Formerly Green Rapids In Philly For St. Patrick's Day

Anyone else think we should be wearing green kits this weekend?

Colorado makes its first of numerous road trips to the Northeast this weekend, facing the Union on Sunday.  We'll also get our first look at NBC Sports Channel's coverage of MLS as they have the TV for this game.  That's on channel 79 (SD) or 689 (HD) on Comcast in the Denver area.  The kickoff is at 2pm and Class VI and Pid Army are hosting their first viewing party of the season at the Celtic Tavern downtown.

Injury Report:
OUT: FW Conor Casey (L Achilles tear); MF Jamie Smith (R ACL tear); DF Anthony Wallace (L Achilles tear)
PROBABLE: DF Hunter Freeman (R ankle arthroscopy); MF Pablo Mastroeni (head contusion)

Ineligible: MF Martin Rivero (missing International Transfer Certificate)

Some good news on the injury report as both Freeman and Pablo are expected to be available this week.  Unfortunately there are still administrative issues with getting Martin Rivero registered so we'll have to wait to see him next week (hopefully).  Philly has two players missing due to injury and two players with the U-23 Olympic team, including Freddy Adu.  My bet on our starting XI:

Cascio - Cummings - Mullan

Larentowicz - Castrillon - Mastroeni

Zapata - Wynne - Moor - Kimura

Pickens

It worked last week so "I see no reason to expect a change.  Mastroeni was practicing at full speed with the team since Tuesday so he should be good to go.  The new guys didn't do anything last week that makes me think they'll be benched.

Key To Look For: The back 4.  Philly traded Sebastian Le Toux who was most of their offense last season and their game in Portland on Monday didn't make it appear they successfully replaced him.  If the back 4 can shut down the Union forwards then Philly will have a very hard time scoring.

Prediction: 1-0 Rapids win, goal by Larentowicz.  I'm not sure where the Union offense is going to come from and our back 4 are looking pretty solid early.  Ginger Ninja is going home for this game, where we've never lost.  He slams in the game-winner off a free kick and the Rapids start 2-0-0 with 2 shutouts.