Rapids pioneer Marcelo Balboa reflects on getting jersey retired: ‘It’s just kind of weird’

Rapids pioneer Marcelo Balboa reflects on getting jersey retired: ‘It’s just kind of weird’

At the top of Phil Anschutz’s wish list for his brand new soccer team in 1996 was “the guy who did a funny overhead kick” in the 1994 World Cup. What he got was the face of Colorado soccer for a generation. Three decades later, Marcelo Balboa’s No. 17 jersey will be immortalized at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park — a tribute to the defender who helped launch the Rapids and give a new league one of its first stars. “As a kid, I didn’t play this game b…