PABLO MASTROENI’S SOCCER resume speaks for itself. Born in Argentina, he moved to the United States at an early age and developed into a standout youth player. After a college career at North Carolina State, he was drafted into MLS in 1998 and became one of the league’s best players with the Miami Fusion. In 2001 he was named to the league’s Best XI and also acquired his American citizenship, allowing him to play with the U.S. national team.

Mastroeni was part of the 2002 World Cup team that advanced to the quarterfinals before being stopped in a tight 1-0 loss to Germany. He was also a member of the 2006 World Cup team and the 2005 and 2007 Gold Cup champion teams. He ended his national team career with 65 caps.

The midfielder joined the Colorado Rapids in 2002 and over a decade with the club he became the face of the franchise. After spending one final season with the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2013, Mastroeni retired as and moved back to Colorado. With the coaching position vacant, he was asked to help run the club’s preseason regimen. Apparently ownership liked what it saw, and gave Mastroeni the head coach job.

American Soccer Now’s Brian Sciaretta spoke with Mastroeni on his transition to coaching, his expectations for the Rapids, and the state of the U.S. national team. (This interview has been lightly edited.)

Brian Sciaretta for ASN: So your first MLS season as a coach is now upon you. How are you feeling about the team?

Mastroeni: It’s been great. We’ve been working the past six weeks alongside these guys. It’s been quite a seamless transition. It’s been a day-to-day evolution and I’m sure there is a lot more to come. As we start the season, it’s going to be another type of experience. I’m just taking it as it comes but so far it’s been good.

ASN: You are taking a coaching job immediately after retiring as a player. How did you prepare yourself to be a coach so quickly?

Mastroeni: It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. Since I’ve come into the league, I’ve been studying the managers and the things I really enjoy as far as the way they handle the team and manage the players and those I didn’t necessarily like as a player. I was taking notes all along the way and I studied a bit coaching in college as well. As I started to get older and found myself playing less, I took on more on-the-field coaching. I think the transition is something I’ve been preparing myself for and so far it’s been great.

ASN: What ideally will be the Pablo Mastroeni style of play? Are there teams you want to emulate? Are there any specific things that you want to build your style around?

Mastroeni: If you look at the best teams in the world, the way they execute on both sides of the ball is tremendous. I think it would be naive to say I want to play attractive soccer because I think what actually brings about attractive soccer is tremendous defense and a great defensive shape. All the best teams in the world have that and when they execute that, the players find themselves in positions where they can actually have a dynamic attack because their numbers are around the ball and they can get forward a lot easier as opposed to just dropping back and defending in large groups. So one kind of facilitates the other and I think you need that.

For me in the last six weeks I’ve preached concentration for 90 minutes. There is a decision to be made every second of every game. Our focus has to be that we’re making better decisions on defense than the opposing team is making on offense and vice versa. I don’t know how to be any more specific and I don’t know how to be any more general. That is just the mindset is that it’s a game of concentration and the more in-tune you are with the game, the better decisions you will make individually which in the end, collectively, will give our team a better chance to win.

ASN: Colorado is a team with some younger players. Dillon Powers, Chris Klute, and Shane O’Neil are coming off strong years in their first full MLS season. Does this present a unique challenge having such a young team? Are you worried about “sophomore slumps” for some of the team’s key players?

Mastroeni: I don’t really look into that too much. As a player, managers and media harped on age. I think it’s such a talking point for the sports pundits as opposed to the reality of the game. I always say that Michael Owen at 18 started at a World Cup. He was ready at 18 but there were other 18-year-olds that might not be ready.

What it comes down to me is ability. Can you do this or can you not? With a younger team, I am focusing on the concentration element of really the details of the tactics I’ve been implementing since day one. I think that’s where you get a bit loose with the younger guys. The concentration isn’t as good as with some of the experienced guys. The experienced guys have been around so they don’t have to think as much about the game. It’s not a daunting task and the expectations are obviously high for everyone that steps on the field. The way I’ve managed this group from the first day is that this is a team–whether you’re 17 or 36, you’re all good enough to be here. The onus is now on us as a staff to put a team on the field that’s prepared to face the week-to-week rigors MLS will present.

ASN: Are you happy with the response of the players so far?

Mastroeni: I’m extremely happy. The group off the field has been very tight. On the field, they’re really competitive but really respectful. I can’t ask for more from the experienced players in this locker room who have truly taken a bunch of the younger players under their wings and been good pros and have led by example. To me, that is the most important leadership quality. So I’m extremely pleased. Hopefully we get off to a good start.

ASN: You were in charge of running the team’s preseason but only awarded the job a little more than a week ago. Were you campaigning for the job?

Mastroeni: Absolutely. I was just excited to be back with the club. In that Special Assistant role, it was an opportunity for me, as interim, to take over the first-team duties and lead these guys into preseason. From the moment I got on field the first day, I was sleeping four or five hours a night just making sure I was ready to take on the next day. Our staff would spend 10 hours at the training facility just making sure the week was planned and everything was going to go off without a hitch. [The preparation] gave me a feel of what it would be like if I got the job. I took it as it was my position from day one and I think that had a lot to do with getting the appointment.

ASN: Your generation of players is more active with coaching than previous players. Are you happy to be part of that trend? Will this continue and will it help give an identity to American soccer?

Mastroeni: I think so. It’s an exciting time for American soccer. I’m excited to be part of this fraternity of coaches with the likes of Gregg Berhalter, Mike Petke, Caleb Porter, Jason Kreis, Jay Heaps–young coaches who have done a really good job with their respective clubs. The more coaches you have that played for the national team and played in MLS, the more credibility it brings to the league.

It’s one thing to grow players but as a country, we’re still not looked upon as a premier league in this world–although we’re working in that direction. From a coaching perspective, there are not many coaches who get the opportunity to move abroad. Hopefully this generation of coaches begins to change the mentality the rest of the world has and the way they perceive us. It’s great and I hope it works out and we continue growing and fostering coaches within.

ASN: Don Garber wants MLS be a top league in 10 years. What’s your take—is that achievable?

Mastroeni: When I was in Miami we were using a baseball spring training facility as our locker room. When I was in Colorado, we were using trailers on top of a hill as our locker room and playing in a 70,000-seat football stadium. I’ve seen the changes and the commitment that the owners have to making this league one of the best in the world. I’ve seen it year to year and I’ve seen it grow. It is a definite possibility–especially with the economic climate around the world at the moment. It’s tough in Europe and in other places. We’re in a pretty good situation to be able to grow and invest in this league. The TV contracts and the players we’re producing are just a byproduct of the type of commitment that the owners and MLS has.

ASN: They have the money, stadiums, and TV deals, but what are these next steps for making MLS a top league on the field?

Mastroeni: I think it’s time. More and more kids are watching soccer and playing soccer than baseball. I think it’s a matter of time. I think you have to remember that soccer is foreign to Americans. The moment we embrace it and call it one of our own sports, that’s when you have this league becoming one of the best leagues in the world. That’s going to take some time but we’re taking the right steps. Nothing happens in a short period of time and if you look at 18 years in terms of growing a sport in this country, it’s a ridiculously short period of time. Is 10 more years enough time? I don’t know. But we’re going in the right direction and I think the interest has spiked.

ASN: You played in two World Cups and must still be fond of the U.S. national team. What do you think about the upcoming tournament?

Mastroeni: I think it’ a great group for us. When I say that, people look at me like I’m crazy. As a national team, the rest of the world doesn’t perceive us as one of the powerhouses. Playing the underdog role in this really tough group and confronting Germany, Portugal, and Ghana, is tremendous for us. In tough games and tough situations, everyone pulls together and the egos are checked at the door.

With the amount of talent we have on this team and with that American mindset, the situation we have with this group is ripe with a lot of possibility. I think if we can pull together—like the team has in the past to get results in tough places like Azteca. If you get out of that group and have that American spirit that’s willing to be the underdog and overcome great challenges, then you find yourself in the next round of the World Cup saying, ‘We just got out of the Group of Death, what else can stop us?’ In order to win, you have to get through the best teams anyway. If you can get the right mentality, the right spirit, and the right players on the field, I think the U.S. might shock some people this go-around.

ASN: It seemed like the 2002 World Cup team had a chip on its shoulder. Was that an asset?

Mastroeni: It is and you get that when people don’t believe in you. You keep surprising people and become that underdog story. I think that’s why this situation they find themselves in now with this group is conducive for that type of momentum moving forward.

ASN: So where do you want to grow as a coach and what do you think you can achieve with Colorado in 2014?

Mastroeni: The way I looked at anything when I was a player is the same as a coach. I’m looking seven-to-eight months out and I want to instill a philosophy: If you lose games along the way, you lose. But you don’t lose games in vain. You’re always working toward an ideology you want to instill so that come July and August we aren’t asking questions about different scenarios on the field. We’ve gone through those, we’ve experienced those, and we never changed our philosophy in the way we want to play and how we want to play. I believe that if we do those little things that I’ve asked, we will win more games than we lose. The winning, the results, and the accolades will be a byproduct of doing all the little things right. My focus is making sure we never change that type of and making sure we continue to grow as a team and get better as a team.

Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.