The Colorado Rapids look to extend their six-match MLS home winning and clean-sheet streak when they host the slumping Seattle Sounders on Saturday in Commerce City, Colo.
Colorado’s home-pitch surge continued with a 1-0 victory over CF Montreal on Sept. 12. Paxten Aaronson tallied for the second straight match, converting a penalty kick in the 43rd minute.
The Rapids will oppose a team desperate for a win anywhere. The Sounders are in the midst of a franchise-record 12-match winless streak — eight defeats followed by four draws.
Colorado will look for a quick start. When scoring first, the Rapids (11-12-2, 35 points) are 11-2-1. Coach Matt Wells said Colorado will eventually have to overcome a deficit.
“We’ll go after the seventh clean sheet the same way we always do,” Wells said. “We have to have the capacity to concede first and come back in that game.”
Seattle (7-9-7, 28 points) earned a 1-1 road draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. Late-match substitute Paul Arriola tapped in the equalizer in the 81st minute, his first goal of the season.
After being traded to the Sounders from FC Dallas in 2025, Arriola tore his left ACL after just 74 MLS minutes with Seattle. Arriola has battled groin and calf injuries this year but could be finding his form at the right time for a road match against the stingy Rapids.
“It’s been a mental battle this year with physical injuries, playing time, situations. So many things that oftentimes are out of my control,” Arriola said. “There were times I think I deserved to score throughout the year that hadn’t happened.”
While Colorado sits seventh in the Western Conference table, Seattle is 14th, with four teams between the Sounders and a wild-card spot.
If the Sounders are to make a late-season playoff push, they will do so without Paul Rothrock. Seattle’s leading scorer with five goals this season, Rothrock exited the Galaxy match at halftime. Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said Rothrock would miss eight to 10 weeks due to a right hamstring injury.
Schmetzer knows Colorado’s style will present another difficult road challenge.
“They’re a high-octane team that likes to press,” Schmetzer said. “They play very compact but like to keep a high line.”
–Field Level Media
