COMMERCE CITY — Perhaps it will provide a spark.
Yes, it’s early. And the Rapids’ 3-0 rout of Portland on Saturday night was just one victory — and Colorado is still under .500 for the season.
But it was the type of victory that brought out similarities to the Rapids’ Major League Soccer title run two years ago, and that’s what got goalkeeper Matt Pickens and defender Drew Moor talking after the match. The win over Portland had a 2010 feel to it. That was the year the Rapids flourished at home and won the MLS Cup.
“(Dick’s Sporting Goods Park) is a fortress for us and we want teams to know when they come in that it’s going to be a long day,” said Moor, referring to the Rapids’ 5-2-1 record at home this season. “There were times the last five, six games of 2010 that we just handled teams like that, extremely easy, put them away early, scored three and four goals a game. Obviously that was a different team that we had in 2010, but the same core is here. The same principles.”
Championship-type principles, Moor means.
The Rapids believe they have the team to do it again this year, even though they’re only 7-8-1 (22 points) and in fifth place in the nine-team Western Conference. But there’s time to get better and move up, and time to get healthier. The Rapids have had several injured players return to action in recent weeks and those players need only to round into full-match fitness while ironing out chemistry issues.
“I tell the team you see the playoffs are far,” said first-year Rapids coach Oscar Pareja. “But they are just around the corner.”
In 2010, the Rapids were 6-5-5 after 16 matches. But that title team went 5-0-0 at home from Aug. 1 to Sept. 29, outscoring opponents 14-1.
The Rapids hope their three-goal outburst against Portland last weekend sparks a similar run. It was only the third time this season that the Rapids scored at least three goals, and all of those matches were played at home.
“It’s a no-brainer that we can be just as good or even better than we were in 2010,” Pickens said.
With no buzz nationally, the Rapids, who host Vancouver on Wednesday, can try to sneak up on the rest of the league. Just as they did two years ago.
“I don’t think the Rapids have ever been as respected as they deserve, especially the last two, three years,” Moor said. “But if we can continue to spin out results like we did Saturday night and play with that confidence — possess the ball well, create opportunities and defend as well as we did as an entire unit … like I said, it’s the same core group of guys. This is a championship team. We have a lot of champions on this team.
“We set high standards for ourselves and we expect us to return to championship form.”
Christopher Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
VANCOUVER AT COLORADO 7:30 p.m., ALT
Spotlight on Sebastien Le Toux: Unfortunately for the Rapids, they know Le Toux too well — he was the player that stole a win two weeks ago for a Vancouver team that played the final half hour of the game with only 10 men. He scored in the 80th minute, one of his four goals this season, and it proved to be the game-winner against the Rapids. Le Toux hasn’t scored since.
NOTEBOOK
Rapids: Veteran forward Conor Casey scored his first goal of the season in the Rapids’ 3-0 win over Portland on Saturday. It had been nearly a calendar year since Casey last scored — July 9, 2011, against Vancouver. He suffered an Achilles injury in the next match, missed 20 consecutive games spanning the end of last season and the beginning of this one, and has been working his way back to form ever since.
Whitecaps: They haven’t won since beating the Rapids 1-0 on June 16 with a short-handed goal late in the game. They have tied a match (1-1) and lost one (3-0) since. But Vancouver has lost only once in its last five outings and is 7-4-5 overall, good for fourth place in the Western Conference.
Christopher Dempsey, The Denver Post
