Rapids vs. Two Time League Champs and Expansion Team: Preview

By: Kyle | April 18th, 2008

Last year at Dick’s, there were two guys with season tickets next to mine. They were from San Jose, so I wasn’t surprised when one of them showed up to the All-Star Game wearing his old Earthquakes jersey (the ‘Quakes expansion was announced the day before). The conversation went something like this:
Me: “So you must be in a good mood.”
Him: “Absolutely, we’ve already started planning to go to their home opener.”
Me: “Are you a little disappointed that all the San Jose greats won’t be there any more?”
Him: “Well they play in MLS, so there’s a good chance that that would have happened anyway.”
You can’t really argue with that.

Reason 10,000 to love MLS: One of the powerhouses of the league has all of their players sent to another city, and then replaced with members of every team’s reserves (and Joe Cannon).

Reason 10,001 to love MLS: The league then starts threatening the city which received those players after it won back to back MLS Cups. You can’t make this stuff up.

Oh, on a tangent: did you catch “The Commissioner Speaks” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) on MLS’s website? Scroll down to the bottom where Garber insists, “I wasn’t threatening the Mayor [of Houston] in any way.” Yeah, I was just saying that I would take the team from him if he doesn’t do what I want. How’s that a threat?

So for the Rapids, it means this: Colorado has an opportunity to get a good jump on the rest of the West.
-Dallas (1 pt. back) and Chivas (2 pts. back) are matched, which means that only one of the teams chasing the Rapids will get 3 pts, or better yet, both get 1.
-Salt Lake (2 pts. back) plays Toronto, so could Dichio actually do something this week? I know, probably not (Okay, that’s probably not fair after his goal last week. But if you don’t score on Real, Danny…).
-Los Angeles (3 pts. back) plays Houston (4 pts. back), and sadly, I think they might win this one. Let’s hope that DeRo and Ching can string something together like they used to. But with Onstad out, the team will probably continue allowing 2 goals a game.

So what does all this mean? It means that with a win this weekend (and it’s a gimme if there ever was one), the Rapids should get 1-4 pts ahead in the West. And more good news: we might see Pablo back on the field. He’s listed as Probable. Really, the only member of the club that we really might like back from injury at this point is Ugo. I miss that guy.

It’s also worth mentioning that, according to the guys over at the Rocky Mountain News, San Jose picked up ex-Rapids striker Jean-Philippe Peguero, but he won’t be able to play tomorrow night.

My prediction: Rapids 2-0 San Jose

The quakes are not a team which scores goals. San Jose has proven that it is unlikely that they will score in a given game, and there’s no reason to believe that this week will be any different, especially with Bouna between the posts.

Other game predictions:
Toronto 1-3 Real Salt Lake
New York Red Bulls 1-1 New England Revolution
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Houston Dynamo
Chicago Fire 2-0 Kansas City Wizards
Chivas USA 2-3 Dallas