“It is no secret we need to increase our attacking output,” Paul Bravo, Colorado Rapids VP of soccer of operations and technical director said in a team release on Wednesday.
Colorado hopes to have done just that with the acquisition of Marco Pappa, a 28-year-old midfielder who played an important role in his first season with Seattle, helping the Sounders win their first ever Supporters’ Shield and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup trophies in 2014.
In total, Pappa saw action in 49 games (41 starts) for the Sounders, scoring nine goals and notching 11 assists.
“We are confident Marco will add a creative element to our attack which will benefit everyone on the field,” Bravo continued.
Colorado ranked last in Major League Soccer in 2015 with just 33 goals scored, the only team in the league to average less than a goal per game.
“The departure of Vicente Sánchez left a gap for a chief creator and we believe Marco can step in to that vital role,” said Bravo. “He is a seasoned international with European experience and has been part of high-quality Seattle side in recent years.”
Sánchez, who tied as Colorado’s second-leading scorer in 2015 with four goals, just turned 36 and had his option declined by the club earlier this month.
This is Pappa’s second stint in MLS, after spending five seasons (2008-2012) with the Chicago Fire before signing with Dutch side SC Heerenveen. Pappa played in 102 regular season matches for the Fire, logging 8,431 minutes. In 2010, Pappa earned AT&T MLS Goal of the Year honors and was in the starting lineup of the MLS All-Star Game against Manchester United. Two seasons later, he earned another All-Star selection after finishing the season with six goals and five assists.
During his time with SC Heerenveen of the Dutch Eredivisie, Pappa played in 11 matches and recorded two assists. He appeared in eight matches for the team’s reserve squad in the Beloften Divisie A, scoring one goal.
Pappa has 49 caps with 11 goals and three assists for Guatemala. In the 2014 Copa Centroamericana, he earned the Golden Boot with four goals and the Golden Ball for best player of the tournament. This past summer, Pappa participated in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup seeing action in all three group stage matches.
The 2015 season saw Pappa’s lowest productivity in MLS, however, as he tallied just three goals and three assists in 17 games. It was his his lowest return in terms of games played, games started and minutes played (1,468) from six full seasons in MLS.
Pappa scored two of his three goals in back-to-back games in May, including a game winner against Colorado on May 27. He did not score again until October.
Still, Pappa had a taste of high success in 2014 – a winning attitude Rapids supporters hope he can rekindle in Commerce City next season.
Colorado acquired Pappa in exchange for general allocation money.