This is a big week for the Colorado Rapids.
Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of Colorado’s MLS Cup championship win. Then, on Sunday, the Rapids begin their Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoff run in Minnesota. This year offered a bumpy road, but let’s look back on some of the numbers that helped Colorado make it back to the postseason.
2,874
Players under the age of 22 played 2,874 minutes for Colorado in 2020, out of a total of 17,774 (16.17%), which is the fifth-highest percentage in MLS, and the third-highest in the Western Conference. 19-year-old Homegrown midfielder Cole Bassett (Littleton, Colo.) played 982 minutes this regular season, leading the team with five goals and five assists. 21-year-old Homegrown defender Sam Vines (Colorado Springs) was the only player on the roster to play 90 minutes in all 18 games this season, adding one goal and three assists.
20-year-old Argentine Braian Galvan played 244 minutes, adding one goal and an assist, while defender Auston Trusty rounds out the list with 28 minutes played before his 22nd birthday on Aug. 12.
92.77
Defender Drew Moor completed 92.77% of his passes in 2020, which was the second-highest success rate of any player with at least 100 passes in 2020. Moor made eight appearances with Colorado, starting five and scoring the game-winning goal against Orlando City on March 7. Moor is a two-time MLS Cup champion, first with Colorado in 2010 and then with Toronto in 2017.
66
Midfielder Younes Namli’s 66 dribbles completed were the second-most in MLS behind Cristian Pavón of LA Galaxy, who completed seven more dribbles in five more appearances than Namli. The Designated Player has been key to Colorado’s attack this year, scoring two goals and adding four assists.
24
Defender Lalas Abubakar blocked 24 shots this season, which was the second-most in MLS behind fellow Ghanaian Jonathan Mensah of Columbus, despite playing six fewer games than Mensah. In his second season with the Rapids, Abubakar started 17 games and scored one goal. Abubakar was named Colorado’s Defender of the Year for a second consecutive year.
5
Colorado boasts a 5-3-1 record on the road in 2020, which is tied for the second-best road record in MLS. No team has won more than Colorado’s five games as the visitor.
3
The Rapids enter the postseason on a three-game winning streak, which is the longest of the season. Colorado returned to winning ways with a decisive 3-1 win over then-first-place Seattle Sounders FC, before taking a playoff-clinching 1-0 win at Portland Timbers, who had overtaken Seattle for first place in the Western Conference. The three-game winning streak is the second such streak under had coach Robin Fraser, who led the Rapids to three wins to begin his tenure from August to September 2019.
1.73
Since the beginning of 2019, Colorado has scored 90 goals in 52 MLS matches. The Rapids’ 1.73 goals per game is the fourth-highest clip in MLS and the second in the Western Conference behind LAFC.
