewhere else to succeed rather than stay with the Pids, stagnating.

Enter new head coach Chris Armas.

“Through preseason, I didn’t know what to expect having a new coach,” Larraz said.

“He’s a manager that speaks to you in manner that gives you confidence. Very quickly, you see that he believes in people. We want to build something here. Him teaching me every single day feels like a journey. We’re working towards something together, which is a feeling I’ve never really had in a team before, this gradual and very explained growth which I enjoy.”

The first year Rapids coach loves working with young players. He’s provided clear instructions on their roles, what they need to improve on, and where they stand within the squad.

“The attention to the detail and the tedious parts of our game. Oliver, what I love so much about him, is that he’s a winner. He’s a reliable player. You can fit him into different areas. He’s going to bring energy,” Armas said after the 4th of July game in which Larraz scored and finished the game at right back.

Side note: Everyone calls him Oli except his mom and Coach Armas.

After a nightmare season opener at Portland Timbers, a 4-1 loss, Larraz and the team started getting results. He’s earning the trust of the coaching staff. With that comes playing time and greater expectations.

“You put in a ton of work to get there. You’re on the edge there for a while thinking ‘Can I do it?’ Once you get there it’s about thinking ‘What’s the next step?’ Very quickly my mindset turned from ‘I’m so happy to be a starter to how can I become a better player on this team?'” the midfielder reflected.

The double pivot experiment and improving his defending:

Larraz might have been limited in the past by his positioning. He and Cole Bassett were both No. 10s growing up in the academy. If he is a holding midfielder, he’s a Regista not a destroyer. He’d mostly been a box-to-box midfielder playing within his age group. One in-game experiment from Armas put Larraz in a position that suits him and team.

It was the third game of the year. Rocky Mountain Cup. At RSL. Big game. Lots of pressure. Connor Ronan go down with a knee injury in the first half. He would miss 11 consecutive games. Bassett moved back to the double pivot in a 4-2-3-1 formation. He and Larraz made it work. Bassett scored the winner in that match. Armas rolled with it.

“I love playing with Oli. He’s doing a role maybe he doesn’t want to do. It’s very selfless of him. Connor’s a great player as well. Both can find me in those pockets (going forward),” Bassett said.

Functionally, the Rapids had three central midfielders on the field, all of whom prefer the No. 10 position. They took 18 points from 12 games with Ronan out. Larraz did work to allow Bassett to go forward, making the team dynamic and successful. Then Djordje Mihailović made the U.S. Olympic team, missing the entire month of July. Bassett moved up to the 10 with Larraz and Ronan playing a more balanced double pivot.

“I’m buzzing for him. Me and him are pretty close off the pitch. It’s nice when we get to play together. There is that competition bit. I’m really happy for him,” Ronan told Burgundy Wave.

“Connor’s my boy. We have pretty good chemistry on the field. Two players who are willing to run and work for the team. We play similar styles of play on the ball,” Larraz added.

The younger redhead has always had the technical ability on the ball. He hasn’t always handled the physicality and defensive aspects of the game well. His situational awareness and vision have improved. There’s still work to be done. He and Ronan have had some poor performances, particularly in man marking and gap control. They’ve left the back four exposed at times. The FC Cincinnati and St. Louis CITY games come to mind.

Side note #2: During our interview, he noticed a spider coming down from the ceiling that almost landed on me. He then made a joke about his vision stats being underrated on EAFC and Football Manager.

Larraz broke down the goal conceded to St. Louis, saying, “I step towards the ball to almost double team on the outside. We emphasized stopping their cutbacks in that game. Right as I do that, (John Klein) runs off my shoulder. I took the blame on that goal. It’s a chemistry thing. It’s reading the situation. It’s having the experience in those moments. If you watch the game against RSL, in the moments where there are cutbacks, Connor and I are a little bit more defensive.”

The coaching staff has emphasized improving on this in recent weeks. Part of it is tactics. Part of it is situational awareness. “Thinking collectively,” to use Keegan Rosenberry’s term. Ronan and Larraz could use a bit more edge and bite to their game. The Rapids Homegrown is turning these into teachable moments.

“We’re working towards that. A lot of the game isn’t so much technical. It’s more of a feeling for the game. Do I shove this guy and he doesn’t get the ball and because of that they don’t get a breakaway? These are things I’m learning slowly. Veterans make really good decisions because they know it. They’ve been in this situation 20 times where we’re up 1-0 and it’s the 85th minute.”

Larraz fondly remembered a lesson he took from R2 manager Erik Bushey, whom he still has a good relationship with.

“On days where my head wasn’t in it, he says ‘Look at yourself. How can you make this situation better?’ That was the best lesson I took for him. There’s always something in your control. That’s been the biggest thing from this year to last year. Never accept standing still.”

Beating out Lamine Diack:

Lamine Diack was a TAM defensive midfielder who did not work out. His loan was terminated early after an extended period where he was not even in the game day squad. There were a number of reasons why that move was a dud. Larraz elevating his play was part of that. Perhaps being challenged by Diack was what helped Larraz ascend to his current position within the team.

Many Rapids fans were disappointed in Diack and labeled him as a bust. Some have blamed the player. Others questioned the front office, scouting, or the coaching staff in getting something wrong along the way.

It is a bit strange that for all the frustrations about Diack, that hasn’t been followed by support from Larraz. Especially after many felt he deserved more opportunity in previous years.

Duisburg, San Diego, Arizona: Experiences elsewhere pay off

On a surface level, it’d be easy to think Larraz is exclusively a Rapids product. Born in Denver. Started in the Youth Soccer Club in its first year of existence in 2009. Joined the academy in 2014. Signed a Homegrown deal in 2021.

However, he spent almost a year with the MSV Duisburg’s U19 team in 2019. Then he spent two months at the Barcelona Residency in Arizona. He went on loan with San Diego Loyal in 2021, because Landon Donovan called Robin Fraser and said he wanted him.

His time outside the Rapids bubble had a profound impactful in his development. That growth is finally on display in 2024. Yes, Oli is proper Colorado Rapids. Duisburg, Barca, and Loyal Oli are there if you know what to look for.

“Duisburg, it was interesting. I was there for a while, 8 months. It was an experience for me to do something else. I was 17. I had been here (Denver) my whole life. I wanted to experience a different culture. I was living by myself, having to grown up a bit. It was very much take care of yourself. I was living in the attic of a house,” Larraz said.

Loans outside the club now provide academy products with the adulting experiences that one’s freshman year of college would normally provide. Having responsibilities off the field is good. Doing your own grocery shopping and meal prep in a foreign language broadens your horizon.

Germany has promotion and relegation at the youth level, so there was a pressure to get results. It wasn’t only about development. Larraz’s experience of limiting mistakes and situational awareness grew there. Tekkers lead to cool goals; getting stuck in wins games. There’s room for improvement but he’s not starting from zero.

“Understanding my defensive role. That’s something I’ve taken a bit of pride in, being that player that can control and see the game. This is something that Armas works a tone with me on,” adding “It’s great that I have a coach that’s played that role. I’m trying to soak in as much as possible.”

Contrast avoiding relegation in Germany with Barcelona’s academy setup, where drills are often run without keeping score. Oli’s one of the best rondo players on the team. He has been for years. Some Rapids fans have started to call him Denver De Bruyne.

“Anything compared to De Bruyne is nice,” Larraz laughed. He recalls fondly some Hispanic friends calling him Colo as a play on his hair color and the original meaning of the word Colorado.

His time at Loyal forced him to grow up further. In his first professional season. He was training with the first team, but there was a familiarity in being around other Homegrowns. At San Diego, he was also one of the youngest players on the team. It was also a new environment with new people. The team had its ups and downs. He had to play right back. He was on a team of grown men who were focused on results rather than development.

“It’s just new experiences that you learn from. These different experiences are always going to be good and bad.”

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” – Sigmund Freud

It took four years for Larraz to become a starter for this team. He came back to Colorado in the summer of 2020. He trained for six months with the first team before signing as a Homegrown in March 2021. Bassett had been telling then manager Robin Fraser for months that the club should sign him.

He made his first team debut early in 2021 then rode the bench until he was loaned to San Diego. A tibia fracture in March 2022 prevented him from playing a single game that year. Then in 2023, he was mostly with Rapids 2 playing fantastic, albeit down a level. Their season ended with him missing a penalty against Austin FC II in the Western Conference Final. He was crestfallen and one of the last players to leave the field.

Bassett started right away under Anthony Hudson. Sam Vines started in year two. In hindsight, Fraser had a high threshold for young players proving themselves to get signed, embed with the first team, and get minutes. He had to level up the hard way, incrementally. How does he feel looking back on all this?

“Of course it was frustrating! I do see the beauty in it. I’m very happy for how things happened. Even things like my leg. These things do change you. I’d like to think my mindset is that these things make me better. Each step of that process I really enjoyed. I try to keep my head down and get better. I’ll do the same thing next year. Hopefully we’ll be having another conversation in a few years saying, ‘Did you think you’d be here?'”

Four years in the making, Larraz is finally a starter for the Colorado Rapids. He’s just starting to get some recognition. Four years from now, where will he be? What temporary setbacks today will be the driving force for tomorrow’s growth?

“Frustration is ok. That’s what drives you. You want to have these beautiful moments. You can’t have that without frustration.”

Beautiful moments like winning the Rocky Mountain Cup or scoring his first goal in a comeback win. Oli knows where he’s going and he’s having fun along the way.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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