After 5 years, Fire's Rolfe ready for his next challenge
Things usually seem to work out pretty well for Chris Rolfe.
As an unknown coming out of the University of Dayton in 2005, Rolfe just hoped to be noticed at the draft combine that year.
The Fire remembered its former developmental league player, picking Rolfe in the third round, 29th overall, with a pick acquired from Dallas in a trade for goalkeeper Henry Ring. Neither he nor the Fire have regretted it since.
Rolfe stuck with the club that season, earning about $15,800, to the best of his recollection. "Not good. Not what you think of when you sign your first pro contract," Rolfe said with a laugh.
He became a starter and earned a few callups to the U.S. national team and won a good chunk of games.
"Fortunately, we've had very successful teams since I've been here," Rolfe said of his five years with the Fire. "I've been very fortunate for that. We've won the Open Cup, we've made it to conference finals, SuperLiga final this year. We've come really close to winning quite a few things."
But when he suffered an injury in the preseason this year and wound up coming off the bench in April as the Fire got off to a good start, Rolfe began to worry that maybe his luck had changed.
"That was in the back of my mind. It's a contract year for me, and obviously, we wanted some exposure. And I really wanted to play in the Gold Cup (for the national team) this year. That was taken away from me without my having any say," Rolfe said, his voice trailing off as he recalls the disappointment he still keenly feels. "I didn't get to (start the first eight) games. (The Gold Cup) was obviously one of my goals, and that was one of the tough things about setting goals in this league is a lot of it doesn't necessarily depend on you."
His hope for a contract extension two years ago, under previous team management, didn't work out, and then current Fire management found itself busy with other issues this summer, including the dispute between Bakary Soumare and coach Denis Hamlett.
It might not have mattered. If Rolfe, 26, was going to go to Europe, it was now or never. Aalborg, a club in Denmark's top league, stepped in and signed Rolfe to a pre-contract a couple of weeks ago. Rolfe will start playing for Aalborg in January.
Things worked out well for Rolfe again.
"It was the right thing for me to do at that time. I probably would have gone anyway unless they really would have bent over backwards for me, which they weren't going to do," Rolfe said. "I probably would have left anyway."
His reasons for leaving are the same as they are for most of the players who leave MLS for Europe.
"It's a test, it's a challenge," Rolfe said. "We all love the challenge, and that's why we're professional athletes. We love every challenge we can get. That's the new challenge for me, and it also opens doors to new options down the road.
"If I signed another contract here I'd be stuck probably for another four years. If I sign over there there's the potential for doing well and going to a better league, and then continuing to go. The sky's the limit over there. You do well and you can move up the ladder."
But that doesn't make it easy to leave. He has "great, great memories" of his time here, and it's clear he'll miss his teammates.
"Yeah, you start thinking about the relationships that you built, the city and the fans and everything," he said. "And again, I think about my legacy with the club. What did I bring to the city, what did I bring to the fans? We brought the Open Cup championship, but I haven't played in the (MLS) final, I didn't play in any other games. -
"That bothers me, and I won't dwell on it, but it's always going to be a bit disappointing. Unless we can finish it out this year, which would be so awesome."
We'll see if things will work out well for Rolfe in Europe. We hope so. He's a good guy in a locker room with many of them. He's earned his shot.