Time To Win A Cup

There should be no difficulty getting up for this one.  The Rocky Mountain Cup is on the line tomorrow night in Sandy.  Winner takes all, a draw means the Cup will not be coming back home with the team.  Since both sides have won a game but FSL won by multiple goals they win the total goals tiebreaker in the case of a 4-4 tie on points.  Also with a win tomorrow, or a lot of other combined results, the Rapids would clinch a playoff spot and be pretty certain they would host a playoff game.  Kickoff in Utah is at 7:30 and while the game is on Altitude it is also on KSL in Utah, which streams their feed online for feed and should be available in the Denver area.  Richard Fleming has announced he won't be available for this game or Wednesday night's home game so we'll see how Tyler Maun does paired with Balboa.

Disciplinary Report:

SUSPENDED: D Danny Wilson (red card against Minnesota)

ONE CAUTION FROM SUSPENSION: D Lalas Abubakar, F Diego Rubio

TWO CAUTIONS FROM SUSPENSION:  D Auston Trusty, D Danny Wilson, M Braian Galvan, M Collen Warner

Obviously Wilson being suspended isn't great but at least we have two solid center backs available.  Both Acosta and Kaye have returned from their international duties.  Acosta did not play on Wednesday night.  Sunday night in Panama he took a hit to the head that left it wrapped in bandages (no concussion issues have been reported) and on Wednesday night he still had a notable bandage on the point of contact.  Hopefully that doesn't limit him tomorrow.  Kaye played the last 30 minutes or so for Canada on Wednesday night.  I think he'll be available to start.

This is partially what I hope to see.  A return to the 4-3-3/4-5-1 that works better for us than the 5-4-1 we've been trying to use.  Pushing Rosenberry inside to put Galvan in front of him in place of another pure attacker isn't what we need.

Prediction: 2-1 win, goals by Rubio and Barrios.  FSL actually has a slightly better offense than we do, but a much worse defense.  (16 more goals given up than Colorado in 28 games).  I hate to predict a win against FSl, especially in Sandy, given all the ways we've been burned over the years.  This team however feels like one that will build on its success last week and the massive comeback to win the series in Sandy last year and come out with 3 points, a clinched playoff spot, and the Rocky Mountain Cup!