Shkelzen Gashi will go down in the books as the Week 11 AT&T Goal of the Week winner, but his Colorado teammate Dominique Badji deserves a ton of credit for helping the Albanian to the award.
Badji spectacularly set up Gashi’s second goal in the Rapids’ 3-0 win against San Jose on Saturday, playing a pass between the legs of Quakes defender Florian Jungwirth while falling to the ground to give Gashi a one-on-one with goalkeeper David Bingham. Gashi made no mistake with his chance, firing past the onrushing Bingham to give the Rapids a three-goal advantage in the 56th minute at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Gashi’s goal won 44 percent of the Goal of the Week vote, narrowly beating out Orlando’s Kaká (41 percent) for the honor. Philadelphia’s Fabian Herbers (11 percent), Chicago’s David Accam (3 percent) and Philadelphia’s Fafa Picault (2 percent) rounded out the voting.
Gashi and the Rapids, who lost 3-0 at Chicago on Wednesday, will return to action on Saturday, when they’ll take on the Union at Talen Energy Stadium (7 pm ET | MLS LIVE).
Click here for the full results of Week 10 Goal of the Week voting and to watch all five nominated strikes.