Spotlight on Emmanuel Ekpo
A central midfielder, Ekpo was a key member of Crew teams that won the 2008 MLS Cup and the MLS Supporters Shields in 2008 and 2009. A member of Nigeria’s silver medal-winning squad at the 2008 Olympics, the 23-year-old will join his country’s senior national team for the first time Aug. 9 when it faces Ghana in a friendly.
Notebook
• Rapids: They would like to forget their game at Columbus on June 26, which saw them take an early 1-0 lead only to lose 4-1. Conor Casey scored in the fifth minute but was sent off in the 29th after colliding on the ground with Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer, forcing the Rapids to finish with 10 men … Sanna Nyassi has scored four goals in the last three games, all since being put into the starting lineup as a striker after Casey was lost for the season with an Achilles injury. Omar Cummings has assisted on all four of Nyassi’s goals.
• Crew: In five games after their 4-1 victory over Colorado, the Crew scored only two goals, but it snapped out of that with a 2-0 victory at Real Salt Lake Saturday. That victory, along with a Rapids win at Philadelphia, put Columbus in first place in the Eastern Conference.
John Meyer, The Denver Post
