HTHL Interviews Cole Bassett: Part Two

Rapids midfielder Cole Bassett discusses his time in Europe, playing against Messi, Chris Armas' influence, and the growth experience of missing out on the Olympics.

Credit: John Babiak, @Photog_JohnB

This is part two of our interview with Cole Bassett. For part one, click here.

Soccer Rabbi: You mentioned Europe. I'd love to ask you, you know it was in you will be able to contextualize it and tell me what you think of it. But it seemed like it was a great adventure. There was a lot of opportunity. It probably didn't work out exactly how you imagined it. What do you take away from that experience? What did you learn from it? What are your thoughts on it now that you have a little bit of distance and perspective?

Cole Bassett: I feel like I have unfinished business over there a little bit. You know, I still want to prove just to myself that I can be a consistent start over there for a big team and a big big. I love Feyenoord. It’s such an amazing club. amazing people that I was there with the coach. Unbelievable. There's a reason why he (Arne Slot) is at Liverpool now is – I learned so much through him through nine, ten months. 

And yeah, wouldn't change it for the world. I kind of wish, you know, I don't want to have regrets and football but parts of me wish I didn't go on loan and I stayed and fought it out there for a place, because one of their midfielders actually ended up getting hurt for like two to three months.

But yeah, I loved everything about Feyenoord. And I would love to go back to a club like that one day, but I think the Fortuna Sittard move, I don't know how much of I've told the people in the media about it. It was a tough one, just because there was a coach that was there. And he was calling me for about a month or so while we're in preseason with Feyenoord, and he kept saying he wanted to bring me down. I would be the ‘ten’ (the central attacking midfielder). I would play every game. Like, you can't promise minutes. But he was basically promising minutes.

And he said I was the main guy that he wanted. And my agent said, ‘Look, this doesn't happen much in football, especially in in Europe, where somebody wants you this bad and continues to come back for you.’ So I decided to make the move there.¹ And then within the week that I moved there, he got fired. So I only had two training sessions with him and one game, and then he was gone. And then we had a player coach after that. And he didn't like me too much. And that kind of left me in a in a weird spot where there was an agreement in the deal that if I didn't play a certain amount of minutes, I would come back to Colorado. 

So the way that I came back here – I'm grateful to Padraig – he's always kind of looked out for me and even then this deal, although maybe at the time, I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to be at the time. He put a clause in there that allowed me to come back here and get my career rejuvenated. Because when you're not playing, you know, it's tough. So I think, yeah, he's done a lot of great things for me and allowed me to come back and be where I'm at now. 

Bassett: He (Chris Armas) is one of those coaches that you'd run through a brick wall for.

Soccer Rabbi: You give a lot of appreciation to folks, I think that that's a really unique characteristic about you. You've been  complimenting everyone but yourself mostly in this interview. You mentioned at the beginning, talking about Chris Armas. Tell me what he's been like for you and what your relationship has been like with him so far.

Cole Bassett: Yeah, he's been amazing. The best man manager I've ever had. Without a shadow of a doubt. Not just with me, but with the whole team. You can see I'm gonna go on a journey with them, right? 

You can see guys like Mike Edwards. And Johnny (Lewis). Guys have a tough year so far in terms of they maybe haven't been seen as much as the rest of us. And we've been getting a lot of spotlight. And, they're the ones behind the scenes that maybe don't get the credit they deserve. Chris, throughout the whole process has just been talking to him every single week making sure that they stay ready. I think I saw some quote on Mike Edwards thatas long as you're training throughout the weeks, if you stay ready, then you don't have to be ready when when the moment comes. Because you already are somewhat. I don't know how he worded it.

Armas is just a top, top guy. He's one of those coaches that you'd run through a brick wall for. I think everybody on the team feels that. So I feel like we're in a good moment right now. 

SR: You mentioned at the very beginning about Chris' kind of advice to you guys to just constantly play the ball forward instead of back passing – that recirculating the ball and just maintaining possession isn't a high priority. And you mentioned that his man-management has been really helpful. What else tactically do you think has helped both you personally and the team to be successful this year?

CB: There's a lot of stuff with the ball that I think people notice. It's always playing for progressive passes. He wants to play quickly, like he always talks about you always have the first. You always have the first couple of seconds when you win the ball to be able to play it forward. And I think the team's kind of bought into that. And once we win the ball, they always look forward right away. So that's been big for us.

But I think on the defensive side, that's been the biggest key to to our success this year, he showed us a few stats, where I think we're the tightest team in terms of front to back in the whole league this year. And he looks at that every single week. Whenever we're in video meetings, he has this rule, he has, he always wants the space to be in between this ruler on the big screen. And whenever we get too stretched out, like lafc, we had a couple of moments like that, you know, he wasn't too happy about that.

So it's just that I would say density of the group is really what did I think that's allowed us to jump in moments, and then everybody's just so close together, that when you win the ball, it's easier to play through each other and then go to go. I think the first goal the other night was a prime example of that is that everybody was so tight together, and then we broke out and wanting to touch and then we were flying down the field.

Bassett. Messi.

SR: So the question that everybody's gonna get asked this year, the same question that got asked last year if they played them, but they didn't. So you got to play on the field with Lionel Messi. That probably is a career highlight for any player on some level. But the flip side of it is you don't want to admit that to the media. Because you know, you want to say like, oh, you know, like he was impressed to meet me that's what really happened and so but what is it like to you know, grow up watching a player and and admiring him and then step on the field against him? What was that day like? And was that day, like, some of the other days that you've had as a professional soccer player, where you got to meet someone that you also really, really liked watching?

CB: Yeah, it was an amazing day. I think one of the best so far this year, I kind of forgot about it when thinking about moments earlier. But that one was special, because my whole family flew to Miami for the game as well. And not only just looking at the score sheet after and you see Messi and Bassett – it was kind of a full circle moment for me.

I loved watching those Barcelona teams - I was watching them starting in 2010 till probably 2017-2018. It was special and to be able to play against for me, he's the best ever to do it that I've seen. And you just see that the class that he has, it was it really was something special.

I was always looking over my shoulder trying to figure out where he is. And you know, he's just stand still. And then the next thing you know, he's run into the box and then he scores a goal. Yeah, it was special.

But I think as I went to Europe, I don't get as starstruck anymore. I think when I was younger and you play against guys like Wayne Rooney, you tend to be like, these are guys I watched on TV. But once I went to Europe, and you're playing against guys every single week that are bigger names, especially with our European run, we came up against a lot of big European states. So I wouldn't say I got starstruck this time, but I think that's led to me being a better player overall, I just feel like my game is I have confidence to go up against anybody in the world now.

And I love those challenges – those are the ones that Moïse (Bombito) was talking about the other day. I think you see him thriving right now. We love playing against the best players in the world, because you want to be right there. And I think we know that we're not as far off as people maybe think we are. So we love those tests. And then we can hopefully be there one day where we're the guys that other people are looking into. 

Note: Somehow, Bassett didn’t even mention that he *scored a goal* to level the match in the 88th minute against Lionel Messi’s Miami.

SR: You have a nice connection with midfield partners Ollie Larraz and Djordje Mihailovic, as well as Brazilian striker Rafael Navarro. How’s your off-field chemistry with him? Are you planning on learning Portuguese?

CB: So I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I know maybe 60, 70% And me and Rafa speak, it's mostly Spanish, but we speak every day, just because it's really only me and Omir Fernandez and Danish a comb. I can speak to him. So it has actually we have a good connection. And that sense, which I don't think he can develop with many players. So rough has been up there as well. It's just, there's been a couple of moments where we're so close to getting the connection that hasn't quite come. But I definitely think we we've started to figure out each other. 

SR: You know, I had prepared to write a question about how excited you were going to be to the Olympics and go to France. And then I just double checked the roster today and went, Oh, they they gave that spot to somebody else. Are you disappointed about not going to Olympics? What are your thoughts on that? 

CB: Yeah, it was really disappointing. I think the first two days it, it hurt a lot. You know, as a kid, you watch the Olympics growing up. I never really thought about it as much for men's soccer, just because we hadn't qualified since Oh, eight. So I don't really remember, I was seven years old at the time. So I never watched that. So I haven't ever watched the men's Olympic soccer, at least with the USA team. So I never thought about it. But when I realized that it was a chance this year, I changed my lock screen on my phone to the Olympics. And I've had that set since New Year's Day that, you know, I wanted to be there. And that was a goal I set out for myself this year.

And just to be so close and be that last guy that was cut. I think it hurt even more, just in the sense that, you know, I was told the day before, it wasn't official, but they told our GM they told Djordje as they were talking to him, they said, you know, Cole is gonna be going as well. And then the next day it ended up switching and I had to get the call from the coach that I was the last man taken off the roster so that it hurt. But it's one of those that I think it makes you stronger.

You know, it's one of those moments I'll remember in my career, but I hope that I can bounce back stronger. And just focus on what we have here with the Rapids, I think I can really take even bigger role now.

Before, a lot rested on Djordje, and, you know, now I kind of have to be that main guy.² And before we kind of had me and him to bounce stuff off of each other. But to step up in a big role is what I've gotten excited about. 

1. Details: On January 20, 2022, the Colorado Rapids loaned Cole Bassett to Feyenoord in the Dutch Eredivisie for 18 months with an option to buy. Bassett played sparingly, picking up 90 minutes in 7 games before the summer break. At the start of the 2022-23 season, it was Fortuna Sittard manager Sjors Ultee who expressed interest in Bassett. Ultee had had a rocky ‘21-22 season with Fortuna, and they finished one point above the relegation line.

For whatever reason, Ultee was kept in charge to start the 2022-23 campaign, and the Rapids obliged Ultee and Bassett by recalling him from Feyenoord in order to loan him to Fortuna on August 13, 2022. Ultee was sacked just nine days later, on August 22, after three straight losses to start the season. [Cole Bassett was a 60th minute sub-on in that third and final match, a 4-1 loss to Cambuur.] Under new manager Julio Velazquez, Bassett started just two matches, an August 27 loss to Heerenveen, and a November 13 win over Groningen. Clearly, Bassett wasn’t getting the minutes and experience he expected, and the Rapids ended his loan on November 18, 2022.

Fortuna Sittard finished the 2022-23 season in 13th place on 36 points; one point better than in 2021-22. Velazquez was sacked in June, 2023. Since returning to MLS, Bassett has 15 goals and 8 assists in the last 20 months; over the past year he has recorded the most distance run of any player in the league; and is in the 99th percentile for non-penalty goals, 88th percentile in Progressive Passes, and 89th percentile for Progressive Carries. [Oops, Fortuna.]

2. Bassett was the attacking mid for four games during Leagues Cup while Mihailovic was in Paris with the USMNT. Bassett would prove to be a key cog in the Rapids run to the semi-finals in the Leagues Cup and in their 3rd place finish in the tournament overall.