OUT: Jeff Stewart (R knee); Zizi Roberts (R knee); John Spencer (L hamstring strain); Darryl Powell (L hamstring Strain); Michael Erush (skull fracture/concussion) ... NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION -- OUT: DF Carlos Llamosa (L knee sprain); FW Joe-Max Moore (R knee sprain); DF Rusty Pierce (R quadriceps contusion)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
YELLOW PERIL: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (21 meetings): Rapids 11 wins (1 shootout), 41 goals ... Revolution 8 wins (2 shootout), 31 goals ... 2 draws
The teams meet on the first of three occasions this season, the first of two at Invesco Field. They'll meet again in Denver in the annual Independence Day extravaganza, then play at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 18.
Each time won once last season, each on their home ground, with the third meeting between the teams a scoreless draw.
The Rapids won 4-1 in a sterling effort on June 14 at home (Trembly 9, Spencer 21, Chung 39, Carrieri 69 -- Harris 81) as Revs 'keeper Adin Brown kept the scoreline that close.
The Revolution responded two weeks later in Foxborough with a wild 3-2 victory (Harris 7, Twellman 80, own goal (Hart) 84 -- Chung 34, Spencer 66). The scoreless draw came on Sept. 18 at Gillette Stadium as both teams played a man down for much of the match, the Rapids left with nine men after a second red card during extra time.
The teams have evenly split their seven meetings over the last two seasons, each winning three with one draw. The Revs won the season series in 2001 with a victory and a draw, but before that, the Rapids won both meetings in the season series for three years running, in 1998, 1999 (one by shootout) and 2000.
Chris Henderson leads the Rapids all-time scoring leader chart against the Revs, with 4 goals, 10 assists while with Colorado (he has 6 goals, 11 assists for his career v New England). Mark Chung is next with 6 goals, 2 assists while with Colorado (career: 8 goals, 6 assists); Wolde Harris -- who was traded to the Revs from the Rapids in 1999 -- also had 6 goals, 2 assists. John Spencer is next among active Rapids with 3 goals, 2 assists.
Taylor Twellman leads the Revolution all-time leaders with 6 goals, 2 assists against Colorado. Next on the list is Joe-Max Moore (4 goals, 2 assists), followed by former Rapids striker Wolde Harris, who had 4 goals, 1 assist when with the Revs. Steve Ralston has 5 goals, 5 assists during his career v Colorado -- just 4 assists while in New England.
Coaches record: Tim Hankinson v NE: P18 W7 L9 T2 ... Steve Nicol vs. COL: P6 W3 L2 T1
COLORADO RAPIDS
The Colorado Rapids went down to defeat for the first time this season despite playing with a man-advantage for more than a half, falling 2-0 to the Kansas City Wizards at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday. The Rapids are tied for fourth place in the Western Conference with five points from four matches, three points behind co-leaders Los Angeles Galaxy and Dallas Burn.
Jose Burciaga Jr. was sent off just before the halftime interval as he made his first MLS start in nearly a year after undergoing knee surgery. But the 10-man Wizards shut down the Rapids attack and got goals from Chris Klein and Josh Wolff while posting a clean sheet for the third time this season.
Davy Arnaud's cross found Klein in the 64th minute, his shot taking a deflection off a defender to give the Wizards the lead, then Diego Gutierrez made a rampaging run down the left flank before finding an unmarked Wolff, who calmly slotted home six minutes from time.
With John Spencer out with a hamstring pull, Rapids boss Tim Hankinson made just the one change to his team, Zach Kingsley coming into the midfield as he left Jean-Philippe Peguero in mainly a lone forward role.
That changed with the sending-off of Burciaga, reserve rookie striker David Castellanos coming in for Kingsley as Hankinson returned to his first-choice tactical scheme.
Here's Hankinson's team (4-4-1-1): Joe Cannon -- Matt Crawford, Nat Borchers, Pablo Mastroeni, Ritchie Kotschau -- Zach Kingsley (David Castellanos 44), Kyle Beckerman, Antonio de la Torre (Seth Trembly 69), Mark Chung -- Chris Henderson -- Jean-Philippe Peguero (Jordan Cila 77).
"Our performance was not ambitious enough, and the quality of our play was below standards. We need to raise our game so that we don't fall behind. But our reaction to this will be to just get back to work," said Hankinson.
After the loss, Mastroeni got on his teammates for the performance. "I didn't want to say, 'Oh, we were unlucky,' or 'Better luck next time,' " Mastroeni said. "I felt like that was just fluff in the air. We have to challenge ourselves. (The veteran players) have to hold ourselves accountable."
Said Hankinson, who felt his team wasted a "gift": "I think the reaction he had is the reaction I want every player to have. His reaction was pure, blatant anger."
Seth Trembly made his first appearance of the season after suffering an offseason knee injury, coming on for the final 20 minutes.
Rookie Jordan Cila made his professional debut, coming on for Jean-Philippe Peguero for the final 13 minutes. "It felt great to get called upon. Unfortunately I wish that it could have been under better circumstances and that we could have come out with a win. But it's part of the job. The result leaves a bitter taste, but I'm glad that I finally got a chance to get in," he said.
On Wednesday, the Rapids signed David de la Torre, brother of Antonio, who was most recently with Bucaramanga in Colombia's first division. He began his career in Mexico, appearing only with three Primera 'A' clubs after coming through the Atlas youth scheme. The de la Torres become the Rapids' second brother combination, after Chris and Sean Henderson played with the team.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution overcame a makeshift back line against the top-scoring attack in Major League Soccer this season, defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 for their first win of 2004. The Revs moved into fourth place in the Eastern Conference with the win, four points behind the pace-setting Chicago Fire.
The Revolution won for the first time this season while extending the Galaxy's road winless streak to 17 league matches, dating to the final match of the 2002 regular season.
Joe Franchino gave the home side the lead after just four minutes, taking advantage of some lax marking to finish off a passing movement between Taylor Twellman and Pat Noonan. Then late in the second half, defender Paul Broome bundled over Steve Ralston as the two raced toward the byeline, Jose Cancela converting from the spot after Kevin Terry gave the penalty.
Alejandro Moreno gave the final margin with literally the final kick of the game, stabbing home from the goal line after Carlos Ruiz's shot snuck through the legs of Revs 'keeper Adin Brown.
"We were a lot tighter," Revs boss Steve Nicol said. "We wanted to make sure they were not able to play through us like in the first game. I can assure you, I am very pleased we won the game, but I think we can be better. We had patches of good football, and with good play we will score more goals."
Nicol made one change to the team that grabbed a 1-1 draw with the MetroStars at Giants Stadium the weekend before. With Joe-Max Moore again out through injury, Jose Cancela returned to his central midfield playmaking role.
Here's Nicol's team (4-1-3-2): Adin Brown -- Jay Heaps, Shalrie Joseph, Brian Kamler, Marshall Leonard -- Clint Dempsey -- Steve Ralston, Jose Cancela (Andy Dorman 79), Joe Franchino -- Taylor Twellman, Pat Noonan.
The late goal was the only black mark on a defensive performance that saw the Revolution shut down the league's most prolific attack in the early going, again with a makeshift back four with all three regular central defenders unavailable.
"We are basically on the same page defensively," said Revs captain Franchino. "Giving up six goals in the first two games wasn't a good thing. And we gave up a late goal in this game but they weren't that dangerous. "With all the injuries we have had, you can't prepare for it. But this showed we are a team, all the way. We would have liked to have held the ball a little better late in the game, we were on our heels defensively."
The Revs also ended another disturbing trend of allowing goals immediately after they scored. In the previous three matches, the Revs had allowed goals between two and 11 minutes after scoring each of their four goals.
"It was good to see that after both our goals, we were solid defensively for the next 10 minutes," said Kamler, who again filled in as a central defender. "We built off last week's performance [a 1-1 tie with the MetroStars] and we have to build off this one."
On Monday, the Revs announced Rusty Pierce will be out for up to the next two months with a severe contusion of his right thigh. Carlos Llamosa will also his status re-examined during the week; the veteran center back has missed the entire season after suffering a knee injury in the club's final preseason match.
The club has made an offer to 28-year-old Trinidad & Tobago international defender Avery John, and expects him to sign soon. "We made an offer and we are just waiting to sort out the details," said New England technical director Cummings. "We'd be surprised if it's not accepted."
