The Colorado Rapids will look to leverage their home-pitch advantage to get their first MLS win of the season when FC Dallas visits Commerce City, Colo., on Saturday.
The Rapids (0-0-1, 1 point) will play their fourth match in 12 days but just their second in MLS. Colorado picked up a 2-1 home win over Los Angeles FC in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Feb. 18 before beginning MLS play with a scoreless draw at St. Louis FC on Feb. 22.
Colorado then sustained a 1-0 loss at LAFC on Tuesday, finishing the two-leg CONCACAF Champions Cup series tied 2-2 on aggregate and exiting the tournament on away goals.
“Really excited for the MLS home opener,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “There’s a lot of great energy in the building, and we are looking to build on what we’ve done so far this year. We’ve been good at defending and (we’ll add) to some of the things we’re trying to do on the attack.
“We’ve had a lot of guys that have logged a lot of minutes in the past two weeks, but we will be ready.”
The Toros (1-0-0, 3 points) play their second game on the road to start the season. Dallas opened on Feb. 22 with a 2-1 win at Houston, with Anderson Julio scoring the game winner in the 76th minute and Petar Musa adding a goal and an assist. The game was played in a cold rain.
Dallas’ roster is full of new players as well as first-time MLS coach Eric Quill. The Toros have come together in short order and have developed a “new-found mentality,” according to Quill.
“To go down to Houston and have the response that we had says a lot about what these guys have been doing over the last few weeks,” Quill said. “Our mentality is shifting to where we believe we can play against anybody, and we are here to win and we are not going to stop.
“I am truly amazed at what this group has accomplished in such a short amount of time, and I am looking forward to more. I am excited for the club and for our guys.”
Dallas leads the all-time series 35-30 with 19 draws. The Rapids won both the meetings last season, each by a goal.
–Field Level Media
