Can Colorado Fight To A Result?

Battle of Lundy's Lane/Niagara Falls

Tuesday is the 203rd anniversary of the Battle  of Lundy's Lane, also know as the Battle of Niagara Falls in the War of 1812.  Tactically the battle was a draw, which is probably the best the Rapids can hope for in their invasion of Canada tomorrow.  Strategically the British stopping the American invasion of Canada was a loss for the overall ambitions of the Americans, which is probably the case as well with the Rapids tomorrow if they fail to win.  kickoff is at 5pm and the game is on Altitude, which means it will finish before the USA-Costa Rica Gold Cup Semifinal at 8pm on FS1.

Lots of missing players for this one:

Colorado: GK Tom Howard (USA), D Mekeil Williams (yellow card accumulation suspension), D Bobby Burling (injury)

Toronto: Jozy Altidore (USA); Michael Bradley (USA), Justin Morrow (USA); Steven Beitashour (injury), Nick Hagglund (injury)

Along with that Toronto has Panamanian Armando Cooper and three Canadians who were called up for the Gold Cup but their teams were eliminated midweek in the quarterfinals and they may or may not be available to TFC tomorrow.  also their head coach, ex-Rapid Greg Vanney, is suspended after being ejected on Wednesday so another ex-Rapid, Robin Fraser, will be coaching this one.

The questionable injuries for Colorado are Gashi, Sjoberg, and Gatt, I don't know if any of them traveled to Toronto.  A big question mark for Toronto is Giovinco who left Wednesday's game with a bad back injury.

After 18 days off and everyone getting rested and mostly healthy Pablo has a lot of choices for the lineup.  I'm assuming we'll stick with the 4-4-2 but if the 4-5-1 returns I won't be shocked.  The backline is still going to be a mess though with Burling and probably Sjoberg out, we'll be looking at Ford and Miller likely at CB.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, goal by Doyle.  We couldn't ask for a better time to play Toronto with them coming off a midweek game and down 5-10 players plus their coach.  If we can't get a result here then we're never going to win on the road.  The Rapids channel some of that MLS Cup history and get a draw, but that's all.