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Colorado Rapids Portland Timbers Preview: Portland Defend Top Seed Midweek Against Colorado

Colorado Rapids Portland Timbers

PREVIEW – The Colorado Rapids will attempt to accomplish another David vs Goliath feat on Wednesday when they travel to Portland to face the current top of the Western Conference Timbers. The Portland Timbers have already clinched a playoff spot, but will look to keep their spot at number one in the Western conference because of the importance that has on hosting playoff games. Can Portland defend their top spot against a Colorado side that looks to have found their form again?

Colorado Rapids Portland Timbers Preview: Rapids Travel to Portland who Look to Defend top Spot in the West

The Rapids stunned Seattle on Sunday with a 3-1 defeat of the Sounders, who floundered at altitude, looking gassed by about the 60th minute. The loss eliminated any chance at the Supporters’ Shield and saw Seattle fall from first to third in the Western Conference standings, giving the opportunity for Portland to grab the top spot, which they took full advantage of.

Colorado Rapids Unseat Seattle, Dashing Supporters’ Shields Hopes

Due to the recent change in playoff qualifications, the Rapids found themselves catapulted from 11th in the West to 8th, just above the playoff line, and improved that to 7th with their win over Seattle. That win was crucial for the Rapids confidence, which was shattered in their prior game when they lost due to a late own goal by Lalas Abubakar.

The Rapids look like they’ve largely fixed their issues on defense while their attack seems back to pre-postponement sharpness. They’ll need all cylinders firing if they hope to pick up the points they so desperately need to clinch their playoff spot. A win or a tie against Portland, and playoffs will be looking like a sure thing for the Rapids.

If given the start, two of the Rapids’ key players, Jack Price and Abubakar, are both one yellow card away from missing the next game due to yellow card accumulation. The potential issue is that if the Rapids gain zero points against Portland, their next game against Houston to end the regular season becomes crucial to their playoff hopes.

Can Portland Defend Top Title Against Rapids, Or Meet Similar Fate As Seattle?

Portland has rarely lost this season and after drawing two games in mid-October 1-1 (against LAFC and then Seattle) are looking to put together a three game win streak if they can snag all three points against Colorado Wednesday.

Head Coach Giovanni Savarese had this to say following their win against Vancouver and looking toward the final two matches of the regular season:

“Difficult match. We knew it was going to be tough. We knew that Vancouver was going to come with everything that they had. It took a lot of sacrifice and hard work to make sure that we found these three points. I thought that we put up a good fight. We sacrificed ourselves to make sure that we prevented them from finding good spaces. Then we tried a couple of times, I think created a few opportunities, but at the end Yimmi [Chara] was able to give us a very important goal to then get these three points that were very important for us. Unfortunately the situation with [Jarosław Niezgoda] otherwise it would have been a perfect day.”

It is unclear how long Niezgoda will be sidelined due to that injury, but from first look, it appeared severe.

“Not good,” Savarese said. “We’ll see. We’ll find out a little bit more later, but as of now it’s not very positive. We’ll see.”

While their most recent game against the Vancouver Whitecaps only finished with a 1-0 score, their prior game was a goal fest. The Timbers thoroughly embarrassed LA Galaxy 5-2, with this stunner of a goal as the cherry on top.

Colorado is no stranger to scoring bangers these days either, as Keegan Rosenberry showed Sunday with this perfectly timed volley.

Last Word:

Wednesday will be the first time the two teams have played each other since July 13 of 2019. To say a lot has changed since then would be putting it mildly given all we’ve been through in 2020.

This game is the result of a rescheduling of the Timbers/Rapids October 3 game, which was postponed due to positive COVID tests on the Rapids.

Whether the Rapids are able to dash the Supporters Shield hopes of another team, or Seattle is able to help potentially deny the Rapids a spot in the playoffs, both teams will have something to play for on Wednesday.

Embed from Getty Images

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