“Dream year” for Fairviewproduct
O’neill playing big role in MLS at age 20
It has only been two years since Shane O’Neill was starring at Boulder’s Fairview High School en route to being named the Gatorade Colorado boys soccer player of the year. It has only been 13 months since he made his MLS debut for the Rapids.
He got his first MLS start March 30, and now — only six weeks past his 20th birthday — O’Neill is a fixture on the Rapids’ stalwart back line, one of the best in MLS.
“It’s been a good season,” said O’Neill, a product of the Rapids Development Academy. “Right at the start of the year, I kind of got throwninto it. It’s been a great learning experience. I’m just trying to gain asmuchexperience as I can this year and keep improving.”
TheRapids have given up only 33 goals in 32 games, and only Sporting Kansas City (29) has conceded fewer goals, so obviously O’Neill’s youth hasn’t been a liability. Playing alongside captain Drew Moor, O’Neill makes up for his lack of experiencewith his size and rawathletic ability. An imposing 6foot-2 and 190 pounds, he also has played right back and midfield.
“I was pretty confident in myself. I was hoping this would be kind of a breakout year forme and get some minutes, but obviously it’s kind of been a dream year,” O’Neill said. “If somebody had said to me that I would be in this position, you would take it any day of the week.”
Rapids coach Oscar Pareja has shownextraordinary confidence in O’Neill, whom he began starting in March. In June, O’Neill left to play for the U.S. in the under-20 World Cup, where he started two of its three games and scored a goal. He has started every game for the Rapids since returning from that tournament in Turkey.
“What I noticed from Shane was his personality,” Pareja said. “His personality was different fromthe rest of the youngsters, and that immediatelyimpactedwhatwe as coaches thought about himand his future. Normally, these guys develop a little later here in the United States. We didn’t hesitate to involve himwith the first team, andheembraced that opportunitywith character, with personality, and obviously he had a lot of talent.”
It’s one thing to be raw and inexperi- enced at forward or in the midfield. Untimely mistakes on the back line lose games, and the Rapids are sitting in a precarious spot bidding for the playoffs.
“As a center back, you can play a really solid game, pass the ball really nicely, make some really good plays, and just one mistake can cost you the point,” O’Neill said. “I think that’s the toughest part about playing in the back. You’ve just got to stay solid, you’ve got to trust yourself and keep your confidence up.”
O’Neill and his sidekicks on the back line face an interesting challenge in their final two regular-season games, both against Vancouver. They will be facing winger Kekuta Manneh, an 18-year-old Ghanaianwho had a hat trick last week against Seattle.
And those games are crucial. The Rapids stand right above the cutoff line for the playoffs with 48 points, but if Vancouver wins at Colorado on Saturday, the Whitecaps will be tied with the Rapids going intothe final regular-season game atVancouver onOct. 27.
“A lot of pace,” O’Neill said of Manneh. “Whenever you go up against a guy with a lot of pace, it’s always going to be a challenge. We’re going to have to try to minimize that, and get our attack going.”