Colorado Rapids and FIFA 12 Career Mode - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the Colorado Rapids sim within the Career Mode of FIFA 12. Throughout the first season, four Rapids players reported player growth while a handful of Rapids players were the subject of transfer rumors. The season ended in mediocre fashion as the Rapids only recorded 8 wins. However, the club did make it to the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup.

At the end of the season, the club board was not pleased with the performance of the club and strictly stated the team needed to improve and make the playoffs during the following season. Continue reading past the jump to find out what occurred during the second part of the sim.

Just like the previous season, the Colorado Rapids received numerous transfer bids for midfielder Jeff Larentowicz and Omar Cummings. Both players performed well for the club throughout the previous season but did not report any player growth based on FIFA 12's player development engine and database. However, they are both two of the highest overall rated players on the club.

The Rapids started the season poorly and based on sim results, I knew the club would be a stretch to qualify for the playoffs. However, the team progressed through the US Open Cup and made it to the quarterfinal. They were defeated 2-0 at the hands of Houston Dynamo.

At the season's end, three players reported player growth. Jaime Castrillón improved to a 70 overall (69 default) while Joseph Nane improved by one point to a 61 overall (60 default). Backup goalkeeper Stewart Ceus improved to a 57 overall (56 default) after making some appearances throughout the campaign.

Brian Mullen pondered retirement at the beginning of the season and ultimately decided to hang up the boots at the season's end by retiring at the age of 35. Remember, the Rapids winger did lose one overall point during the previous season.

At the end of the season, the Rapids had an overall record of 8-11-15 (W-D-L). Conor Casey was once again the club's leading goalscorer with 9 goals. At the season's end, the board approached the coach and decided that the club had not improved and decided to fire Oscar Pareja. The main league objective over the past two seasons was to qualify for the MLS playoffs and this was not achieved.

One of the fun features of FIFA 12 is that after your coach has been sacked, you still have the opportunity to continue your career mode with job offers from around the world. If one progresses well as a manager, you can potentially get some big coaching jobs. Oscar Pareja was offered jobs with the following clubs following his dismissal: Sporting Kansas City (USA), Brentford (England League 1), FC Midijylland (Denmark), Crawley Town (England League 2), and Jagiellonia Bialystok (Poland). You can see that if you perform poorly, you won't get job offers with big clubs.

Well there you have it! Remember, the original goal of the sim was to observe player growth and seven players recorded some growth throughout the two seasons. FIFA 13 is scheduled to be released towards the end of the month and I am eagerly anticipating how the Rapids will be featured within the game.