The Colorado Rapids will look to clinch a playoff berth when they visit FC Dallas in Frisco, Texas, on MLS Decision Day on Saturday night.
The Rapids (12-14-7, 43 points) are in ninth place in the Western Conference and hold the final wild-card slot. A victory Saturday would secure Colorado a postseason ticket and potentially get the Rapids into seventh place and out of the wild-card play-in game.
A draw or a loss Saturday wouldn’t eliminate the Rapids, but it would leave them sweating out other results. Just three points separate the seventh-place Los Angeles Galaxy from 12th-place Minnesota United in the West, so several permutations are possible for the conference’s final three playoff berths.
This Decision Day playoff crunch was created by Colorado’s 1-5-2 record in their past eight matches. The Rapids are 2-10-4 on the road this season, and their season could hinge on getting a road victory over one of the league’s top teams.
“We’re all in on Dallas right now,” Rapids defender Keegan Rosenberry told DNVR Sports. “We’re going there to win. … That same energy to achieve what we’ve wanted to achieve all year since we started this project in January is there again for us on Saturday.”
FC Dallas (15-8-10, 55 points) are in second place in the West. The Toros can only fall to third place with a loss to Colorado and a San Jose Earthquakes victory over Minnesota on Saturday.
While the Decision Day stakes are lower for FC Dallas, the club wants to build momentum after going 0-1-1 in its past two matches. Defeating the Rapids would ensure Dallas would avoid facing Colorado in the first round of the playoffs.
“That’s not something you want as well, to lose a game … and then having to play [Colorado] at least two times,” Dallas defender Osaze Urhoghide told The FC Dallas Agenda podcast. “So we just want to finish in second place and then have a good mindset going into the playoffs, and back to winning ways.”
Toros striker Petar Musa likely won’t catch Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi (26 goals) in the Golden Boot race, but Musa ranks second in MLS with 22.
In their first meeting of the season, FC Dallas defeated the Rapids 2-1 on May 23.
–Field Level Media
