Confidence isn’t exactly surging in Commerce City.
Entering the final two-game stretch of the MLS regular season, the Colorado Rapids are looking over their shoulder as they hit the straightaway of a marathon that began back in February.
Closing in behind them is Real Salt Lake, which hosts the Rapids at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the Rocky Mountain Cup finale in Sandy, Utah. Two weeks later, the Rapids close the season at home against the league’s current best attacking duo in Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min, who have scored LAFC’s last 18 goals in the eight games since Son joined the club.
RSL, currently just three points back from the Rapids in 11th place in the Western Conference, has two things going for it: Momentum with a 3-1 win over sixth-place Austin last Saturday, and a knack for burying the Rapids at America First Field. Not to mention Colorado’s dismal road form as of late.
A positive: The Rapids have beaten RSL this year already. That was back in May, when Djordje Mihailovic struck in the 70th minute for the game’s only tally. They had also been on a bad run of form away from home leading up to that match, going 0-3-1 in their previous four games.
A little extra motivation: The Rapids could walk away with their second straight Rocky Mountain Cup with a win, draw or one-goal loss. The trophy, however inconsequential in the big picture, is taken seriously by the club.
“It’s a two-for-one. I mean, it’s got all the reasons to win the game. The Rocky Mountain Cup is for our fans, so for us it’s one of the most important things,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “Every time there’s a trophy on the line, we want to be playing for that and put ourselves in that spot. You win that game, it puts you three points closer to the playoffs, gets us the Rocky Mountain Cup. It’s 100 out of 100 important to make the playoffs; same time, lifting that trophy would be huge for our fans.”
The Rapids looked good post-Leagues Cup after Mihailovic forced his way out of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in August, nabbing three points on the road against a top-3 Western Conference team in Minnesota United. Since then, they’ve collected seven points in six games, a stretch that could have yielded at least 10 points, and arguably more.
That said, the Rapids do still have an ounce of control left in regard to securing an MLS playoff spot, mostly thanks to the West’s middle of the pack cannibalizing itself week after week. Mathematically, Colorado gets in with two wins.
But when asked if the Rapids are up for that sort of mental challenge, goalkeeper Zack Steffen didn’t offer much certainty.
“I have no idea. We’ll see come Saturday,” Steffen said after training on Tuesday. “All we can do is push every day in training, and when the game comes, give it our best.”
Over the past month and a half, Colorado’s best has been beating Houston via a last-minute own goal and grinding out a draw against Minnesota, both at home. It’s been much worse on the road, where the Rapids have been outscored 10-3 in three straight multi-goal losses to teams still below them in the standings.
“We’re one of the teams in MLS that scores first more than (most teams) on the road, which seems like a positive, but maybe that doesn’t help us,” Armas said. “I think from set pieces to concentration, to the way we start games and finish games, substitutions, it’s really not one thing, I promise you. But I know the team steps on the pitch with a good mentality. Otherwise, we’re not getting lucky on the road with leads.”
Two wins and a lot of help could place them as high as sixth, but they could easily tumble out of the playoff picture entirely. But all likelihood suggests they’ll stay in that 8-9 play-in game spot.
That rests on getting at least a draw in Utah. If LAFC has a higher seed to play for on Decision Day, Bouanga and Son may slam the playoff door shut.
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