Midtable Battle For Midweek

Mount Rainier National Park, which can be seen from Portland

A quick turn around as we head to the Pacific Northwest (though not the best part) for tomorrow night's game against Portland.  As annoying as a midweek road trip is I think I'd take the home game on Saturday and trip to Portland over the Timbers playing in Orlando on Saturday and then flying home to host.  Even with our rain delay the burgundy boys were nicely home and in bed (or whatever) before the Timber's plane even flew over Colorado.  The Rapids are one point behind the Timbers in the standings and depending on other results a winner tomorrow could pass Seattle and LAFC.  Kickoff is at 8:30pm.

Availability Report:

OUT: GK Zack Steffen (oblique), D Keegan Rosenberry (non-injury, new parent), M Cole Bassett (ankle), M Ali Fadal (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: F Rafael Navarro (ankle)

That's not much better.  At this point we won't see Steffen in a Rapids kit until after the Gold Cup in July.  Hopefully the bye weekend will allow Navarro and Bassett to get healthy in time for the Austin game.

I think for the most part Armas sticks with the lineup from Saturday night.  He won't risk Navarro on turf with the long break coming up, at least as a starter.  He might be a sub if needed.  The only real change is Awaziem going in for Murphy.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Mihailovic.  The Timbers rolled us 3-0 for our first league loss back in March but I think we've figured a few things out since then.  In an midweek clash I think we can force a draw.  Both teams have the weekend off so there's no reason to save legs which should make this a little more intense than the average Wednesday game.