Match Day 16 - Maybe We'll Play Colorado this Time

Sporting KC welcome the Colorado Rapids for the second time this season, and hopefully for the first time this season, the two teams will actually play the game. The last time these two teams were scheduled to meet, the game was canceled and scheduled to be made up at the end of the season. The forecast for this weekend's match up looks better and the two teams should actually take the field this time.

Colorado comes into the game after a midweek game in Orlando on Wednesday that was delayed due to weather. The game is the second of three straight road games for Colorado as they'll travel to Houston for a US Open Cup game on Wednesday of next week as well. While the Rapids haven't been getting a lot of wins this year, they have only two, they also haven't been losing a lot, they're tied for the second fewest losses in the league, with five. They do lead the league in ties though with nine, two more than the LA Galaxy who have played three more games than Colorado has this season. The Rapids are also the lowest scoring team in the league with just 12 goals on the season, and four of those came in one game. They've welcomed new designated player Kevin Doyle into the team but he was subbed out before the hour in Orlando on Wednesday night.

KC is the only team in the league with fewer losses than Colorado, having lost just three times on the year. None of those three losses have come at home, where the club is still undefeated on the season, they'll try to continue that unbeaten run tomorrow night. While the Rapids are the lowest scoring team in the league, KC is the second highest scoring team, behind LA who have scored three more, but have played five more at this time. For probably the last time until after the Gold Cup, KC will have as close to their full first team as they can get. They'll see the departure of Graham Zusi and Marcel de Jong after tomorrow's game. The other worry is that Zusi and Benny Feilhaber are both questionable at this time, although both players participated in practice today, I'd think both will play tomorrow.

Melia

Anibaba - Ellis - Besler - Dia

Mustivar

Espinoza - Feilhaber

Zusi - Dwyer - Nemeth

Number to Remember - 2 - Outside Colorado's win 4-0 in Dallas, Colorado has scored just two goals in their seven other road games this year. The Rapids are 0-2-5 in those other seven games and have scored just twice. On the positive side for the Rapids, they've allowed just five goals in their eight road games this year.

Key Match Up - Dom Dwyer vs Clint Irwin - Dwyer's scored in two straight league games for Kansas City and seems like he may be rounding into some form. Irwin is allowing less than a goal a game for the Rapids, even though they're averaging less than a point a game.

 PREDICTION - The way the two teams are playing right now, this should be a win for KC. But Colorado is stubborn team on the road and will be extremely organized defensively and difficult to break down. It's going to be a tough task for KC to get all three points even with Colorado's busy schedule right now, but with the way that Sporting can knock in goals, they should be able to top the Rapids at Sporting Park, but a draw tomorrow night wouldn't surprise me at all.

SKC - 2 (Dwyer, Nemeth)
CO - 0