The Colorado Rapids will look to extend their winning streak to three games when they host the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer action at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Saturday.
Orange Crush picked up their second win of the season on Wednesday, while Colorado have won their previous two games by a single goal.
Match preview
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Under manager Robin Fraser the Rapids continue to improve, showing a lot of determination last weekend by erasing a two-goal deficit to beat Minnesota 3-2.
Coming from behind is something they rarely did in 2020, winning only one time in the regular season after conceding the opening goal.
Having earned seven points from their opening four games, this is the best start to a campaign for the Rapids since 2016, when they finished second overall and made it to the Western Conference Finals.
Two remarkable individual goals have sparked the Rapids to victory over the past two weeks, with Diego Rubio scoring with a lovely free kick against the Whitecaps.
A brilliant right-footed volley from Kellyn Acosta helped ignite a come-from-behind win against The Loons.
Defensively this team continues to improve with two clean sheets at home already in four games, after picking up four in their entire 2020 regular season and just one at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
After finishing in the basement of the Western Conference a season ago with 21 points in 23 games, it seems the only place for Tab Ramos and his team to go was up.
After four games, the Dynamo have done precisely that, currently sitting in fourth in the West standings with eight points, after beating Sporting Kansas City 1-0 in midweek.
Like they did in 2020, the Dynamo have shown they can keep pace with the elite teams in MLS, but they have not consistently taken their game to a higher level to earn three points in many tight matches.
Last season Houston led the league in draws with nine, and so far in 2021, they already have two, which does not mean much right now, but the more points they drop, the more it could affect their standing later on.
The 18 points that they squandered in 2020 could have moved this team into the top four of the Western Conference standings and their first post-season appearance since 2017.
On paper, they have some great individual talent, and in their last game, we saw that talent come to the forefront in the form of Maximiliano Urruti, who scored his second career goal in the 1-0 victory.
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Team News
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Rapids winger Braian Galvan and right-back Steven Beitashour have unknown injuries.
Goalkeeper William Yarbrough has started every game this season over their former first-choice keeper Clint Irwin, after returning to Colorado in 2019.
Midfielder Diego Rubio has scored three goals against the Dynamo in his Rapids career, including the only goal for his side in a 2-1 win in their last matchup in 2020.
Sam Junqua and Ethan Bartlow remain out with concussions, so veteran Maynor Figueroa, who led the team in interceptions, blocks and clearances a year ago, will likely start in central defence alongside Tim Parker.
Newcomer Fafa Picault has started to contribute for Houston, scoring his first goal for Orange Crush last weekend and assisting the equaliser from Tyler Pasher the previous week.
Colorado Rapids possible starting lineup:
Yarbrough; Rosenberry, Wilson, Trusty, Vines; Acosta, Price; Lewis, Bassett, Barrios; Rubio
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Maric; Lundqvist, Figueroa, Parker, Valentin; Corona, Garcia, Jones; Quintero, Urruti, Picault
We say: Colorado Rapids 2-1 Houston Dynamo
Colorado are full of confidence, winning two in a row while Houston have yet to earn anything on the road in this new campaign.
The Rapids have become one of the most balanced scoring teams under Robin Fraser, with a different player scoring in each game so far, and their best players have stepped up when called upon this season.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Colorado Rapids win with a probability of 50.25%. A win for Houston Dynamo had a probability of 26.01% and a draw had a probability of 23.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Colorado Rapids win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.47%) and 2-0 (8.18%). The likeliest Houston Dynamo win was 1-2 (6.56%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.14%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Colorado Rapids would win this match.
