COMMERCE CITY — As rain-soaked skies darkened the campus around Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Thursday, there were few, if any, smiling faces as the Colorado Rapids went through a training session.
The morning after a report implicated Rapids midfielder Max Alves in an alleged match manipulation scandal, the club practiced without its 21-year-old Brazilian teammate for the first time.
Per a club source, Colorado’s front office was caught off-guard Wednesday morning when the report from the Brazilian newspaper O Globo surfaced. The news quickly reached the upper echelon of KSE, which worked the rest of the afternoon to verify the report, inform Major League Soccer and craft a statement confirming an investigation by MLS is underway.
In the report, Alves is alleged to have intentionally received a yellow card during a match against the L.A. Galaxy on Sept. 17, 2022, to benefit bettors.
When asked if he had any comments on the report, Rapids head coach Robin Fraser declined, saying “I don’t have any comment (on Max Alves) aside from what the club has issued.”
On Thursday in Brazil, Alves’ agent Regis Oliveira was quoted in a story published by his hometown paper Tribuna de Minas. He said that the Rapids midfielder is willing to cooperate with Brazilian authorities.
The following was translated into English from Gustavo Lopes, a Brazilian, Boston-based journalist who covers MLS:
“He is very sorry and heartbroken about what happened. He sent me a text apologizing about the situation and thanking everything I’ve done for him. He will not hide,” Oliveira told the outlet. “… I talked to a lawyer and it would be ideal for him to come to Brazil. Since the investigation is in Brazil, I think he will be able to leave the United States.”
Alves, who the Rapids clarified is an employee of MLS as a result of the single-entity league structure, is currently on paid administrative leave. Other outlets have reported that he’s suspended. Wednesday he was removed from all team activities.
The Rapids (2-3-6, 12 points) will look to extend the unbeaten streak across all competitions to 10 games Saturday night against Philadelphia Union. While Fraser has seen what this roller-coaster season has already thrown at his team, he knows there will still be more hurdles yet to come.
“It’s a very hectic time for us and we know that,” Fraser started. “I think the players’ approach and mentality has been fantastic. With the challenges, injuries and international call-ups all along those lines, this team has just been so resilient with whatever’s been thrown at them recently. This has to continue, now even more urgently with the number of games we’ll have over the next couple of weeks.”
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