There are plenty of eyeballs watching Darren Yapi’s every move for the Colorado Rapids this season.
For an 18-year-old who went from fetching balls on the sideline just a few years ago to starting for the Rapids up front, the attention is to be expected.
Still, it’s hard for the center forward to grasp how fast his rise has been. Last week, Yapi received a phone call from a then-unknown area code, which turned out to be U.S. Soccer based in Chicago. An official was on the line to tell him he had been selected for the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team’s final camp with friendlies in Europe against France, England and Serbia over two weeks.
With the FIFA Under-20 World Cup kicking off this spring (May 20-June 11), U.S. Soccer had to do its due diligence before making a final roster decision. Yapi checks many boxes national teams need: A true center forward with blazing speed, the 6-foot-2 Denver native earned national-team attention, but still can hardly believe it.
“Every time I line up for the starting eleven and we walk on the pitch, whew, like, I don’t even believe I’m there,” Yapi said last Saturday before departing for Europe.
The Rapids (0-3-1, 1 point) have scored one goal so far this season, and head coach Robin Fraser was asked last weekend whether the pressure is getting to the teenager. Pressure? No chance and quite the opposite, Fraser said.
“I think he’s a young kid who’s relishing the opportunity and is doing quite well,” Fraser said. “He will score goals. The kid’s a good player, a good athlete, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. I think we’re all seeing the very, very beginning of Darren Yapi and hopefully there’ll be one day where we go, ‘Oh my God, I knew that kid when he was just a kid.’ But he’s definitely on the rise.”
Assessing his first four games, Yapi was definitive about his scoring opportunities. Despite two goals waived off by VAR and two more shots that clanked off the crossbar, one thing’s for sure: He knows he’ll get his.
“I think you could see the good moments. I’m able to create chances but I wanna put them away so bad — you guys don’t know how bad I wanna put them away,” Yapi said. “I feel like that’s just it, I just have to be more clinical and that comes with time and more hard work, but, it’ll come. As long as I keep creating chances, we’ll see.”
What’s he hoping for with the national team? You guessed it: Putting the ball in the back of the net, which will hopefully spur on his club team form upon his return.
“Goals — goals, goals, goals. That’s the main thing. I just wanna go out there and take that experience, come back and help this group as much as I can,” he said.
The U.S. will take on a pair of formidable foes in England (Saturday) and Serbia (March 28) after a 4-1 loss to France on Wednesday in which Yapi was a substitute for the final 30 minutes. It was his first call-up since making the U-19s in January. He’d previously been off the radar and hadn’t received a call from U.S. Soccer and the unknown Illinois area code since February of 2020 with the U-17s.
The Rapids will face Austin FC (2-2-0, 6 points) at 6:30 p.m. MT Saturday at Q2 Stadium without Yapi or Diego Rubio, who also received a call-up to the Chilean senior national team. Instead, it will be up to a new strike force of Kévin Cabral and/or Calvin Harris up top to deliver the goods.
“Not sure who’s gonna step up yet but I feel like those guys have to come out and know what they’re gonna do,” Yapi said. “They’re gonna take (their chance) head-on and fight.”
As for Yapi, the Green Valley Ranch native will continue battling it out in Europe and hope to make an impact with the U-20s.
“I just wanna go in there work hard and and impose my will, maybe I can earn that (starting) place,” he said.
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