It might not be do-or-die yet, but it has felt like high noon for a fortnight now as the Colorado Rapids have climbed back into the playoff race.
Three wins in a row against Houston, New England, and the LA Galaxy have the Rapids tied for the eighth qualifying spot for the MLS Cup Playoffs, and Sunday afternoon they take on the team they're tied with, the Columbus Crew, in one of the biggest matches of the season as both teams seek to gain an edge in their postseason pursuit.
A determined, focused attitude over their past three matches has the Rapids playing the best soccer of the year, and the timing couldn't be better.
"I've been around this league for 10 years, long enough to know when a situation calls for you to go out and put everything in a situation," said defender Mike Petke. "One slip up from now on could mean the difference between us going home for the offseason to see our families or us maybe playing for a championship."
A win Sunday would give Colorado a small three-point hold on the final playoff spot, and would put Kansas City and New York within striking distance as they seek to step up another rung in the post-season positioning.
"There's no tomorrow right now," Petke said. "There's Columbus, but there's no who we're playing after that. We have to look at every game as a championship caliber game, and we have to get a result in every game. If we don't, we're just going to bury ourselves."
Head coach Fernando Clavijo has relished in the results his players are producing, and he was eager to keep the momentum going as the team prepared for their first road game since starting the three-game winning streak.
"We have a very difficult team ahead of us," Clavijo said of Columbus. "And it's going to be [like that] every game that we play. Every game is going to be difficult. We have a rival that we're facing and chasing and trying to get into the playoffs, so I don't expect it to be an easy job for us, but we'll be prepared. What we have done the last three games gives us a good attitude to go and get some good results on the road, and that's exactly what we're planning to do."
Clavijo expected to start the same 11 in Columbus that he used to defeat LA at home last Sunday, noting that that when "you win, you don't change it." The offense has been firing on all cylinders, scoring a season-high three goals in each of its last two matches.
"We always have confidence in the guys that are playing offensively for us, but it wasn't clicking," Petke said, comparing their recent run to the 10-game winless streak that preceded it. "Maybe we're starting to hit our stride now. It's late in the season, but maybe that's the type of team we are, trying to make it tough on ourselves to put our back against the wall and try to claw our way into the playoffs."
Although the offensive fireworks have grabbed much of the attention, the Rapids have excelled in their own back third, with goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul anchoring the defense and putting up three consecutive clean sheets.
"Right now the confidence is up to the sky," said Coundoul. "We beat the top two teams, Houston and New England, and then we just destroyed LA. Everybody is going to start playing a little more attention to us now."
The Rapids, however, are keeping their attention focused on the immediate task in front of them - taking the Crew down a peg while improving their own standing in a ceaseless march toward the goal of extending their season.
"Columbus is another game that we've got to win," stressed striker Conor Casey, who sunk his first MLS goal in the win against LA. "We can't really look at anything else but how we're doing and how we're playing. We just have to focus on our game and keep getting points."
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
