Rapids By The Numbers: #10

Now we come to the famed #10.  Some of the biggest names in the history of the game wore number 10.  Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, and Messi all sported 10 on their backs.  Sadly the Rapids don't have a great history with their 10s, making it tied for the most used number in team history.  Per a request in the comments on an earlier entry I'm moving the photo of the choice to after the list:

Roy Wegerle (1996-1997)
Steve Rammel (1997)
Waldir Saenz (1998)
Anders Limpar (1999-2000)
Carlos Valderrama (2001-2002)
Jean Phillippe Peguero (2004-2006)
Alain N'kong (2006)
Herculez Gomez (2007)
Christian Gomez (2008)
Facundo Diz (2009)
Macoumba Kandji (2010-2011)
Martin Rivero (2012-2013)
Gabriel Torres (2014-2015)
Marco Pappa (2016)
Joe Mason (2018)
Kellyn Acosta (2018-2020)

That's...quite a list.  Pretty quickly this whittles down to three obvious names, Limpar, Valderrama, and Acosta.  While Kandji has responsibility for the second most famous goal in team history (Balboa's bike is still more famous than the MLS Cup own goal) and will always be a club legend, he's not the best 10 in the club's history.  The rest are a mix of "who?", "decent enough one year player", and "solid but unspectacular".

Limpar and Valderrama were each all-stars once.  They're both tied for 4th in team history in game-winning assists with 7, despite neither of them having more than 20 total assists.  Valderrama is 10th in overall assists with 19 in his 39 games, which is a crazy average.  Limpar, somewhat surprisingly, did not participate in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal or final in 1999.  He was the one who sent 'Celo the cross for his bike in 1999.  Acosta can't keep up with the numbers of the other two, despite his longer and ongoing stay at the club, 4 goals and 5 assists pales compared to Limpar's 3 & 15 or El Pibe's 1 & 19.

In the end, more so than other numbers so far, I'm going to have to go on the impression their play left on me over the stats.  As good as Limpar was at whipping in crosses from the right, Valderrama was just on another level with his passing.  Its been a long-time MLS joke that El Pibe would spend all 90 minutes of a game in the center circle, but the joke is funny because its got a kernel of truth in it.  The other 21 players on the field would run up and down for 90 minutes, fighting for position and looking for open space.  Valderrama would saunter his way between the center circle and the top of the box, never looking like he was working hard, and would ping pinpoint passes to the feet of his teammates without a second thought.  His control and read of the field is still some of the best MLS has ever seen.  Despite the best of his MLS career being while he was playing for the Florida teams, he's still the best Rapid to wear #10.