The Colorado Rapids will have the benefit of a three-game homestand at Invesco Field at Mile High while trying to right the ship after a slow start to the first half of the season. But they’ll have to do it against strong competition.
The mission starts at 7:30 tonight against the San Jose Earthquakes (7-4-7), the second-place team in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference. Though the Earthquakes have defeated the Rapids twice this year and lead the series with a 17-16-4 advantage, Colorado is 9-7-2 when playing them at home.
A game against the Chicago Fire follows at 7 p.m. Saturday, and the homestand ends Aug. 6 against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
“We have an opportunity right now that can absolutely help us at the start of the second half of the season,” Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo said. “We haven’t done as much as we would like playing at home, but we have three teams playing at the top of the divisions right now and we need to take advantage of it.”
San Jose and Los Angeles sit 10 points ahead of the Rapids in the Western Conference, and Chicago is the best team in MLS with an 11-6-3 record.
But the Earthquakes arrive first, and they are coming off their only loss in the past eight games. San Jose has not lost back-to-back games all season.
Colorado, however, has started to fill out its roster with more scorers and has dropped only two of its past six games, pushing the team away from the bottom of the conference standings.
In the Hunt
Colorado announced its entry into the 2005 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The first game will be Aug. 3 against the Minnesota Thunder of the United Soccer League’s First Division. Rapids coach Clavijo led the New England Revolution to the 2001 championship game of the oldest annual soccer tournament in the country.
Early exits
The Rapids will be without Matt Crawford and Josh Elbaum for the rest of the season after successful surgeries – a hip arthroscopy for Crawford and hernia surgery for Denver native Elbaum, who recently signed a developmental contract with the team. Also, Alain Nkong will miss tonight’s game with a one-game suspension for card accumulation.
