The Colorado Rapids likely had a spring in their step on Thursday morning, despite facing a four-hour flight from Houston to Boston.
The night before, Colorado kicked off a three-game road swing with a gutsy come-from-behind 2-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo, which marked the first time the Rapids had ever beaten the Dynamo on the road.
The road trip continues this Saturday, when they face the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium (7:30 pm ET; Watch online for FREE). Then, on May 14, they face D.C. United at RFK Stadium.
“With the three games away, we didn’t want to get beaten,” head coach Gary Smith told MLSsoccer.com after the Houston game. “New England will be tough in their own way but we are feeling good about ourselves and there is no reason we can’t go there and get something out of it.”
But there's both good news and bad news on the injury front ahead of Saturday’s game.
The forward curse continues, as Omar Cummings is now battling an ankle injury that forced his return to Colorado for treatment. All but one of the Rapids’ six forwards has now had some kind of injury this season, with second-year striker Andre Akpan the only one to avoid the treatment table.
On the positive side, however, both Caleb Folan and Quincy Amarikwa got some playing time in the Houston game after missing matches to injury. With Akpan performing well again in his second straight start, he and Folan will likely start up top against New England in yet another striking combination for the Rapids.
On the back line, Marvell Wynne missed the Chicago Fire match on April 30 because of a hamstring problem, but came on as a second-half substitute against Houston and looks good to go this weekend. Left back Danny Earls has also been called into the squad as a backup and made the trip to Boston on Thursday.
The midfield will likely remain unchanged from Wednesday’s game because Sanna Nyassi has been forced to stay in Colorado because of a sore back.
