{"id":9664,"date":"2017-09-08T19:53:22","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T23:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=9664"},"modified":"2017-09-08T20:39:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-09T00:39:03","slug":"houston-dynamo-vs-colorado-rapids-preview-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2017\/09\/08\/houston-dynamo-vs-colorado-rapids-preview-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Dynamo vs Colorado Rapids Preview: A Match Of Emotions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>PREVIEW (September 8, 2017)<\/strong> &#8211; The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/category\/dynamo\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston Dynamo<\/a> are scheduled to play their first game since <a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/hurricane-harvey-wreaks-historic-devastation-numbers\/story?id=49529063\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hurricane Harvey<\/a> made landfall tomorrow. They will <a href=\"https:\/\/matchcenter.mlssoccer.com\/matchcenter\/2017-09-09-houston-dynamo-vs-colorado-rapids\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">host<\/a> the Colorado Rapids at 7:30 PM CST at BBVA Compass Stadium. This will be a battle of emotions and more than soccer for both sides.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Houston Dynamo vs Colorado Rapids Preview: A Match Of Emotions<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Houston are in a playoff position in September for the first time in months. They&#8217;ve only won one of their last five games though, and they&#8217;ll be playing for more than themselves tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side, the Rapids are bottom of the Western Conference and have lost four in a row. They&#8217;re still recovering from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coloradorapids.com\/post\/2017\/08\/15\/rapids-part-ways-pablo-mastroeni-name-steve-cooke-interim-head-coach\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coach firing<\/a> a few weeks ago. They&#8217;re <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/2017\/08\/15\/up-river-without-a-paddle-2017-colorado-rapids-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">building for 2018<\/a> at this point.<\/p>\n<h3>From The Houston Perspective And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstondynamo.com\/houstonstrong\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#HoustonStrong<\/a>:<\/h3>\n<p>The Dynamo are having a bounce back season in their first year under Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera. They&#8217;re in the playoff hunt and have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstondynamo.com\/post\/2017\/06\/20\/alberth-elis-leads-way-young-attackers-mls\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">several<\/a> young exciting attacking players. Houston will be playing with heavy hearts though, as much of the city and residents are still recovering from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/socal\/daily-pilot\/opinion\/tn-dpt-me-commentary-mayor-20170910-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">destruction<\/a> of Hurricane Harvey. Water levels haven&#8217;t full receded and many residents are still without utilities and critical supplies.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fluid-width-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.houstondynamo.com\/iframe-video?ooyala_id=g4bDZqYzE6QACLS9-r2E0IxxkLLOUeO-&amp;partner_code=tqamoxOt8m8emdH6oZKuinNfi3yg&amp;player_id=c15004dc6ce54ed59a2f380f0e653aba\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The country and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/video\/clip?id=20502887\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sports community<\/a> as a whole have come together to support the people of Houston, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DPostSports\/status\/905558817177522180\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">including<\/a> the Rapids. Erik Torres and company have a chance to provide a much needed distraction from the reality of the situation. They need a win to stay above the red line, but even more so, they need a win to lift the spirits of the city.<\/p>\n<h3>From The Rapids Perspective:<\/h3>\n<p>The Rapids have lost four in a row. They have not won a game since their July 1st match (against the Houston Dynamo). Interim Head Coach Steve Cooke has helped the offense with his 4-3-3, but it just hasn&#8217;t been good enough. This is a struggling team who have had a disappointing season. It is going to take a miracle for them to make the playoffs. That miracle is going to have to start this weekend (and will probably be several weeks late).<\/p>\n<div class=\"fluid-width-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.coloradorapids.com\/iframe-video?ooyala_id=95YXlpYzE6KMJ_iPkxV16i4AWHRmD7t2&amp;partner_code=dmamoxOnSv1D08aTHdZT5g_C7ZIH&amp;player_id=5c2b1b87f97e4fea86c31d8821595f55\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>At worst, this season is about building for 2018. Much of the roster could be playing for their jobs down the stretch. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsoccer.com\/2017\/08\/19\/the-rapids-way-padraig-smith-coaching-search\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Rapids Way<\/a> is likely to undergo a serious makeover this off-season. The offense will need to show a heartbeat in this game. Houston will be playing for the city while Colorado might be playing for their livelihoods.<\/p>\n<h3>Last Word:<\/h3>\n<p>Houston have been one of the best teams at home in MLS. Colorado on the other side are one of just two teams who have not won a road game in league play. On paper, this looks like an easy Dynamo win against a team that&#8217;s a wounded animal. Emotions change things up though. Dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey could be a distraction. It could be further motivation for the club. How they use those feels will be key.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"5VXn0GrcQt1y8xk4SQSP3g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/671623962\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'5VXn0GrcQt1y8xk4SQSP3g',sig:'AYyRWaSJ-UOs9US9B_MN3s9iy55qiqxAqsj_3_9fAK8=',w:'594px',h:'424px',items:'671623962',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PREVIEW (September 8, 2017) &#8211; The Houston Dynamo are scheduled to play their first game since Hurricane Harvey made landfall tomorrow. They will host the Colorado Rapids at 7:30 PM CST at BBVA Compass Stadium. This will be a battle of emotions and more than soccer for both sides. Houston Dynamo vs Colorado Rapids Preview: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1044,"featured_media":9667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,20,119,3],"tags":[35,129,234,57,987],"class_list":["post-9664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rapids","category-dynamo","category-mls","category-news","tag-colorado-rapids","tag-fifa","tag-houston-dynamo","tag-mls","tag-wilmer-cabrera"],"modified_by":"John Bava","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}