Conor Casey

Conor Patrick Casey (born July 25, 1981) is an American soccer coach and former player. He played for 16 seasons, finishing his career with Columbus Crew SC, before turning to coaching with his former club Colorado Rapids. Casey spent part of the 2019 season as the Rapids interim head coach after the firing of Anthony Hudson on May 1.

Conor Casey

Casey playing for the Philadelphia Union
Personal information
Full name	Conor Patrick Casey
Date of birth	(1981-07-25) July 25, 1981
Place of birth	Dover, New Hampshire, U.S.
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position(s)	Forward
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1999–2000	Portland Pilots
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2001	Borussia Dortmund II	23	(14)
2001–2004	Borussia Dortmund	4	(1)
2001–2002	→ Hannover 96 (loan)	19	(7)
2003–2004	→ Karlsruher SC (loan)	30	(14)
2004–2006	Mainz 05	40	(3)
2006	Mainz 05 II	2	(1)
2007	Toronto FC	2	(0)
2007–2012	Colorado Rapids	119	(50)
2013–2015	Philadelphia Union	70	(21)
2016	Columbus Crew SC	4	(0)
Total		313	(111)
National team
2001	United States U20	3	(0)
2000	United States U23	9	(0)
2004–2010	United States	19	(2)
Teams managed
2017–2019	Colorado Rapids (assistant)
2019	Colorado Rapids (interim)
Honours Representing  United States FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up 2009 South Africa Team CONCACAF Gold Cup Winner CONCACAF Gold Cup 2005 Men's Soccer
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Youth and college

Casey was born in New Hampshire, but moved to Colorado at age five, and considers Denver his hometown. He played soccer at Denver's South High School and went on to play two years of college soccer for the University of Portland from 1999 to 2000. In his first year at the University of Portland, Casey was named best player of the year. In 2000, he led the NCAA in scoring with twenty-three goals and seven assists.[1]

Professional

After playing well in the 2000 Summer Olympics Casey signed a four-year contract with German club Borussia Dortmund. After finishing a year of playing with the club, Casey was loaned out in the 2001–02 season to Hannover 96, where he scored seven goals in nineteen games. The subsequent year, Casey stayed with Dortmund, but only saw action in four games, scoring one goal. In 2003–04, he was again loaned to a second division club, Karlsruher SC, scoring fourteen goals in thirty games. In 2004, Casey signed with Bundesliga club Mainz 05, but scored only two goals and struggled with injuries during two-and-a-half seasons with the club.

After being released by Mainz, Casey returned to America and signed with Major League Soccer. Casey was originally allocated to Toronto FC [2] and after 2 games with 0 goals and 0 assists, he was traded to his hometown club, Colorado Rapids, on April 19, 2007, in exchange for Riley O'Neill and an undisclosed amount of allocation money.[3]

He played 15 games with the Rapids in 2007, scoring 2 goals and 3 assists. In 2008, he scored 11 goals and 2 assists in 21 games. Casey ended the 2009 MLS season, with 16 goals, just one less than leader Jeff Cunningham to go along with 1 assist in 24 games. He was named in the MLS Best XI in 2009.[4] In 2010, Casey became the All Time goal scorer for the Colorado Rapids as he scored 13 goals and 6 assists in 27 games. Likewise in 2010, Casey was selected as the MVP for the 2010 MLS Cup championship[5] though the representative of the award sponsor announced "Casey Conor" when awarding it. In 2011, Casey suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury [6] in a July 16 game against the Seattle Sounders as he finished that season with 6 goals and 1 assist in 14 games. In 2012, Casey scored 2 goals and 3 assists in 18 games. On November 16, 2012, Casey was released by the Colorado Rapids.[7]

On December 14, 2012, Casey was selected by Philadelphia Union in the first round of the 2012 MLS Re-Entry Draft, Stage 2.[8] On January 23, 2015, it was announced that Casey had signed a new contract with the club for the 2015 season.[9]

After three seasons in Philadelphia, Casey signed with Columbus Crew SC on January 26, 2016.[10]

International

Casey played at the 2001 World Youth Championship in Argentina and then graduated to the senior United States national team, getting his first cap on March 31, 2004, against Poland. On July 7, 2005, Casey suffered a tear to his ACL while playing against Cuba in the U.S.'s opening game of the Gold Cup.[11] He served as a late sub for the United States during several matches in the 2009 Confederations Cup. Casey scored twice (his first ever Senior team goals) against Honduras in a critical world cup qualifier at San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on October 10, 2009. The unanimous Man of the Match, Casey scored the U.S.'s first two goals,[12] and was fouled to set up the game-winning free-kick goal by Landon Donovan. The win put the United States through to the 2010 World Cup.

Managerial career

On January 26, 2017, Casey was hired by Colorado Rapids as an assistant coach. On May 1, 2019, head coach Anthony Hudson was fired and Casey was promoted to interim head coach.[13]

Career statistics

Club

Sources:[14][15][16]

Club	Season	League			Cup[lower-alpha 1]		Continental		Other[lower-alpha 2]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Borussia Dortmund II	2000–01	Regionalliga Nord	10	2	–		–		–		10	2
	2001–02	Oberliga Westfalen	13	12	–		–		–		13	12
	Total		23	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	23	14
Borussia Dortmund	2001–02	Bundesliga	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0
	2002–03	Bundesliga	4	1	0	0	0	0	–		4	1
	2003–04	Bundesliga	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0
	Total		4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
Hannover 96 (loan)	2001–02	2. Bundesliga	19	7	1	0	–		–		20	7
Karlsruher SC (loan)	2003–04	2. Bundesliga	30	14	2	0	–		–		32	14
Mainz 05	2004–05	Bundesliga	28	2	2	2	–		–		30	4
	2005–06	Bundesliga	10	1	0	0	0	0	–		10	1
	2006–07	Bundesliga	2	0	0	0	–		–		2	0
	Total		40	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	42	5
Mainz 05 II	2006–07	Oberliga Südwest	2	1	–		–		–		2	1
Toronto FC	2007	MLS	2	0	–		–		–		2	0
Colorado Rapids	2007	MLS	15	2	2	0	–		–		17	2
	2008		21	11	1	1	–		–		22	12
	2009		24	16	0	0	–		–		24	16
	2010		27	13	0	0	–		4	2	31	15
	2011		14	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	6
	2012		18	2	0	0	–		–		18	2
	Total		119	50	3	1	0	0	4	2	126	53
Philadelphia Union	2013	MLS	31	10	2	0	–		–		33	10
	2014		25	8	3	1	–		–		28	9
	2015		14	3	2	0	–		–		16	3
	Total		70	21	7	1	0	0	0	0	77	22
Columbus Crew SC	2016	MLS	4	0	0	0	–		–		4	0
Career total			313	111	15	4	0	0	4	2	332	117

1. Includes the DFB-Pokal and U.S. Open Cup
2. All appearances in the MLS Cup Playoffs

International

Source:[17]

United States
Year	Apps	Goals
2004	6	0
2005	2	0
2006	0	0
2007	0	0
2008	1	0
2009	8	2
2010	2	0
Total	19	2

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	October 10, 2009	Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras	Honduras	1–1	3–2	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying
2.				2–1

Managerial

As of 24 August 2019

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Colorado Rapids (interim)		1 May 2019	25 August 2019	19	7	5	7	33	32	+1	036.84
Total				19	7	5	7	33	32	+1	036.84

Honors

Colorado Rapids

• Major League Soccer Eastern Conference Championship: 2010
• Major League Soccer MLS Cup: 2010

United States

• CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions: 2005

Individual

• MLS Cup Most Valuable Player: 2010
• MLS Best XI: 2009
• Colorado Rapids – All Time Goal Scorer: 54
• Colorado Rapids – All Time Hat Trick: 3

References

1. "Conor Casey". ESPN FC. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
2. "Casey to play in MLS for Toronto". ESPN FC. March 5, 2007. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
3. "Rapids Acquire Denver South High Grad Conor Casey". OurSports Central. April 20, 2007. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
4. "Rapids Forward Conor Casey Named To 2009 MLS Best XI". OurSports Central. November 16, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
5. Lalas, Greg (November 22, 2010). "Colorado's Casey named MLS Cup MVP". Colorado Rapids. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
6. "Casey out for the year with torn Achilles". Colorado Rapids. July 19, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
7. "Rapids to part ways with eight players". Colorado Rapids. November 16, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
8. "Union selects Conor Casey in Stage 2 of MLS Re-entry draft". Philadelphia Union. December 14, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
9. "Trio of veterans set to return to Philadelphia Union for 2015 Major League Soccer season". Philadelphia Union. January 23, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
10. "Crew SC signs free agent forward Conor Casey". columbuscrewsc.com. January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
11. "Conor Casey Suffers ACL Tear". ussoccer.com. July 9, 2005. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
12. "Kick Started". Outside Online May 2010 Issue. Archived from the original on June 1, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
13. "Anthony Hudson relieved of duties, Conor Casey named interim head coach". Colorado Rapids. May 1, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
14. Conor Casey at Soccerway
15. Conor Casey at Major League Soccer
16. "Conor Casey at WorldFootball.net". WorldFootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL Medien GmbH & Co. KG. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
17. Conor Casey at National-Football-Teams.com

External links

• Conor Casey at Major League Soccer
• Conor Casey at National-Football-Teams.com
• Conor Casey at Soccerway