Conor Casey was named to the 2009 MLS Best XI team.
Casey received the honor on the strength of a season that saw the bull-like forward take the runner-up position for the leagues Golden Boot award. Jeff Cunningham edged Casey out for the leagues top scorer award by scoring 17 goals on the season to Casey's 16. Two missed penalty kicks by Casey were all that stood in the way of winning the Golden Boot.
Casey's 16 goals set a new single season record for the Colorado Rapids. The previous single season high tally was held by John Spencer who scored 14 goals in 2001 and then again in 2002. Casey also set a new record for club hat-tricks in 2009 by hitting for three on two different occasions, taking the record to three.
Casey still trails Paul Bravo by 11 goals, for the club scoring record of 39 goals. He is also second to Bravo in number of multi-goal games. Casey has five, tied with John Spencer, to Bravo's record of nine.
Casey plays forward like a bull in the corrida. That style also earned Casey the fourth place slot on the list for most fouls committed in MLS, as tabulated by the Climbing the Ladder blog.
Will he set the new record?
Throughout the 2009 season Casey demonstrated both the good and bad of his game. He can score. He can also get himself tossed from games for intemperate behavior towards the officials, or retaliatory thumping on defenders.
That aspect of Casey's games has famously spelled over to the Rapids practice field. As reported last week by Denver Post reporter Brian Forbes, Casey walked off the Rapids practice field daring coach Gary Smith to trade him. The report speaks to the frustration in the Rapids camp at missing the playoffs. A frustration that has boiled over with Casey and Gary Smith each venting intemperate feelings. Casey at the coach, and Smith towards un-specified players "in the locker room."
Paul Bravo, assured fans that nobody would be traded. Bravo stated on the radio show, From the Pitch, that, "the whole things has been blown out of proportion."
The season's end has hit the Rapids and their fans hard. The mood in camp has been reported as being tense for the coaches and for the squad. Many teams go through tests of character throughout a season. How they handle those tests define what kind of teams they will be.
For the Rapids this test has lingered into the off season. Healing the wounds prior to 2010 will be the number one goal for a team that needs guys like Casey to return in order to win, and in order to obtain legend status for a club that has gone without any legends.
Casey's Goals:
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