COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — The Colorado Rapids will be forced to try and lock down their first playoff berth in two seasons on Wednesday night without one of their key cogs in the midfield.
Rookie Dillon Powers has been sidelined with a possible concussion and will miss the team’s matchup on the road against the San Jose Earthquakes (10:30 pm ET, MLS Live), leaving the club even more shorthanded than initially expected.
Fellow rookie Deshorn Brown (Jamaica) and new Designated Player Gabriel Torres (Panama) are also both out while international duty.
Powers went down with the injury during the second half of the team’s 5-1 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday and underwent league-mandated tests on Monday and Tuesday.
“We are following the protocols with the doctors at this point,” Rapids head coach Oscar Pareja told reporters on Monday. “We want to make sure that we first follow the protocols, second give enough time to the doctors to evaluate him, and third just defend the integrity of the player first, then everything else.”
Powers has started 29 games in his first season out of Notre Dame, placing himself firmly in the running for the MLS Rookie of the Year. He scored on a header from a Vicente Sanchez corner kick in the 10th minute of the Rapids’ romp on Saturday night, his sixth goal of the season.
Martín Rivero is an option to start in place of Powers in the midfield, while veteran Edson Buddle is likely to get the start up top in place of Brown or Torres.
The Rapids can clinch a postseason berth with a win over the Quakes and if the Seattle Sounders earn a win or a draw against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday.
Chris Bianchi covers the Colorado Rapids for MLSsoccer.com.
