Commerce City, CO– The Colorado Rapids (11-4-13, 8th West) won’t have to wait long to right the wrongs from the draw against San Jose as Minnesota United (7-9-12, 14th West) comes to town. Colorado hasn’t won in their last four matches. Minnesota hasn’t won in their last seven matches. Minnesota hasn’t had the season they expected and has recently slid down the Western Conference. Despite being 14th, Minnesota is just three points away from a play-in spot. Colorado is just four points away from missing the playoffs. The race for the final few playoff spots is extremely tight. Both of these teams are in that race. This is a six-pointer for both sides. Let’s take a look at the matchup.
When: Saturday, October 10th @ 7:30 p.m. MST
Where: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
TV/Streaming: Apple TV
Anticlimactic Draw Against San Jose
The Rapids and San Jose traded set-piece goals in a 1-1 draw that felt like it deserved more. Colorado got away with two San Jose goals that were eventually called offside. Whether or not they were offside, they were the only goals on the night that came from open play. This is a much better look for the away side, as San Jose managed to smash and grab a point on the road.
The set-piece goal conceded is especially frustrating as the Rapids have given up four set-piece goals in their last three games. They had conceded four set-piece goals in the other 24 games. It has become a new problem for the Rapids, who have now left crucial points on the table in their last three games, losing seven points in that span because of those goals.
It has coincided with the Rapids becoming more dangerous on set pieces themselves. The change happened when Youssef Maziz started taking corners, but the trend has continued even after Maziz was out longer. The Rapids looked much like the 2021 Rapids: strong on set pieces and defensively. This hadn’t been the case recently, as they conceded three goals in three straight before San Jose. Colorado must return to its impressive defensive form to solidify a playoff spot. Or the attack will have to carry much more weight than it can.
The Rapids were much more direct than Wells has been in their last two matches. It worked extremely well against LA, who had been caught high multiple times, leading to two goals. Many storylines from that game played out in the second half, but the Rapids’ first-half attack was their best in a long time. They were again very direct against San Jose, but with less effect. The Rapids weren’t as clean as they needed to be in direct play. San Jose handled it better than LA did. It is certainly a step in the right direction for this new attack under Wells, but another game without a goal from open play is not a great look for Wells and his new transfers.
Lineup Prediction:
Hansen / Navarro, Holding, Williams, Cobb / Ojediran, Frederick, Aaronson / Whittaker, Abu Farkhi, Yapi
Reggie Cannon is the only new name on the injury report. Not good that Maziz is still out.
Wells has several options to fill in for Cannon if he can’t go on Wednesday. The most like-for-like switch seems to be Kosi Thompson, but with Cannon pinching in to play center back alongside Loic Williams and Rob Holding, it makes more sense to go with either Keegan Rosenberry or Noah Cobb. Either is more likely, but it raises the question of where Thompson fits in.
Two guys stand out as names to watch for this match. Sayed Abu Farkhi and Ibrahim Sadiq. Sadiq got his first minutes in an unusual substitution against San Jose, where Georgi Minoungou came off just 30 minutes after coming on. From the short time we saw Sadiq, there were flashes of quality. It will be interesting to see how much he plays and how well he settles in after his short time in Colorado.
Abu Farkhi came alongside Whittaker, but with the international break taking him away for an extended period, his path to settling in feels more like Sadiq’s than Whittaker’s. He hasn’t looked great since joining the Rapids, but he again hasn’t had much time to gel with the team. Abu Farkhi needs to get off the ground sooner rather than later.
Minnesota’s Slump
It is a shock to see Minnesota right next to Sporting KC in the table. Not just because of how poor Sporting has been this season, but because of how Minnesota’s season started. It wasn’t a start like San Jose’s or Vancouver’s, but it certainly wasn’t 14th place. Their recent form helps explain some of this, and the seven-point gap between 8th and 14th makes the situation less dire. Still, with only six games left for Minnesota, it is now or never if they want to get into the playoffs.
Minnesota hasn’t been as proactive as their fans would have wanted in the recent transfer windows. The team has holes, and they didn’t fill them this summer. It’s not ideal if your left back is your second-highest goal scorer. That’s not a bad thing, especially since former Rapid Anthony Markanich has eight goals this year, but Minnesota hasn’t gotten any offensive production from anyone other than Kelvin Yeboah.
Their biggest signing this year was James Rodriguez. The league hyped it up, but James hadn’t been his 2014 self in a while and used Minnesota to get ready for the 2026 World Cup. He left as soon as it was time for the World Cup. It was a weird signing; it didn’t really make Minnesota much better, and it caused a lot of commotion for not much production. He is no longer with the team, and Minnesota hasn’t done anything to compensate.
Prediction: Colorado gets back on track, but not offensively, and wins this game by the same scoreline as the reverse fixture. 1-0 Rapids.
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Matt Pollard 
Eamon Shaw 