For him, success never gets old

By Frank Dell'Apa, 10/21/2003

Since age 28, Carlos Llamosa has performed in four MLS Cups and the World Cup in Korea, and won the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Intercontinental Cup. Should the Revolution advance to the MLS championship in Carson, Calif., Nov. 23, Llamosa could equal Jeff Agoos's record of playing in five MLS Cups. Llamosa, 34, could have been easing into retirement by now. Instead, in the last two seasons, he has defended against the planet's best strikers in the World Cup and the country's youngest and most restless attacking players in MLS. Now that the Revolution have qualified for the playoffs, much of the credit should go to Llamosa, who has injected composure and credibility into the team's central defense.

Past Revolution teams tended to panic under pressure, but Llamosa has helped alter that attitude. Even after committing costly errors, Llamosa has usually exhibited a productive combination of combativeness and resilience.

"Everyone makes mistakes, even the top players in the World Cup finals," Llamosa said yesterday. "Look at Roberto Baggio in the [1994] World Cup. As a defender, or a goalkeeper, your mistakes can end up in the goal and that is the worst part about playing in back -- you make a mistake, sometimes in a bad moment in the finals. If you are up, 2-0, giving up an own goal is not important, but if you lose the game, that's another story."

In their eight years of existence, the Revolution have earned a reputation as underachievers, but that could be changing. The team has qualified for the playoffs in three of the last four seasons. And though they were recently in last place in the Eastern Conference, they can finish second with at least a tie against the MetroStars in the regular-season finale at Gillette Stadium Saturday.

"We have been confident the whole year," Llamosa said. "In the past three months, we got a little unlucky. We played very well but lost to D.C. in the last minute [Aug. 9]. The same thing happened at Los Angeles [Aug. 23]. We managed the ball very well and created chances. It wasn't that we didn't have confidence, just that we lost in the last minute a couple of times."

Such defeats can shatter morale, as previous Revolution teams have shown. Such defeats would often signal a collapse, a recurring nightmare of own goals and self-inflicted failures. In fact, Llamosa was the last Revolution player to score a goal last season -- an own goal that allowed Columbus to tie the score, 2-2, in the 85th minute of the final playoff game. But Llamosa led the charge in overtime as the Revolution qualified for the MLS Cup, a 1-0 overtime loss to Los Angeles.

The Revolution have seldom been able to build from central defense forward. Coaches either placed too much responsibility on or failed to support players such as Dan Calichman, Brian Dunseth, Alexi Lalas, Francis Okaroh, and Mauricio Wright. Llamosa arrived in New England almost by accident, following the demise of the Miami Fusion franchise after the 2001 season.

Bruce Arena had rejuvenated Llamosa's career, bringing him to D.C. United in 1997, then to the US national team after Llamosa attained citizenship in 1998. But it seems remarkable that no other MLS coach had discerned Llamosa's talent.

Llamosa left Colombia in 1991 to join three brothers and four sisters in New York, resuming his soccer career in local leagues. He soon earned a work permit, toiling for a janitorial firm at the World Trade Center, which meant that when MLS began, Llamosa qualified as a domestic player. This made him doubly valuable: a central defender with professional experience and instincts who didn't count against foreign player limit.

In the early years of MLS, this was a crucial advantage, since a player such as Llamosa provided guidance for less-worldly teammates, plus it increased the margin for error in evaluating the so-called marquee imports, who were not always proven quantities.

Preki, the Kansas City forward/midfielder, was the prime example of such a player. The fact that Preki remains an MLS most valuable player candidate at age 40 indicates that Llamosa could have several more productive seasons.

Llamosa appears to be going through another rejuvenation. At first, he was reluctant to move to New England. His family had settled comfortably in New York, then Washington, then Miami. Fate seemed to be sending Llamosa farther south. Then, despite a successful 2002 season, the league attempted to drastically reduce his salary, so Llamosa took the next logical step and began negotiating to return to Colombia, but an offer fell through from Atletico Nacional. "I feel pretty good about where I am in my career," Llamosa said. "Last year I had success with the national team and also with the Revolution and now I have a chance to play in the playoffs again. I have seven years in the league and we only missed the playoffs once, with D.C. in 2000."