Veterans Matt Pickens, Brian Mullan, Marvell Wynne, Nick LaBrocca and Jamie Smith are among the 17 Colorado Rapids players who traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico Thursday morning to face Mexico's Santos Laguna in a friendly exhibition on Friday. The match, which will be played at University Stadium on the campus of the University of New Mexico, will be the fourth time the Rapids have faced Santos in club history.
The experienced players are complimented by several others who have started or been involved in many regular season matches this season, including Shane O'Neill, German Mera, Tony Cascio, and Danny Mwanga.
MATCH PREVIEW: Colorado Rapids vs Santos Laguna, July 12
Colorado Rapids Roster for match vs Santos Laguna:
GK: Matt Pickens, Stew Ceus
DEF: German Mera, Shane O'Neill, Brian Mullan, Marvell Wynne, Davy Armstrong, Brenton Griffiths.
MID: Dillon Serna, Kevin Harbottle, Nick LaBrocca, Anthony Wallace, Jamie Smith
FOR: Jaime Castrillon, Danny Mwanga, Kamani Hill, Tony Cascio
The Rapids and Santos have squared off three times previously, and the Mexican side holds the edge, with two wins to Colorado’s one. In the first meeting between the teams, the Rapids earned a 2-0 win in a preseason friendly in Las Vegas on March 12, 2003, with a pair of goals from striker Casey Schmidt. In 2011, the teams faced each other twice in the CONCACAF Champions League group stage, with Santos winning 4-1 in Commerce City on September 13 and 2-0 in Torreón on October 19.
NOTES: Of the group that traveled, only homegrown products Dillon Serna and Davy Armstrong have yet to appear in a match this season...Rookie defender Kory Kindle was injured during Wednesday's training session and was a late scratch...Only roster players are eligible to play in the friendly, therefor none of the trialists made the trip...Assisting head coach Oscar Pareja in Albuquerque will be Reserve Team assistant coach Steve Cooke and assistant goalkeeper coach Chris Sharpe...With Assistant Wilmer Cabrera at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, assistant coaches Dave Dir and Paul Caffrey remained in Colorado to conduct the training sessions for the players that did not travel.
