The Colorado Rapids posted their second road win of the 2018 season on Saturday, and one of the contributors in that victory put in a debut start to remember.
17-year-old Homegrown midfielder Cole Bassett made his first start in his MLS career in the 2-0 win over Minnesota United, putting in a Man of the Match performance as the Rapids surprised a Loons side that has been quite good at TCF Bank Stadium this season.
Rapids head coach Anthony Hudson didn't hold back in his praise for the youngster.
"Well the fact that he's played the whole game will tell you what we think about him," Hudson said after the game. "It's no surprise to us. It's no surprise that he had the performance he did."
The manager noted "I think our biggest job is making sure his feet stay on the ground." The player's own postgame comments, in which he reflected on the positives and negatives of his performance, seems to indicate a sense of humility.
"I had a couple missed passes, I could have gone a little more 1-v-1 and on the turn, and I cramped up at the end, because I haven't played a full 90 since July with the Under-23s," Bassett said with a smile. "It was pretty good overall, it was great to get a win and help the team get a result here...It was decent but I definitely have a lot to improve going into the next couple games and hopefully I can get a chance to improve with another start."
With the Rapids out of contention for the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs and the team putting in a disappointing season overall, Bassett understood that nothing could be taken for granted, even with the win in Minneapolis.
"We've got to show that we've got to build into next year. We've got to show that we want to be a part of this team next year, and we gotta go into each game thinking this might be our last game for this club," he said.
For his part, Hudson noted that Bassett showed what he could do in his debut start, hoping it's the first of what is to come in the midfielder's career.
"This is not a token gesture, him getting a start," Hudson said. "If it was that way we would have pulled him off the pitch because we didn't trust him, but he actually showed qualities throughout the game that we felt would help us see the game out."
