The Colorado Rapids held their final Las Vegas training session on Saturday, doing a light, 70-minute session at UNLV. Saturday's practice was sandwiched between a pair of matchdays for Colorado, having faced UNLV on Friday and taking on Chivas USA in the Las Vegas ProSoccer Challenge on Sunday night.
Practice started with a 20-minute jog for the players, helping to shake out some of the soreness from Friday's game. The team then did the usual warmup and passing drills before splitting into two teams for some 11-v-11 work, with Pablo Mastroeni offering instructions on how he'd like the team to play on Sunday. Following the walkthrough, some players did some finishing while others hit long balls or stretched to cool down.
The team will have meals in the hotel on Saturday and Sunday, with the match kicking off at 7:30 p.m. PT on Sunday night at Sam Boyd Stadium. Tickets are available on the ProSoccer Challenge website.
NASCO AWAY FOR THE WEEKEND
Joe Nasco, who recently signed his first contract in MLS, has left the Rapids camp temporarily. The goalkeeper has traveled home to be with family for a few days before rejoining the team in Tucson.
MEDIA BLITZ
Several local media members have been at the Rapids practices over the last several days, with Grant Van De Casteele speaking with Fox on Saturday, Steve Cooke and Drew Moor talking to CBS on Thursday, Vicente Sanchez and Marvin Chavez talking to Univision on Friday, and Jose Mari visiting the Telemundo studio also on Friday. Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Steve Carp also came to Thursday's practice for a feature story that will run in Sunday's paper.
MAYOR'S CUP
With hundreds of youth soccer teams descending on Las Vegas for the Mayor's Cup this weekend (including 11 teams from the Rapids Academy), young players have been stopping Rapids players for photos and autographs constantly over the last couple of days.
