COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – The Colorado Rapids may have lifted the MLS Cup only four months ago and have three straight wins to open 2011, but the team believes it still hasn’t shown what it can really do.
“We’ve got some great results and I think the good thing is that this is such a competitive group, that nobody feels like we have played as well as we can,” center back Drew Moor told MLSsoccer.com after training Wednesday. “We feel like we have more to offer. We feel like we are a better team than we have played so far.”
The Rapids have outscored their opponents 8-2 through their first three games of the season, including convincing 3-1 and 4-1 home wins over Portland and D.C. United, respectively. The other win was a scrappy 1-0 road victory over Chivas USA.
Moor’s defensive teammate, Kosuke Kimura, said after both the wins over Chivas USA and DC that the team was still struggling to keep possession of the ball long enough. The Japanese defender who, in a difficult first half against DC last weekend, was one of the few Rapids’ players eager to try and dribble past the United defense, told MLSsoccer.com that there was always room for improvement.
“It started off a little slow in the first half,” he said after the game. “We tried to possess the ball but we didn’t possess it how we want it. That first half, we could have done a lot better. We could have possessed the ball a little higher up the pitch, in that final third.”
The Rapids will need to be at their best for their next two games. On Friday, they’ll face a rematch of last year’s MLS Cup with a road game against FC Dallas (9 pm ET, Fox Soccer), and then they’ll head to Rio Tinto Stadium for a rare midweek matchup against Rocky Mountain Cup rivals Real Salt Lake on April 13.
“We have a big week coming up – two tough road games,” Moor continued. “It’s a good early-season test, but no more than that. We want to win. With the competitive nature of this team, we feel we should go on the road and compete for three points every time.”
