Chris Armas is a 2025 inductee into the US Soccer Hall of Fame. During his playing career, he played 12 seasons in Major League Soccer for the LA Galaxy and Chicago Fire, and was a 5x MLS Best XI selection, an MLS and US Open Cup Champion, and played 66 games for the US National Team. The 2000 US Soccer Player of the Year and 2005 MLS Comeback Player of the Year, untimely injuries derailed his inclusion in the 2002 and 2006 US World Cup teams.
After retireing from playing, Chris began a coaching career that has taken him to assistant coach roles at Manchester United and Leeds United, as well as MLS Head Coaching stops with the NY Red Bulls (2018 Supporters Shield winners), Toronto FC, and in 2024-2025 the Colorado Rapids. In 2024, he led the Rapids to a remarkable improvement of 23 points, finishing 7th after finishing dead last in 2023. For this he was named an MLSCoach of the Year finalist. In 2025, the Rapids missed out on the playoffs on the final day, and Armas and the Rapids agreed to part ways.
In our conversation today, Chris and John discuss the importance of building strong relationships with athletes, establishing trust, and helping each player get better. We discuss his time in England, meeting Sir Alex Ferguson, the British press, and his time in Colorado including the the joys of 2024 and the heartbreak of missing out on the 2025 players due to a stoppage time goal. You will see that Chris is humble, authentic, and driven to keep coaching and learning, and its a wonderful conversation to understand the humanity needed to coach at the top level.
BOOK A SPEAKER: Interested in having John or one of our speaking team come to your school, club or coaching event? We are booking November and December 2025 and Winter/Spring 2026 events, please email us to set up an introductory call John@ChangingTheGameProject.com
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This week's podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sprocket Sports. Sprocket Sports is a new software platform for youth sports clubs. Yeah, there are a lot of these systems out there, but Sprocket provides the full enchilada. They give you all the cool front-end stuff to make your club look good– like websites and marketing tools – AND all the back-end transactions and services to run your business better so you can focus on what really matters – your players and your teams.
Sprocket is built for those clubs looking to thrive, not just survive, in the competitive world of youth sports clubs. So if you've been looking for a true business partner – not just another app – check them out today at https://sprocketsports.me/CTG.
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