April 11, 2008
Class of 2005
When Kyle Beckerman was traded, it was something that many Rapids fans recognized straight away - Pablo Mastroeni was the last remaining player from former Rapids Coach Tim Hankinson's teams.
Well Pablo is still there, still one of the cornerstones of our beloved team. But here is something you may not realize: With the release of Dan Gargan yesterday, only three players remain from the incoming class of 2005. Can you think of who they are?
In the mean time, let's look back on Fernando Clavijo's first overhaul of the Rapids. He brought in a player that took everyone by surprise with his vast skill, Dedi Ben Dayan. 2005 was considered a successful year by most considering how thin Hankinson left the team with talent, and Dedi was one of the biggest reasons why. Unfortunately, the real world intervened and he moved back to Isreal.
Alain Nkong came and went and came and went, and on to bigger and better things in Mexico to be sure. Cunningham was brought in, but despite bringing goals to the goal starved team, was shipped off due to his character flaws, to put it kindly. Luchi Gonzalez and Guy Melamed were young players that saw significant action along with Dan Gargan, who can take comfort in knowing he achieved some longevity in hindsight.
Because the only three players left are Terry Cooke, Mike Petke, and Jovan Kirovski. And no, I didn't list those three players in any particular order!
Here's an even more extraordinary fact, the class of 2006 is even smaller than 2005 with Colin Clark and Jacob Peterson remaining. It's no wonder that roster turnover was a major concern for the organization this past off season.
Editor's note: When writing this article I was using a stats page that didn't list players making no appearances for the season. Thanks to Jason Maxwell for pointing out that 2005 included Bouna Condoul and Stephen Keel and 200 6 Jordan Harvey.
That makes five players remain from 2005 and three from 2006
Posted by mark at April 11, 2008 09:26 AM