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  • Rapids nearing deal to send star Homegrown Cole Bassett to Portland Timbers, source confirms

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    The best homegrown player in Colorado Rapids history is close to being dealt to a conference rival.

    The club is nearing a deal to send 24-year-old midfielder Cole Bassett to the Portland Timbers for a $2.65 million fee with an additional $1.05 million in conditional add-ons, a source confirmed to The Denver Post on Tuesday evening. The Rapids will retain a percentage of a transfer if Portland deals him in the future. The Athletic first reported the deal.

    The move is an intra-league cash trade, a new mechanism within MLS that no longer has a limit of two inbound and two outbound cash trades per season. The Rapids haven’t been too active in the winter transfer window so far, but have made two key signings and are now finalizing one imposing outbound move. If completed, the transfer will free up a U-22 slot on the roster.

    Bassett became the model for what the club’s academy could produce. After spending much of his youth days at Colorado Rush, he joined the Rapids Academy at the U-16/17 level and immediately made an impact, even playing games with the U-23 team (now known as Rapids 2 in MLS NEXT Pro). He signed a first-team contract in 2018, just two weeks after turning 17, making the Littleton native the youngest signing in club history at the time.

    Bassett spent seven seasons in Commerce City, made 155 regular-season appearances for the club (128 starts) and scored 31 goals to go with 22 assists.

    He got some MLS Best XI buzz in 2024 in former coach Chris Armas’ first year in Colorado, when he played as a box-to-box defensive midfielder. He finished that campaign with career single-season highs of nine goals and seven assists while being in the league’s upper echelon in distance covered.

    That same season, he was a late scratch from the 2024 U.S. Olympic squad in France. After being told he was on the roster, U.S. Olympic coach Marko Mitrović changed his mind days before the roster was announced. Bassett responded by recording three goals and three assists in his next four games.

    Last season, though, his fit deteriorated and his production slipped. As the talent and system of the roster shifted, Bassett was forced into an uncomfortable position on the wing and couldn’t replicate his efficacy of the year prior. He finished with just three goals and four assists and was vocal all season about his discontent — but also willingness and desire to win — with playing out wide.

    And with first-time head coach Matt Wells now at the helm, the change in philosophy may have suited Bassett even less this year than it did last year. One of the splashes the club made earlier this month was a $3 million transfer for pure ball-winning defensive midfielder Hamzat Ojediran.

    That price tag alone signals a large role for the Nigerian, but it also indicates the club wants defensive reinforcement at the position, which isn’t naturally the best part of Bassett’s game. The club also spent $2 million in general allocation money on a transfer for CF Montréal winger Dante Sealy, who should start in the season opener.

    To put the money from Bassett’s transfer to use, the Rapids still have a couple of holes in the roster to fill, just 25 days from the opener at the Seattle Sounders. Defensively, the roster is stacked with young center-back talent to pair with English veteran Rob Holding and experienced MLS center back Ian Murphy, but one more solid, proven piece could turn that group from good to great.

    The same goes for both outside back positions, especially after late-2025 spark plug Rafael Santos’ 2026 option was declined and he signed with St. Louis CITY. Attacking-wise, the club could target a striker to complement Rafael Navarro and Darren Yapi and provide better depth and more tactical flexibility.

    Bassett won’t wait long for his return to Colorado — the Rapids’ home opener is against the Timbers on Feb. 28.

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    Braidon Nourse

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  • Rapids’ season ends on last-minute equalizer by LAFC

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    Holding a lead with less than five minutes to go, the Colorado Rapids had the playoffs in their hands late Saturday night.

    A few minutes later, their season was over — done in by an awkward bounce and rebound that allowed red-hot LAFC to equalize in the 90th minute and dash the Rapids’ hopes of qualifying for the wild card round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

    With Real Salt Lake choking away a lead of its own against St. Louis, Colorado would have sealed the No. 9 seed in the west had it held on at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

    Instead, the 2-all draw kept the Rapids (11-15-8) out of the postseason for the third time in four years and sent them into an offseason filled with uncertainty.

    “(It’s) pretty much just the highest highs and the lowest lows,” said forward Darren Yapi, whose 87th-minute header put the Rapids ahead, 2-1. “Scoring that goal, I felt like we were through (to the playoffs) and that we were good, and then, you know, they responded. I can’t even process it right now.”

    LAFC substitute Andrew Moran tied the game up in the 90th minute after a shot ricocheted off the post straight to his boot. Son Heung-Min opened the scoring with a rocket in the first half, then Paxten Aaronson opened his Rapids account to equalize in the 62nd minute.

    No team has found a solution to Son and Denis Bouanga’s reign of terror since the South Korean icon’s arrival for a league-record transfer fee 10 games ago. But to the Rapids’ credit, both were relatively neutralized aside from Son’s stunner. They’ve done that to plenty of striking powers, especially at DSGP, but it didn’t protect them from the final few minutes, when the mood of the team swung as much as it possibly could have.

    That’s been a theme of the 2025 Rapids. Coach Chris Armas and numerous players preached their rule of thumb that mentally, they don’t get too high or too low. According to Cole Bassett, that gets difficult when it seems like peaks and valleys are all that exist.

    “It hits a little bit more once the season is over and you know you’re probably not playing a game for three months. That’s tough for all of us to process, and we didn’t want to go out this way,” Bassett said. “I think throughout the season, you definitely need to stay even-keeled, but there’s definitely things we can work on from what (Armas) has said throughout the year, because maybe we did get too high or too low in moments and that cost us games.”

    Another core principle of this season has been uncertainty and turbulence, which is now carrying through to the offseason.

    Just this summer, Chidozie Awaziem requested a transfer to France for personal reasons, then the club’s talisman, Djordje Mihailovic, demanded a trade to Toronto near the end of the window. Replacements came in for both, but their efficacy in those roles is still to be determined with just a few games under their belt.

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    Braidon Nourse

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  • Rafael Santos impresses as Rapids beat Houston at the death

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    Rafael Santos is already worth the price of admission.

    Three games into his Colorado Rapids tenure, the club paying $125,000 in General Allocation Money — less than the going price of an international roster slot — is looking like highway robbery.

    The left back has three assists in that time span, including one on the opening goal in Saturday’s 2-1 win against the Houston Dynamo at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

    The assist itself wasn’t spectacular, but it was smart and required careful execution. On a free kick from striking distance, Santos lined up and postured to take it, but instead dragged it behind him to set up Cole Bassett for a shot on the move. The delicate setup created a path around the wall for Bassett to hit, which he did from about 22 yards out.

    The strike was Bassett’s third goal of the season and first since mid-July. It was his 31st all-time for the Rapids, tying him with Chris Henderson for the sixth most in club history.

    The Rapids’ winner came in the 90+6th minute, when a corner kick glanced off Paxten Aaronson’s head, then went in off Houston defender Felipe Andrade. All of DSGP thought Aaronson had scored his first goal for his new club, but it was credited as an own goal.

    Santos continued his hot start with a pair of impressive crosses later in the first half. Either one could have netted an additional assist.

    His signing was done in part to give competition to Sam Vines for the role moving forward with a less-than-impressive campaign from the Homegrown. So far, it’s a landslide at the top of that totem pole.

    What impresses about Santos is what has been lacking from Vines. Vines made a name for himself in 2021 running in attacks and whipping in solid crosses, essentially making himself a winger who tracked back to defend. His service has not been the same since returning to the Rapids for the 2024 season.

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    Braidon Nourse

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