Real Salt Lake @ Colorado Rapids preview and prediction
Hot vs. Cold
Well RSL is coming off a win against FC Dallas a team tied for first in the West, who only had one loss on the season. Colorado is coming off a loss against Houston, the Dynamo were winless going into the match and tied for last place in the West. It would seem that RSL should have the momentum, then add that RSL ended last year with a win at Dick’s to claim the Rocky Mountain Cup, in fact the last 3 times we have faced the Rapids in Denver we have two wins and a tie, so this is a team that we have momentum against. Colorado’s line up was consistent for the first 4 weeks of the season when they were 2-2, their line up against RSL will feature only 6 players from that line up.
Injuries and Suspensions
Colorado has seemed to be struggling since some of their star players have come back into the line up after injuries, and they still have a number of injuries affecting their line up (Petke, Casey, and DiRaimondo will probably not see action, and Cooke, and Kirovski both are probable but still nursing injuries, they will also be without McManus who is serving a red card suspension. RSL is still without Sturgis, and Joy, but Morales and Espindola are both expected to see action, so the fitness edge goes to RSL as well.
Offense and Defense
RSL has scored 11 goals so far this season, so have the Rapids, each team has only been shut out once (RSL loss at TFC, Rapids loss at home against San Jose), RSL has 3 players with 2 or more goals, Colorado has one. Colorado’s 11 goals have come from 10 different players, RSL’s goals have come from 6 players, RSL has taken more shots than the Rapids 93 to 81 and RSL also leads in shots on goal 42 to 32.
Defensively, RSL has given up more goals 12-9 than Colorado, both team have had the same keeper in all their matches so far this season. Nick Rimando has a 1.71 goal against average for RSL, and Bouna Coundoul has a 1.29 GAA, so a slight advantage goes to Colorado. RSL has reworked their defense and the projected line up for this match is a different look than last weekends win against Dallas, with Wingert and Beltran on the outside, and Olave and Borchers on the inside.
There is no real clear winner in the battle of offense and defense but a slight advantage has to go to the Rapids
Prediction
So I have a feeling this will be a very exciting match, RSL has scored most of their goals in the first 30 or last 30 minutes of the match, Colorado has only scored one goal in the first half and 7 of their 11 in the last 30 minutes. A quick start for RSL could be a very good sign, but they will need to work to keep the lead, as both teams have given up 3 goals after the 75th minute, so whatever you do make sure you watch until the end. Last weekend RSL played poorly but still were better than Dallas who played worse, Colorado was out played by Houston, and despite their panicked attempts at the end, they were not up to the task. Both teams have faced Chicago (RSL tied at home, Rapids lost on road), DC United (both teams won at home), and Galaxy (Rapids won at home, RSL tied at home), so there is no real tell there. I have to go out on a limb, since the Rapids have either won or lost every week and recent trends (3 of 4) have been loses, I am going to pick RSL to win the first leg of the RMC 2-1.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
This entry was posted on May 14, 2008 at 10:23 pm and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.