MLS Colorado Rapids

Rapids weekly notes

Published on September 5, 2006 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Colorado Rapids News Release


Rocky Mountain Cup Stays With Rapids: Looking for a victory in the fourth and final Rocky Mountain Cup game of the season, Niko Hernandez powered home a header to find that win and bring the Cup back to Colorado. Real Salt Lake, who only needed a tie to win the Cup came out defensive as the Rapids took the action to their rivals, and RSL paid for it as Niko victimized the home side in the 48th minute to give Colorado the win and bragging rights for another year.

Niko Scores, Rapids Win: Nicolas Hernandez extended his team lead in goals scored to seven with his strike against Real Salt Lake. The goal was his sixth game-winning goal of the season, which leads the league. Niko has scored in six Rapids games this season and all have been Colorado victories. Here are the six: May 6 vs. DC, June 9 vs. RSL, July 4 vs. NE (2 goals), July 26 vs. HOU, Aug. 12 vs. LA and Sept. 2 vs. RSL.

Martins Assists, Rapids Win: Thiago Martins has produced three assists this season worth a total of nine points for the Rapids. All of the Brazilian's assists have been game-winners which ties him for the Rapids and MLS leads in that category with Terry Cooke and three others, respectively. Martins' game-winning assists have come on July 8 vs. KC (Mathis goal), July 26 vs. HOU (Hernandez goal) and Aug. 12 vs. LA (Hernandez goal).

Rapids Undefeated When Scoring First: The Rapids are yet to lose in MLS when they score the first goal. Colorado moved to 8-0-2 (90.0% winning percentage) when they get on the board first with Niko Hernandez's goal at Rice Eccles Stadium on September 2.

Cooke Chasing Rapids Assist Record: With his next assist, Terry Cooke will tie Adrian Paz for fourth place on the Rapids' all-time season high assist chart. He will pass Ross Paule's 2001 and Mark Chung's 2002 totals of 10 assists notched in a season and be just five behind Carlos Valderrama's record of 16. Through 19 games Cooke is ahead of Valderrama's pace with 10 compared to El Pibe's eight at the same point of the season in 2002. Here's a look at the Rapids' ten highest single season assist totals.

Carlos Valderrama '02 16 Mark Chung '02 10

Adrian Paz '98 13 Ross Paule '01 10

Chris Henderson '97 13 Anders Limpar '00 9

Adrian Paz '97 11 Ross Paule '99 9

Terry Cooke '06 10 Chris Henderson '98 9

Terry Cooke, Leading MLS: Englishman Terry Cooke's two assists on July 20 put him back atop the MLS leaders table with 10 total assists. Cooke, the former Manchester United midfielder, is also currently tied for the Rapids' record for the most assists in one game, along with Colombian international Carlos Valderrama and former Rapids stalwart Ross Paule, with three.

Rapids Reserves Update: The Colorado Rapids Reserves lost just their second game of the year to the Real Salt Lake reserves 3-1 in Utah on Sunday. The reserves are now 7-2-0 on the season with just three games remaining. Due to the Kansas City Reserves tie against FC Dallas Colorado remains in first place with 21 points. The Rapids Reserves' magic number to clinch the Reserve League is currently eight over both Kansas City and Salt Lake.

Melvin Tarley Joins Rapids: Colorado announced this week that the club has signed former Real Salt Lake player Melvin Tarley for the rest of the season. Tarley scored six goals against the three MLS teams the Minnesota Thunder upset in the 2005 U.S. Open Cup, including four against the Rapids. In exchange for his rights, Colorado gave Real a fourth round draft pick in the 2007 MLS Supplemental draft. Tarley, who holds a green card status, will not count as a Senior International on the team's roster.

Local Talent Gets Playing Time: Continuing with their constant efforts to identify and develop local talent, the Colorado Rapids have already had two local players on the pitch representing the club this year. Fort Collins native Colin Clark, who played at all levels in the state of Colorado, made his MLS debut with the Rapids on Saturday, April 29 in the 1-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo. Another local talent, Daniel Wasson, who grew up in Colorado Springs, made his debut in the 2-1 win over D.C. United and scored his first career goal on Saturday, May 27 in the 2-2 tie against Real Salt Lake. The Rapids have the third most local players in their roster of all the six Western Conference teams, and the fourth most in Major League Soccer. The Galaxy and Chivas USA lead the pack, followed by the Red Bulls. Here is the count of local players with their respective club: Chivas USA (10 players born in CA); Los Angeles Galaxy (9 players born in CA); Red Bulls (6 players born in NY/NJ); Colorado Rapids (5 players born in CO); DC United (4 players born in DC metro area); Chicago (2 players born in IL), New England (2 players born in NH and RI), Dallas (2 players born in TX), RSL (2 players born in UT); Houston (1 player born in TX), Kansas City (1 player born in MO) and Columbus (1 player born in OH).

Rapids All-Time vs. Opponents at INVESCO: The Rapids will be opening their new stadium in Commerce City in April 2007, and as they close their final season at INVESCO Field, the numbers tell the story of a home field advantage that will only increase at the new facility. DC, Columbus, New England and Kansas City have already played their final games at the stadium and the records will be updated as opponents play their final games at the mile high venue this season. Rapids Final All-Time Records vs. opponents at INVESCO Field:

vs. DC United (4-0-2) vs. Houston (1-1-0)

vs. Columbus (4-0-2) vs. Salt Lake (3-1-0)

vs. New England (5-1-1) vs. Los Angeles (6-1-3)

vs. Kansas City (6-1-1) vs. Dallas (4-2-4)

vs. Chivas USA (1-0-3)

Check out the Colorado Rapids Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from September 5, 2006


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