Colorado - Portland 2: Electric Boogaloo

Maybe Turbo and Ozone can help us...

Due to being in Portland for the weekend, this will be a combined game review, such as it was, and game preview.  Though there really isn't anything to review, due tot he nature of the game and the fact that I was seeing it in person from a lousy seat there isn't much to talk about.  The offense is anemic and the defense made one mistake they couldn't recover from.  The only highlight was an amazing kick save by Pickens right before half.  Might be the second-best save of his career (after his game-saving one at the end of MLS Cup).  Other than that, yet another loss.

Which brings us to tomorrow's match, which is a rematch of Friday only in Commerce City instead of Portland.  At this point, despite what some media might say, both teams are out of the playoff hunt and looking at 2013.  For Colorado this means Hendry Thomas, the young guys, and getting players like Casey back into the groove.  Game time tomorrow is 7pm so the tailgate starts as soon as work ends at 5pm.  For those of you not making the trip out to the Dick the game is on NBC Sports Network.

Injury Report:
OUT: FW Edu (R foot contusion); MF Pablo Mastroeni (headache symptoms); DF Anthony Wallace (L Achilles tear)
PROBABLE: FW Omar Cummings (R ankle soreness); MF Jeff Larentowicz (R knee soreness)

Disciplinary Report:
SUSPENDED AFTER NEXT YELLOW: DF Tyson Wahl
SUSPENDED AFTER NEXT 2 YELLOWS: MF Jaime Castrillon; DF Tyrone Marshall; MF Drew Moor; MF Martin Rivero

International Absences:
Omar Cummings - Jamaica

Portland is down two players now.  The big changes for the Rapids are Omar being with Jamaica and the chance that Larentowicz won't play.  This makes the guess at the starting XI tricky:

Cascio - Casey - Mullan

Thomas - Rivero - Nane

Zapata - Moor - Wynne - Freeman

Pickens

Some of that lineup depends on how quickly players like Thomas and Casey can bounce back from playing on Friday.  Of course if Ginger is available we'll see him in place of Nane or Thomas.

Key To Look For: Score a meaningful goal!  Its been 2 games since we scored a goal that meant anything, 4 since we scored a winning goal.

Prediction: 1-0 win, goal by Casey.  The home field advantage will be enough to invert the score from Friday night, but it will be another lousy game of soccer.