The last-place Colorado Rapids will set out to complete a three-match homestand unbeaten when they host the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night in Commerce City, Colo.
Last Saturday, Colorado (3-10-9, 18 points) rallied to a 2-1 victory over FC Dallas that was its first at home all season. They followed that Wednesday by resuming a match suspended at halftime due to severe weather on July 4, in what finished a 0-0 draw against the Portland Timbers.
“I think the game was a reflection of the oddity of the event,” coach Robin Fraser said of Wednesday’s game. “As much as we tried to really get ourselves ready to come out and be explosive for 45 minutes, at the end of the day, the oddity of the event was the winner of the day.”
Colorado still doesn’t have a single player with more than two goals after Andreas Maxso and Braian Galvan each scored their first goals of the season in the win over Dallas.
It doesn’t help that 2022 leading scorer Diego Rubio appears to have had a setback in his recovery from an upper-body injury. He’s been downgraded to out on the team’s availability report this weekend.
Houston (8-10-4, 28 points) will be looking to snap a four-match winless run that is tied for its longest of the season.
The Dynamo fell 3-0 at Minnesota United on Wednesday night, as Finland national team and former Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki scored for Minnesota in his MLS debut.
Pukki’s 20th-minute goal made it 2-0 Loons, a hole too big for the Dynamo to overcome. Houston also twice overcame a deficit in a 2-2 home draw against Sporting Kansas City last Saturday.
“We’ve just turned down our concentration and our hunger a little bit. Then we were able to respond,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said on Wednesday. “After we get punched in the face, it’s easy to respond and react and play desperate, but the good teams at home don’t give up early goals and have to chase the game.”
The Dynamo continue to be without influential midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla, who will participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final with Panama against Mexico on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
