Albania international Shkëlzen Gashi provided some of the big moments for the Rapids in a record-breaking 2016 season. He took time out recently from preseason to talk to play-by-play announcer Richard Fleming about his first year in MLS, as well as his hectic offseason.
Richard Fleming: We’ve all been looking at your social media over the offseason. Tell us where you’ve been, what you’ve been doing. You’ve been in Dubai, and it’s almost like a playboy lifestyle.
Shkëlzen Gashi: (laughs) No, no, no. It was just like with my family and everything, my family and friends. It’s also important for the holidays, (so) you can enjoy, so yeah it was a cool holidays. And it was also the first time that I had taken pictures of my private holiday.
RF: It looked very, very glamorous. There was the jet-skiing, and the boat. How important is that for you, as players, to just get away and switch off and relax?
SG: For me it’s important that I can enjoy my holidays. When I have a lot of fun, a lot of action, it’s always very important, but it’s not like for glamour. It’s only when you have the right people, and all people that are happy, (then) you can do what you want and it was the right moment to enjoy and, yes, it was very funny.
RF: It was quite a short turnaround. I think we worked it out to be 57 days, from the game against Seattle to returning to preseason. Do you get time to fully switch off and relax in such a short space of time?
SG: For me it was a little bit busy because I go back to Switzerland to see my family and friends. Yeah, in this two months it was a lot of dinner, a lot of lunches, coffees and then you go for you, you need to go on a holiday. It was very busy because it was also the first time that I have two months holiday, but you want to do everything right for these two months because you then leave for the next year. It was busy but it was great.
RF: How important was it for you to go into that, knowing that you’d had a good 2016? It was an interesting one for … a new club, a new country, and a European Championship for Albania - 2016 was a big year for Gashi, wasn’t it.
SG: It was unbelievable. It was a very beautiful year. I had just two weeks holiday in December (2015), and then in January I make my preseason with my old club, then I make the move to the Rapids, and it was one year like “action”, (with a) lot of travel, a lot of jet-lag, and a lot of flights and games, and it was unbelievable, and I was so happy that I can help my teammates and my team, and it was a great year.
RF: Have you had a chance to look back on 2016? Were there some highlights for you? You scored some spectacular goals, (but) what stood out for you last year?
SG: It’s not easy to say one highlight. I had a lot of highlights, but to come to Denver, to play with the Rapids, to go to the Euros, to finish the season well - with the best season of the Rapids’ history - there were a lot of highlights. To meet the players on the Broncos in August. Everything was great, and it’s not easy to say one highlight. It was a full year of highlights.
RF: What can we expect from Gashi in 2017?
SG: First year was good. Now the second year I think is a little bit different for (the) players. We have the new players and we have to help them and, yes, if we can do better than last year then we’ll be happy but the first goal - as I always say - the first goal is to go to the playoffs. Last year we were, in the league, (the) underdog, and now they know how we play and now it’s much harder because it’s hard to go high but to stay high is much harder, and now we need to be focused and train hard and I hope I can help my teammates and the city of Denver, the fans, everything, to also make a great 2017.
RF: Do you feel that you’ve got to step your game up, because people will now know your game and maybe your strengths and weaknesses?
SG: You will always change a little bit your game because you have other teammates, and it’s automatic that you will change at something, but (when) you have the quality, you need to be excited, to be happy, to be focused, and then we will see what happens this season. When you have the right mentality, you can give always the best, and it’s the first step.
