Rapids hope to halt slide against Dynamo

Soccer Betting Lines

08/10/2007 - Commerce City, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It's time for the Colorado Rapids to snap out of their funk. The Western Conference club hasn't won in 10 league matches and on top of that, was bounced from the U.S. Open Cup earlier this week by United Soccer Leagues first division club, the Seattle Sounders, by a humiliating final score of 5-0.

Things can't get much worse in Colorado. Or can they?

As if the Major League Soccer schedule makers are rubbing salt in their wounds, the Rapids are set to host defending league champion and one of the hottest teams over the last two months, the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. This game comes after the Rapids lost at Dallas, the second best team in the West record-wise, last week.

"I thought in the second half, we created enough chances to score but we couldn't (score)," Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo said after the Dallas loss. "But it's been our history of the games so far this year, we can't score. We had good chances, had good possession in the second half, I thought you could see there was really one team trying to push hard. But you can't win games without scoring goals."

Houston has a league-best 34 points heading into this weekend's action and will be looking for redemption after falling to last-placed Real Salt Lake in its last league fixture. The team was visibly tired in the game after playing five matches in 13 days including SuperLiga and league matches.

"It is a lot of games, a lot of legs," Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark said. "I'm sure people are a little leggy right now, but we don't really want to make excuses because there are other teams in that situation also. I think the next couple games are a week apart, so we should get some rest and get our legs back. All we can do is look forward from now."

"I just think our guys are dead," Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear said after the RSL loss. "We ran out of gas probably 20 minutes in, just kind of broke forward every once in a while and tried to defend. A little mix-up in the back lets them through and that's the game. The guys tried, but there wasn't much energy out there."

Now, after a week to rest, the Dynamo will look to keep themselves in front of Dallas in the Western table. The Hoops are just a point back with a game in hand.

The Rapids, on the other hand, are currently are third from the bottom in the West, four points ahead of Los Angeles - who has five games in hand - and six points up on RSL. The main reason for the team's lack of success has been the inability to score goals. Because of that, Clavijo switched to a three man backline recently, and the move seems to be working to at least create chances.

"We're missing the goal by inches," Rapids captain Pablo Mastroeni said. "It's one of those games that just didn't go your way. But it's positive because we're doing everything we can. It's easy to give up and play defense for 90 minutes the rest of the season and lose 1-0. But I think the effort today was worthy of some sort of result.

"I think it's good. So far, up to this point in the season, we haven't put a lot of numbers on the board and haven't created a lot of chances going forward. With three in the back, that offers another guy in the midfield and has opened up a lot of space. It allows us to be more attack-oriented and I think we're doing a pretty good job of that. We're heading in the right direction and it's tough to adjust to a new system so late. We've done a good job in the last few games but we just need a little luck in turning this thing around."

If the Rapids are going to make the playoffs this season, they have to snap their losing streak and earn as many points as possible down the stretch.

"Time is running out," Clavijo said. "We have 11 games to go and have 36 points. We need to start winning games. The good part of it is that we have three home games this month and hopefully, we can get three victories and things will change."

"Our backs are against the wall as far as the season is concerned," Mastroeni said. "We feel like we have to put a run together here and get some points."

After Saturday's game, the schedule doesn't get any easier for the Rapids as they host Eastern Conference leading New England on Aug. 16, while Houston squares off against Dallas in a top-of-the-table clash at Robertson Stadium the same day.