Cole John Bassett (born July 28, 2001) is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

Club career

Born in Littleton,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, Bassett joined the

academy in 2017 from the Colorado Rush. A year later, on August 10, 2018, Bassett signed his first professional contract with the Rapids as a homegrown player. He proceeded to make his competitive debut for the club on September 8 against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

. He came on as a 71st-minute substitute for Kortne Ford as Colorado lost 2–0. He scored his first senior goal against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

on the final game of the 2018 season. In his second season, Bassett scored two goals and two assists, and was ranked No. 20 on the MLS 22 under 22 rankings of the best young players in the league. Bassett made the rankings again in 2020, this time coming in at No. 7. Bassett enjoyed a breakout 2020 campaign. Bassett scored his first goal of 2020 on Aug 29 in a 1–1 draw against

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

. Bassett earned MLS Team of the Week honors in Weeks 10, 12 and 13. Bassett ended the season as Colorado's leader with five goals and five assists. Additionally, Bassett was tied for the second-highest big chance conversion rate in MLS at 80 percent. Bassett scored .92 non-penalty goals + assists per 90 minutes, which was fourth-best in MLS, and covered 11.33 km per 90 minutes, which was fifth-most in the league. At the club's annual end-of-year awards gala, Bassett was named the Players' Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Team MVP by Centennial 38, the Rapids' supporters group. He was also presented the Golden Boot alongside Jonathan Lewis. Bassett scored his first goal of the 2021 MLS Season on May 8 in a 3–2 win over

Minnesota United Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Th ...

and earned MLS Team of the Week Honors (Week 4) for his performance. On May 15, 2021, Bassett scored his 10th MLS career goal in a 3–1 victory over

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

and, in doing so, he moved into first on Colorado's all-time Homegrown goalscoring list, surpassing former teammate

Dillon Serna Dillon Paul Serna (born March 25, 1994) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Major League Soccer for Colorado Rapids and in the USL Championship for Sporting Kansas City II ...

. In January 2022, Bassett joined Dutch club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

on a season-and-a-half long loan with an option to buy for the club. After making an appearance in the opening game of the

2022–23 Feyenoord season The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, Bassett was recalled from the loan and sent on a season-long loan to another Dutch club,

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; ) is a professional football club from the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was establi ...

on August 13, 2022. On November 18, 2022, Bassett was recalled from his loan and returned to Colorado.

International career

After a very successful 2020 Major League Campaign, Bassett received his first senior call-up to the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...

on November 30, 2020, ahead of a match scheduled for December 9 against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

alongside teammates Sam Vines and

Kellyn Acosta Kellyn Kai Perry-Acosta (born July 24, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire. Early life Acosta was raised in Plano, Texas. His father is Japanese American while h ...

. He scored his first goal on December 18, 2021, against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

in a 1–0 win. Bassett was again called into U.S. Men's National Team's domestic-based January Training Camp in Phoenix, Arizona in 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list United States' goal tally first.''

Personal

Bassett has a younger brother, Sam Bassett, who played soccer for the Colorado Rapids Academy and is committed to the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

References

External links

Colorado profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Cole 2001 births Soccer players from Colorado Sportspeople from Littleton, Colorado Living people American men's soccer players United States men's international soccer players Men's association football midfielders Colorado Rapids U-23 players Colorado Rapids players Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC players Feyenoord players Fortuna Sittard players Homegrown Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players USL Championship players Eredivisie players American expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands United States men's under-23 international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players 21st-century American sportsmen