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Casey staying with Rapids
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – The Colorado Rapids announced Thursday that forward Conor Casey signed a new three-year contract, keeping the Denver-raised All-Star and United States national team forward in Colorado. Per club and league policies, financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Rapids Managing Director Jeff Plush made the announcement in a press conference held at Casey’s alma mater of Denver South High School.
“Today is a banner day for the Rapids organization and we could not be more pleased with knowing that Conor will continue to represent our club with his professionalism and talents in his hometown,” said Plush. “With all his recent successes on the pitch, Conor faced many opportunities to return to playing overseas and for him to make the commitment to the Rapids speaks volumes of the direction our club is headed.”
“I’m really excited that the Rapids are committed to me and that my future is with this club,” said Casey. “I am looking forward to the coming years, as we continue to build something special. Having played in my hometown the last several seasons and now knowing I’m going to be staying here playing for my home club is a great feeling.”
Casey was born in Dover, N.H., but moved with his family to Denver at age 5. Following a standout collegiate career at the University of Portland, he began his professional career in Germany playing with Borussia Dortmund, Karlsruher SC and FSV Mainz over the next six years.
Casey returned to North America in 2007 signing with Toronto FC, where he appeared in two matches before being acquired by the Rapids on April 19, 2007.
The 28-year old target forward is coming off a career year in 2009 posting a new Rapids single season scoring record with 16 goals to finish second in the league’s Golden Boot race only one goal behind FC Dallas’ Jeff Cunningham. Casey was named to the MLS Best XI squad for the first time in his career and also garnered MLS All-Star honors.
The three-year MLS veteran has appeared in 62 career games, with 51 starts, and scored 29 goals and added six assists. Casey currently ranks fourth all-time in scoring for the Rapids with 29 goals in just 60 games and is the club’s all-time leader in hat tricks with three. Casey’s scoring rate of .483 is first among all the Top 10 goal scorers in Rapids history.
Casey has 20 career caps with the U.S. national team and has scored two career international goals and registered one assist. His two goals in the U.S.’s World Cup qualifying win against Honduras on October 10, 2009 clinched a berth into the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa for the Americans. Casey is the only player in U.S. soccer history to score two goals in a road qualifier in Central America.
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