Rapids Try For First Ever CCL/CCC Advancement

This is Colorado's 5th time in CONCACAF Champions League/Cup play and in the prior 4 tournaments they were eliminated in their opening round.  They have a chance to break that streak tomorrow night in LA but it will be a tough hill to climb.  Colorado has never gotten a a point at LAFC and they've struggled to even score.

The good news is that a 0-0 draw is all they need.  In fact any win or draw gets them through, but a 1-0 loss does them in.  A 2-1 loss forces an extra 30 minutes and then PKs if still tied.  If the Rapids can score more than 1 goal though then LAFC would have to win by 2.

In their two games so far LAFC has largely sat back and waited for their opportunities to attack, which really haven't come.  In the second half this weekend they made halftime changes that led to them controlling the second half.  Lets hope they revert back tomorrow night.  The Rapids can't sit back and try for the scoreless draw though, that will almost certainly fail.  Scoring a goal will force LAFC to score 3 to win outright and that should be the focus.  We might be able to prevent a 3-1 loss, but we can't prevent a 1-0 loss.

Its still a long shot though, especially with our injuries.  I doubt anyone who wasn't available will be available tomorrow night, not enough time to suddenly get healthy.  So we're going to be asking the back line to play their 3rd game in 8 days, along with a good chunk of our midfield and Navarro.  The natural inclination is going to be conserve energy and play off LAFC but we need to lean the other way and push hard for an early goal.

Prediction: 3-1 loss in extra time.  Goal by Navarro.  I think we force the bonus 30 minutes but then our defensive legs run out and LAFC gets the winner to move on and play Columbus.