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Colorado Rapids

2018 season
Owner	Stan Kroenke
Head coach	Anthony Hudson
Major League Soccer	Conference: 11th Overall: 21st
MLS Cup Playoffs	Did not qualify
U.S. Open Cup	Fourth Round
CONCACAF Champions League	Round of 16
Rocky Mountain Cup	Lost
Top goalscorer	League: Dominique Badji (7) All: Dominique Badji (7)
Highest home attendance	17,837
Lowest home attendance	10,790
Average home league attendance	15,333
Home colors Away colors
← 20172019 →

The 2018 Colorado Rapids season was the Colorado Rapids' 23rd season of existence, their 23rd season in Major League Soccer and their 23rd season in the top-tier of American soccer.

Due to a reconfiguration in the CONCACAF Champions League format, the Rapids behan play in the Champions League after they qualified in the 2016 season. Colorado opened their slate of competitive fixtures on February 20 in the Champions League Round of 16 with a two-legged series against Canadian champions, Toronto FC in the round of 16. On March 3, the club played their regular season opener against the Chicago Fire. The Rapids also played in the U.S. Open Cup.

Background

The 2017 season saw a sharp downturn in the Rapids fortunes. Colorado finished the 2017 season second-bottom of the Western Conference table, with the third-worst overall record in Major League Soccer. Colorado finished 10th in the Western Conference and 20th in the overall table. The team scored a league-low 31 goals in 34 matches and conceded 51 goals. Dominique Badji lead the team with 7 goals across all competitions.

Outside of MLS play, the Rapids played in the 2017 edition of the U.S. Open Cup, where they lost in the fifth round to FC Dallas. The Rapids failed to qualify for the 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs. At the end of the campaign, four-year head coach, Pablo Mastroeni was relieved of his duties.

Review

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (April 2018)

Club

Roster

As of October 28, 2018.

No.	Name	Nat	Position	Since	Date of birth (Age)	Signed from	Games	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	Tim Howard		GK	2016	(1979-03-06) March 6, 1979 (age 45)	Everton	75	0
18	Zac MacMath		GK	2016	(1991-08-07) August 7, 1991 (age 33)	Philadelphia Union	31	0
50	Andrew Dykstra		GK	2018	(1986-02-01) February 1, 1986 (age 38)	Sporting Kansas City	0	0
Defenders
2	Edgar Castillo		LB	2018	(1986-10-08) October 8, 1986 (age 38)	Monterrey (loan)	28	3
4	Danny Wilson		CB	2018	(1991-12-27) December 27, 1991 (age 33)	Rangers F.C.	23	0
5	Tommy Smith		CB	2018	(1990-03-31) March 31, 1990 (age 34)	Ipswich Town	33	4
13	Sam Vines		CB	2018	(1999-05-31) May 31, 1999 (age 25)	Charlotte Independence	1	0
23	Kip Colvey		CB	2018	(1994-03-15) March 15, 1994 (age 30)	San Jose Earthquakes	3	0
24	Kortne Ford		CB	2017	(1996-01-26) January 26, 1996 (age 28)	Denver Pioneers	35	1
27	Deklan Wynne		CB	2018	(1995-03-20) March 20, 1995 (age 29)	Whitecaps FC 2	25	0
44	Axel Sjöberg		CB	2015	(1991-03-08) March 8, 1991 (age 33)	Marquette Golden Eagles	82	3
Midfielders
8	Johan Blomberg		MF	2018	(1987-06-14) June 14, 1987 (age 37)	AIK	25	0
10	Kellyn Acosta		MF	2018	(1995-07-24) July 24, 1995 (age 29)	FC Dallas	13	2
15	Sam Hamilton		MF	2017	(1995-07-27) July 27, 1995 (age 29)	Denver Pioneers	3	0
17	Dillon Serna		MF	2013	(1994-03-25) March 25, 1994 (age 30)	Akron Zips	91	9
19	Jack Price		MF	2018	(1992-12-19) December 19, 1992 (age 32)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	31	1
20	Ricardo Perez		MF	2017	(1995-05-30) May 30, 1995 (age 29)	Creighton Bluejays	0	0
21	Bismark Adjei-Boateng		MF	2017	(1994-05-10) May 10, 1994 (age 30)	Strømsgodset	38	1
26	Cole Bassett		MF	2018	(2001-07-28) July 28, 2001 (age 23)	Colorado Rapids U–23	6	1
28	Sam Nicholson		MF	2018	(1995-01-20) January 20, 1995 (age 29)	Minnesota United FC	19	2
90	Enzo Martinez		MF	2018	(1990-09-29) September 29, 1990 (age 34)	Charlotte Independence	23	0
94	Marlon Hairston		MF	2014	(1994-03-23) March 23, 1994 (age 30)	Louisville Cardinals	95	7
Forwards
7	Giles Barnes		FW	2018	(1988-08-05) August 5, 1988 (age 36)	León	12	0
9	Yannick Boli		FW	2018	(1988-01-13) January 13, 1988 (age 37)	Dalian Yifang	17	2
11	Shkëlzen Gashi		FW	2016	(1988-07-15) July 15, 1988 (age 36)	Basel	64	13
12	Niki Jackson		FW	2018	(1995-08-25) August 25, 1995 (age 29)	Grand Canyon Antelopes	15	3
29	Caleb Calvert		FW	2014	(1996-10-22) October 22, 1996 (age 28)	Chivas USA	21	1
32	Jack McBean		FW	2018	(1994-12-15) December 15, 1994 (age 30)	LA Galaxy	22	2

Team management

Last updated: February 9, 2018
Source: Colorado Rapids

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred from	Fee	Date	Source
7	FW	Giles Barnes	Club León	Undisclosed	July 13, 2018

Draft picks

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster.

2018 Colorado Rapids SuperDraft Picks
Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Status
2	25	Alan Winn	FW	North Carolina	Declined contract, signed with Nashville SC
	27	Frantzdy Pierrot	MF	Coastal Carolina	Invited to training camp
3	50	Thomas Olsen	GK	San Diego	Signed to roster
4	72	Brian Iloski	MF	UCLA	Invited to training camp, signed with Legia Warsaw
	73	Niki Jackson	FW	Grand Canyon	Signed to roster

Out

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred to	Fee	Date	Source
12	GK	John Berner	Phoenix Rising FC	Option declined	November 27, 2017
23	DF	Bobby Burling		Free	November 27, 2017
26	DF	Dennis Castillo	Pérez Zeledón	Option declined	November 27, 2017
45	MF	Joshua Gatt	Detroit City	Option declined	November 27, 2017
27	MF	Luis Gil	Querétaro	Loan expired, purchase declined	November 27, 2017
16	FW	Alan Gordon	Chicago Fire	Option declined	November 27, 2017
90	MF	Mohammed Saeid	Lyngby	Option declined	November 27, 2017
5	DF	Mekeil Williams	Richmond Kickers	Option declined	November 27, 2017

Loan in

No.	Pos.	Player	Loaned from	Start	End	Source
2	DF	Edgar Castillo	Monterrey	January 1, 2018	December 31, 2018
10	F	Joe Mason	Wolverhampton Wanderers	February 20, 2018	July 12, 2018

Loan out

Pos.	Player	Loaned to	Start	End	Source
DF	Mike da Fonte	Phoenix Rising FC	February 10, 2018
GK	Andrew Dykstra	Charlotte Independence	March 8, 2018
DF	Sam Vines	Charlotte Independence	March 8, 2018
MF	Ricardo Perez	Charlotte Independence	March 8, 2018
FW	Caleb Calvert	Charlotte Independence	March 8, 2018
DF	Kip Colvey	Colorado Springs Switchbacks	July 13, 2018

Competitions

Friendlies

January 31 Preseason	Colorado Rapids	1–2	Columbus Crew	Casa Grande, Arizona
11:00 a.m. MST	Ford 26'	Report	Zardes 2' Argudo 58'	Stadium: Grande Sports Academy Soccer Complex

February 3 Preseason	Colorado Rapids	0–2	Sporting Kansas City	Scottsdale, Arizona
11:00 a.m. MST		Report	Shelton 12' Gerso 22'	Stadium: Phoenix Rising FC Soccer Complex

February 9 Preseason	Sporting Arizona	0–9	Colorado Rapids	Tucson, Arizona
11:00 a.m. MST		Report	Castillo 2' McBean 25' Calvert 63' Aigner 67' Jackson 78', 120' Blomberg 102' Perez 106'	Stadium: Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
Note: 120 minute match of two 60-minute periods

February 14 Preseason	Phoenix Rising	0–2	Colorado Rapids	Scottsdale, Arizona
6:00 p.m. MST		Report	Badji 75' Smith 80'	Stadium: Phoenix Rising FC Soccer Complex

July 24 Midseason	Colorado Rapids	2–2 (5–4 p)	Boca Juniors	Commerce City, Colorado
7:00 p.m. MST	Boli 30' Martínez 59'	Report	Barrios 11' Villa 14'	Stadium: Dick's Sporting Goods Park
	Penalties
	McBean Serna Martínez Wynne MacMath		Cardona Goltz Reynoso Zárate Tevez

Major League Soccer

October 6, 2018 31	Colorado Rapids	0–3	Los Angeles FC	Commerce City, Colorado
19:00 MDT		Report	Zimmerman 15' Diomande 42', 48'	Stadium: Dick's Sporting Goods Park Attendance: 15,369 Referee: Armando Villarreal

U.S. Open Cup

June 6, 2018 Fourth	Nashville SC	2–0	Colorado Rapids	Nashville, Tennessee
17:30	Azira 39' (o.g.) Mensah 78'	Report		Stadium: Vanderbilt Stadium Referee: Kevin Broadley

CONCACAF Champions League

Round of 16

February 20 First leg	Colorado Rapids	0–2	Toronto FC	Commerce City, United States
20:00 MST	Price  28' Castillo  69'	Report Box Score	Osorio 55' Giovinco 73' Bradley  86'	Stadium: Dick's Sporting Goods Park Attendance: 2,673 Referee: Kimbell Ward (Saint Kitts and Nevis)

February 27 Second leg	Toronto FC	0–0 (2–0 agg.)	Colorado Rapids	Toronto, Canada
18:00 MST		Report		Stadium: BMO Field Attendance: 23,383 Referee: Luis Enrique Santander (Mexico)

Statistics

Top scorers

Place	Position	Number	Name	MLS	U.S. Open Cup	Total
1	FW	14	Dominique Badji	7	0	7
2	DF	5	Tommy Smith	4	0	4
3	DF	2	Edgar Castillo	3	0	3
	FW	12	Niki Jackson	3	0	3
	FW	10	Joe Mason	3	0	3
6	MF	11	Shkëlzen Gashi	2	0	2
	MF	10	Kellyn Acosta	2	0	2
	MF	28	Sam Nicholson	2	0	2
	FW	32	Jack McBean	2	0	2
	FW	9	Yannick Boli	2	0	2
11	MF	19	Jack Price	1	0	1
	MF	21	Nana Boateng	1	0	1
	MF	17	Dillon Serna	1	0	1
	MF	26	Cole Bassett	1	0	1
Total				34	0	34

As of 28 October 2018.

Awards and honors

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (April 2018)

References

1. "First team roster". Colorado Rapids. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
2. "Colorado Rapids sign forward Giles Barnes from Club León". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids. July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
3. ^ "Colorado Rapids announce roster moves ahead of 2018 campaign". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids. November 27, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
4. "Colorado Rapids acquire USMNT international Edgar Castillo on loan". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids. January 9, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
5. "Colorado Rapids acquire striker Joe Mason on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers FC". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids. February 20, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
6. "Colorado Rapids loan defender Mike da Fonte to Phoenix Rising FC". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids. February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
7. ^ "Colorado Rapids loan Vines, Calvert, Perez and Dykstra to Charlotte Independence". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids. March 8, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
8. "Colorado Rapids loan defender Kip Colvey to Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC". coloradorapids.com. Colorado Rapids. July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.

• Colorado Rapids seasons
• American soccer clubs 2018 season
• 2018 MLS season by team
• 2018 in sports in Colorado
• 2018 CONCACAF Champions League participants seasons