Matt Wells Is Dreaming Big With Colorado Rapids, Where Belief Is the Key

The Colorado Rapids take on Inter Miami on Saturday in front of an expected sell-out crowd at Empower Field at Mile High.

Matt Wells has got off to a fine start in MLS. | Courtesy of Colorado Rapids

Matt Wells didn’t need to rebuild the Colorado Rapids. He needed to build their belief.

As parity-filled as MLS can be, it’s only as much as its teams can make it. If the 2026 season has shown anything early on, it’s that any club can find success in its moments. For Wells, who is leading the Rapids in his first managerial role, getting his group to see that quality within them has been as challenging as scaling the Rockies that overlook Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

As soon as the 38-year-old stepped into the club, he saw the skills and potential of his group. Yet, the players? They didn’t all have that same conviction.

“The biggest challenge has been convincing the guys of that truth and that belief from day one,” Wells, in his first MLS season after a recent tenure as an assistant coach and academy coach with Tottenham Hotspur, tells Sports Illustrated.

“We had an incredible group of players in terms of obedience, but I just had a sense that, in their heart of hearts, they didn’t truly believe, in the early stages, that that was feasible or possible ... Now I feel that we’re in a place where that doesn’t exist anymore.”

Undefeated at home… and still nowhere near our ceiling 😤

Go inside the locker room as Matt Wells addresses the squad after a dominant win over Houston.#Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/VAcCyaLw0b

— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) April 12, 2026

The Rapids, who sit sixth in the Western Conference with 12 points through seven games, now get set to take on their most challenging match of the team’s 30th anniversary season, hosting reigning MLS Cup winners Inter Miami in front of a crowd of over 60,000 at Empower Field at Mile High, the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos. 

And as much as the Lionel Messi-led group, reeling in the wake of Javier Mascherano’s departure from the managerial role, brings a titanic matchup, the Rapids can turn to the evolving image of confidence and Wells’ dreams.

To get to where they already are in terms of mentality, it’s been a gradual process, not dissimilar to the acclimatization climbers undergo when scaling Colorado’s high-altitude peaks. At first, it’s a small step, then a step back before making a push to climb higher. 

For the Rapids, that first push came in preseason with an eye-catching win against Orlando City—a team that impressed in the Eastern Conference in 2025, despite a poor start to 2026—and a loss against Seattle Sounders in the season opener, despite putting in a solid performance.

Most recently, it was a 6–2 dominating win against a strong Houston Dynamo side, building optimism of a win in front of a crowd likely clad in Miami pink, despite Colorado’s home advantage. 

“You have to be all in,” Wells says. “You have to be all in on the press and all in on the build-up, because if you try and dip your toe in, you’re going to end up playing a style of play, but not fully be committed. If we don’t fully believe in it, we’re going to look like a real sterile team, and we’re very susceptible to getting beat.”

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Drawing on Tottenham’s Belief

Matt Wells (left) learned from every coach he was an assistant under, including Ange Postecoglou (right) | Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

The second-youngest coach in MLS may be just seven matches into his first top job, but he has been in the coaching ranks since retiring from a short playing career at 20. 

In that time, he has been an assistant coach with Fulham, AFC Bournemouth, Club Brugge and Tottenham, gleaning the opportunity to learn from some of the game’s most successful and forward-thinking coaches. 

When it comes to belief, it’s a factor that comes from a brief crossover with former Spurs manager, now USMNT boss, Mauricio Pochettino, who held the top job with the north London club while Wells coached in the academy. 

“I loved Pochettino’s mentality of turning Tottenham into a big team that saw itself as a big team,” Wells says, seeing Colorado in a similar spot, after the club ranked 15th of 30 teams in total salary expenditure in the 2025 MLSPA Salary report. 

“I’ve related to that in convincing these young guys that we’re a big team. We don’t have to go on the pitch and just survive. We can dominate games because what’s the point of getting out of bed to turn up to work to try and react to an opponent?”

New era. New standard.

Seven games in and Matt Wells already cleared the old mark 💥 #Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/0duQYeclOC

— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) April 13, 2026

Although things have not gone the same way for Spurs of late—they currently sit in the Premier League’s relegation zone with six games remaining—the faith and psychology instilled in the Pochettino years were critical. 

At the same time, Wells’ MLS arrival came on the heels of Ange Postecoglou’s time at Tottenham, which, despite ending in a 17th-place Premier League finish, saw him live up to a guarantee of winning a trophy with the 2025 Europa League title. 

“Every day [Postecoglou] spoke about winning, he was desperate to win and transmitted that to the players, and told the players that we’ll win a trophy,” Wells says of the Australian boss.

“He was very inspirational in terms of a winning mindset, and I loved that we’re very different in terms of the method and the approach behind the game on a global level, of wanting to have the ball, wanting to attack and wanting to really press the game constantly. We both saw the game in a very similar way.”

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MLS Cup Dreams Take Next Step vs. Inter Miami

Wells has high hopes for the remainder of 2026. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Harnessing the desire to win from Postecoglou, Wells had one thing to say to his players in an impassioned speech following the win over Houston: “We can win MLS Cup.”

It’s a bold statement, to say the least. 

Despite the star above the Rapid’s crest — a soon-to-be rebranded one — they’ve missed out on six of the last nine MLS Cup playoffs, and have only summited the league’s peak once in 2010, a significantly different era for MLS and U.S. soccer. 

Yet, the mentality is quickly shifting, given the relatively hot start and the success of teams outside the top-spending clubs and the gallantry that comes with an average age of 23.9 years old, the third youngest club in the league. 

“There’s no charity here. I want to win the MLS Cup, and I want to win the U.S. Open Cup,” he says, having turned to players as young as 15 years old this season. “I love the energy that comes with youth and the fearlessness that often goes with it, but it is not always the case.”

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Harnessing the Inter Miami Spotlight

Paxten Aaronson is one of Colorado's top talents at 22. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

On Saturday, as Wells prepares to lead the young group in front of a 60,000+ crowd at the NFL venue, he hopes it can be the next step in building belief in the dream of silverware. If his young players can find a win against the daunting likes of Messi and co., it only re-emphasizes his ideals and hopes. 

“The only crime we can commit against Miami is that we don't turn up as ourselves,” he says. “I want our guys to play with big balls and big personalities. Take the ball in precious situations, play our patterns and make sure we make them jump, which is what our football is based on ... Our football is way too risky to play with nerves.”

While Wells may be new to MLS, and with a club well outside the usual spotlight, there’s reason to believe more than ever. Not only is it a young group with a bright young manager at the helm, but it’s a new era of a project in a parity-filled league, where, even with shifts in recent seasons, every team has a genuine chance to win any day. 

The Rapids are hoping that Saturday falls in their favor. If that happens, belief against top teams won’t just be an ideal; it will be part of an ever-evolving identity.

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