Nat Borchers (born April 13, 1981) is an American former soccer player who played as a defender. He won the MLS Cup in 2009 with Real Salt Lake and in 2015 with the Portland Timbers.

Nat Borchers
Borchers wearing a Real Salt Lake kit
Personal information
Date of birth (1981-04-13) April 13, 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth Tucson, Arizona, United States
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s) Defender
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2002 Denver Pioneers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002 Boulder Rapids Reserve
2003–2005 Colorado Rapids 83 (2)
2006–2007 Odd 46 (1)
2008–2014 Real Salt Lake 205 (10)
2015–2016 Portland Timbers 52 (4)
Total 386 (17)
International career
2003–2004 United States U23 6 (0)
2005–2010 United States 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Youth and college career

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Born in Tucson, Arizona, Borchers attended East High School in Pueblo, Colorado where he played on the boys' soccer team. In his four years at East High School, he was selected all-league three times and All-State once. He was chosen as the League MVP his senior year. He also played for the youth club, Colorado Storm (Club Colorado Select). In addition to playing soccer, Borchers ran track and played basketball. Two of his sporting idols were Magic Johnson and Dennis Bergkamp.[1]

Borchers played four years of college soccer for the University of Denver from 1999 to 2002, and also excelled for the Colorado Rapids' PDL affiliate, the Boulder Rapids Reserve. He was selected all-league three times and was the MVP of the league in his senior year at DU. Despite this, Borchers went undrafted in the 2003 MLS SuperDraft. Borchers earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting while in school.[2]

Club career

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Borchers with the Timbers in 2015

Borchers was signed to the Colorado Rapids developmental roster on March 18, 2003. However, he soon proved to be far better than most had expected and by the middle of the 2003 season had secured a starting spot in Colorado's first team central defense. Throughout the 2005 season, Borchers continued to anchor the Rapids defense.

In 2006, Borchers was transferred to Norwegian club Odd Grenland. In February 2008, Borchers signed with MLS side Real Salt Lake on a transfer, after being released by Odd Grenland.[3] His success with RSL in his first three seasons with the club led to a long-term deal announced on February 14, 2011, that kept Borchers in Salt Lake through the 2014 season.[4]

On December 8, 2014, Borchers was traded to Portland Timbers in exchange for allocation funds.[5] During his time with the Timbers, Borchers had been a starting defender contributing in the club's 2015 Championship run. The defender in 2016 had suffered with a leg injury that had him out for the rest of the season. On February 2, 2017, he retired from professional soccer.[6]

International career

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Borchers' surprising 2003 season led to him being called up for the Under-23 team's Olympic Qualifiers, in which the team was eliminated. He earned his first cap for the senior national team on March 9, 2005, against Colombia. Borchers last played for the senior team on November 17, 2010, against South Africa, entering in the 67th minute.[7]

Outside football

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In addition to soccer, Borchers owns and manages his own commercial real estate investment company.[6]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of March 23, 2014[8][9][10]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup[a] League
post season[b]
Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Colorado Rapids 2003 Major League Soccer 22 0 2 0 2 1 26 1
2004 29 2 1 0 2 0 32 2
2005 31 0 0 0 0 0 31 0
Total 82 2 3 0 4 1 0 0 89 3
Odd Grenland 2006 Tippeligaen 23 0 3 2 2 1 28 3
2007 19 1 5 1 0 0 24 2
Total 42 1 8 3 2 1 0 0 52 5
Real Salt Lake 2008 Major League Soccer 29 0 3 0 32 0
2009 30 1 4 0 34 1
2010 30 2 2 0 5[c] 0 37 2
2011 30 3 2 0 1 0 3[c] 0 36 3
2012 26 2 1 0 2 0 3[c] 0 32 2
2013 28 1 4 0 5 0 34 1
2014 32 1 0 0 2 0 34 1
Total 205 10 7 0 19 0 11 0 242 10
Portland Timbers 2015 Major League Soccer 31 3 2 0 6 1 39 4
2016 21 1 1 0 0[c] 0 22 1
Total 52 4 3 0 6 1 0 0 61 5
Career total 381 17 21 3 31 3 11 0 444 23
  1. ^ Includes Open Cup, Norwegian Football Cup.
  2. ^ Includes MLS Playoffs.
  3. ^ a b c d Appearances in CONCACAF Champions League

International

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As of September 16, 2013[11]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
United States 2005 2 0
2010 1 0
Total 3 0

Honors

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Real Salt Lake
Portland Timbers

Individual

References

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  1. ^ "Quick Hits: Portland Timbers defender Nat Borchers". Timbers.com.
  2. ^ "Life's a kick for Rapids player Nat Borchers". magazine-archive.du.edu.
  3. ^ "The Daily Scoop". Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2008.
  4. ^ "Nat Borchers Signs Contract Extension through 2014 | Real Salt Lake". Archived from the original on February 18, 2011.
  5. ^ http://www.timbers.com/news/2014/12/portland-timbers-acquire-defender-nat-borchers-real-salt-lake-e [dead link]
  6. ^ a b "Nat Borchers on Real Estate, Broadcasting and Moving On". mlsplayers.org.
  7. ^ "Nat Borchers announces retirement, will join Timbers broadcast team". MLSSoccer.com.
  8. ^ Statistics, retrieved: March 24, 2014
  9. ^ Nat Borchers, retrieved: March 24, 2014
  10. ^ Odds BK NM Cupen Archived March 26, 2014, at the Wayback Machine; retrieved: March 25, 2014
  11. ^ Nat Borcher - USMNT, retrieved: March 25, 2014
  12. ^ "Goals, screw-ups, stats and more: Everything great from the MLS Cup Final". December 6, 2015.
  13. ^ "Timbers, fans celebrate Western Conference Championship". December 2015.
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