2019 RSL Player Profiles: Nick Rimando

Nick Rimando made a lot of Real Salt Lake fans cry in 2019.

I was there.

I saw it.

I’m not about to name names and I might have been one of them, but you can’t prove it so don’t even try.

Nick announced at the beginning of the season that this would be his last season as a professional soccer player. A move that I think a lot of us saw coming, but weren’t fully prepared for in a lot of regards.

Unlike other players on their way out of a professional sport, Nick gave us as supporters one of the better seasons he’s had in his thirteen year career in the Claret and Cobalt. Over the course of 29 starts, Nick stopped 69 shots (including the MLS Save of the Year) and had 10 clean sheets. While these numbers aren’t career highs, they’re comparable to most other keepers in the league and far superior to keepers who were also retiring this season.

It’s hard not to talk about the 2019 season and not talk about Nick’s entire career. His time with the club has seen a lot of highs, a lot of lows, and a lot of change and through it all he was the wall. Going into the 2020 season, there are a lot of unknowns and unknowables after having such a solid anchor for so long.