Undermanned Colorado Tries To Run Circles Around Hula Hoops

Didn't we just do this? For the 2nd time in 3 weeks Dallas is in town. Last time around it was a 1-1 draw midweek, this time the Rapids have more rest and hopefully more desire. Game time is 7:30pm and as always the supporters groups will be starting the tailgate 2 hours ahead of time.

Official Injury Report:
NONE REPORTED

Official Discipline Report:
SUSPENDED: Cory Gibbs (Caution accumulation)
ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: Conor Casey, Ugo Ihemelu
TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION: Scott Palguta

International Absences:
Colin Clark (U.S. National Team), Omar Cummings (Jamaica National Team)

Dallas is missing 5 players to injury and Kenny Cooper is with the National Team at the gold Cup, so they only have 18 players to fill out the 18-man game day roster. My best guess on the lineup:

Pickens

Kimura - Ihemelu - Palguta - Harvey
Mastroeni

Cooke - Ballouchy - LaBrocca

Casey - Noonan

With Gibbs out Kimura gets back into the starting 11 while Ihemelu moves inside. Other than that I don't expect any changes. With the expected signings of Diz and Jamie Smith when the International transfer Window opens on Wednesday there's a very good chance that this will be Cookie's last game in a Rapids uniform. The bench isn't very deep, with only 6 players available (Burpo, Valentino, Harden, Dalby, Peterson, Schunk) we can't even fill out the 18-man roster. I expect the subs to be Dalby, Peterson, and then either Schunk or Harden depending on the game situation.

Key To Look For:

Depth, again. Somebody has to take the pressure off of Casey, because Chicago manged to bracket him with two defenders and stymie our offense. Until somebody else proves to be a threat its going to be hard to score.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Conor Casey. I still don't trust this defense to pitch a shutout and nobody outside Casey has proven to be a scoring threat. Without that I can't see us getting more than 1. Maybe I'm just gun shy after a few years of poor summer play, but the Rapids have to prove to me they can win when things aren't perfect for them.