COMMERCE CITY — The Rapids face a monumental task Wednesday night if they are to keep their hopes alive of repeating as MLS champions.
Having endured a shocking run of injuries this month that was compounded in Sunday night’s 2-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City in the Eastern Conference semifinals, they must outscore SKC by two goals Wednesday at Kansas City just to force a tiebreaking 30 minutes of overtime.
They could avoid the overtime scenario by outscoring SKC by three in regulation, but there seems little chance of that given the injuries they have endured. Playing without midfielders Pablo Mastroeni (concussion) and Jamie Smith (knee), they lost three more Sunday night to injuries suffered in a scoreless first half.
Defender Kosuke Kimura left with what the Rapids fear is a fractured left foot. Forward Caleb Folan sprained his left knee. Defender Drew Moor injured his right shoulder, and coach Gary Smith said it appeared to be separated.
Kimura and Folan left the game shortly after they were injured. Moor stayed in the game and got a pain-
killing injection at halftime but came out in the 60th minute.
Smith criticized SKC’s aggressiveness and referee Baldomero Toledo for letting them get away with it.
“It’s the referee’s job to control events and make sure the game is played in a sensible fashion,” Smith said. “To have three guys stretchered off in a game is pretty strange.”
Teal Bunbury scored on a counterattack in the 49th minute that Smith blamed on Moor’s inability to turn quickly because of his shoulder pain. And 10 minutes later, Bunbury drew a penalty kick for a takedown by defender Tyrone Marshall. Bunbury put away the PK, and Marshall left the game with a red card, forcing the Rapids to finish with 10 men.
That will further deplete the Rapids for Wednesday’s game because Marshall’s red card comes with an automatic one-game suspension.
“We have to produce two goals,” midfielder Jeff Larentowicz said. “This is a two- game series, 180 minutes. They beat us 2-0 here, right?”
Sporting KC midfielder Roger Espinoza, a graduate of Regis Jesuit High School, defended his team’s physical play.
“This has never been a dirty team,” Espinoza said. “We’re a very strong team physically. We want to win every ball. If we did anything malicious, the referee would have seen it.”
SKC coach Peter Vermes, who played for the Rapids from 1997-99, is taking nothing for granted.
“Look, it’s never easy when you have injuries,” Vermes said. “But they have a very deep team. There’s a lot of good players on their roster. They’re also the defending MLS champs, and we’re not going to take that lightly. We have to come and play a regular game. Right now they’re the team to beat, and we haven’t finished anything yet.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
Rapids’ injury epidemic
The Rapids continued to lose players to injuries Sunday night. A look:
Forward Caleb Folan: Sprained left knee, first half Sunday
Defender Kosuke Kimura: Left foot, first half Sunday
Defender Drew Moor: Right shoulder sprain, first half Sunday
Midfielder Jamie Smith: Torn ACL right knee, Thursday night vs. Columbus
Midfielder Pablo Mastroeni: Concussion, Oct. 14, hasn’t played since
OTHER KEY INJURIES
Forward Conor Casey: Torn Achilles tendon, July 16 (out for season)
Defender Anthony Wallace: Torn ACL, Aug. 15 (out for season)
