Westminster – Beginning the season with three lackluster performances at home, the MetroStars (0-1-2) are arguably the most frustrated team in Major League Soccer.
They visit Invesco Field at Mile High on Saturday, arguably the most frustrating stadium in MLS and a bad place for a road team looking to turn around a season.
“We struggled the first three games. But I think it’s not the way you start, but the way you finish,” MetroStars midfielder and Regis High School graduate Mark Lisi said Tuesday. “We’ve got to keep going and think positive.”
Fresh off their first win of the season, the Rapids (1-2-1) are looking for their fourth straight win over the MetroStars.
“I think Colorado is one of the more challenging places to play in the league,” Lisi said. “I think for the MetroStars last year, we were one of the better teams on the road.”
The MetroStars have been off since Friday’s 1-0 loss to Chicago when 2004 most valuable player Amado Guevara missed a penalty kick that would have tied the game.
Happy to be left out
Walking through the parking lot at the Westminster training facility two days before he assisted on both goals in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over the Columbus Crew, midfielder Chris Henderson was predicting goods things from the Rapids’ midfield.
With Henderson moved to the left, Terry Cooke on the right and Pablo Mastroeni and Mark Chung in the middle, the Rapids had their best outing of this season.
“You could just see the creativity, the movement,” Henderson said Monday. “The confidence was good with the guys.”
Nkong adjusting
It appears Alain Nkong’s role as a forward against the Crew was a one-time thing. Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo admitted Nkong and forward Luchi Gonzalez didn’t flow but praised the Cameroonian international for attracting defenders and playing out of position.
“It’s a difficult style of play, but I’m getting adapted into it,” Nkong said of MLS. “It’s a physical game.”
Injuries improve
The Rapids upgraded forwards Jean Philippe Peguero (ankle) and Jeff Cunningham (knee), and defenders Matt Crawford (quadriceps) and Ricky Lewis (foot) to probable for Saturday’s match.
Peguero played about 30 minutes against the Crew but rated himself about 40 percent recovered.
MetroStars goalkeeper Jonny Walker (rotator cuff) is out, forward Abbe Ibrahim (ankle) is questionable and Eddie Gaven (fractured finger) and Jason Hernandez (hamstring) are probable.
Footnotes
The Rapids added former Air Force player Marcus Sagastume to the developmental roster. … The Rapids’ reserve team lost Sunday to the Columbus reserves 1-0 on an unassisted goal by Jamal Sutton. … New England midfielder Clint Dempsey was named MLS player of the week.
