August 11, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Colorado Rapids News Release
Gyasi Zardes was named the MLS Player of the Week following his hat trick in the Rapids’ 4-3 win over Minnesota United FC on Saturday. Zardes’ hat trick was the first by a Rapids player since Kei Kamara scored three goals against CF Montréal on August 3, 2019. With his performance, Zardes became the fifth player in MLS history to record multiple hat tricks against the same team after he previously produced the only other hat trick in his career against Minnesota on October 28, 2018, while with the Columbus Crew.
In his last six games for Colorado, Zardes has scored five goals and produced one assist, leading the team to a 3-1-2 record. The U.S. Men’s National Team forward now has 94 career MLS goals, tying him with Atlanta United FC’s Josef Martínez for the 12th-most in MLS history and the second-most among active players, trailing only Kei Kamara (134). Zardes has now scored at least six goals in eight of his 10 MLS seasons, doing so with three different teams (LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew and Colorado).
Zardes is the first Rapids player to win MLS Player of the Week since Andre Shinyashiki in Week 27 of 2019. Zardes and Shinyashiki are the only Rapids players to earn the award since the start of 2015. Among active players, Zardes’ six MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire honors are the third-most behind LAFC’s Vela (eight) and Atlanta’s Martínez (seven). Since the start of 2021, he is tied with Javier “Chicharito” Hernández (LA Galaxy), Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC), and Raúl Ruidíaz (Seattle Sounders FC) for the most Player of the Week awards in MLS with three.
Record-Matching Rubio
Diego Rubio scored his 11th goal of the season in the Rapids’ 4-3 win over Minnesota on Saturday, matching his single-season career high for goals scored in MLS and marking the seventh consecutive match the Chilean has recorded a goal or an assist. Rubio’s team-leading 11 goals and six assists so far in 2022 mark a new, single-season high in his MLS career, surpassing his 11 goals and five assists in 2019.
Rubio is also one goal away from tying Chris Henderson for the fifth-most goals scored all-time in Rapids history (31) and one game-winning goal away from tying former Rapids midfielder Paul Bravo for most in club history (12).
“Diego’s gone from playing as a center forward to playing underneath the forward, and it’s a little bit more of an orchestrator role than it is as a nine…
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