Honours even in Denver
The Rapids have turned their season around in remarkable fashion after a dreadful start. Can they continue the improvements when they host New York City on Sunday? Have a read of our preview here:
Rapids beginning to flow
There are not many sides that started this current campaign in a worse way than the Colorado Rapids. The expression ‘flying out of the blocks’ was certainly nowhere to be found in the Denver state when talking about soccer.
They failed to win any of their first 11 games and that poor run included a stretch of eight straight defeats. It was a bleak opening to a campaign that had promised far more.
Yet, on the horizon was a dramatic turnaround that needs to be seen to be believed. The side have played nine times since that terrible run of defeats and have lost just one of them. They have picked up 21 points from the last 27 and been growing in confidence with every outing.
So, what has changed? Conor Casey must take a lot of credit. The 37-year-old replaced Anthony Hudson after the former Head Coach was sacked on 01 May. Casey’s first two games finished in defeat, both by a score of 3-2 but the attacking intent was there to see.
They then went seven games without defeat and look a completely different team. Whether they can move up the table in the Western Conference is debatable given the poor start but they are just nine points back which is an excellent platform for a late surge.
New York playing catch-up
New York City FC had a rather strange start to the season. They lost just once in their opening 16 MLS matches but underwhelmed at the beginning of that run as they failed to win any of the opening six, drawing five of them.
Those dropped points have left them playing catch-up and they have now lost the last two back-to-back having won seven of the previous ten.
It is a weird campaign for Domenec Torrent’s side and they will want to return to winning ways against Colorado. The third-place finish in the Eastern Conference that they earned last season is only two-point from where they sit now but only DC United can match the number of games drawn by NY in the MLS this season so don’t rule out another one on Sunday.
Colorado Rapids v New York City FC betting tip
Given the form of both sides and the new found resolve that the Rapids have found under Conor Casey backing this one to end in a draw at odds of 11/4 would be my shout in this one.
