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US: MLS Preview- DC United v Colorado [Sat Sep 17th, 2005]
DC United (13-9-5, 44 pts) v Colorado Rapids (9-12-4, 31 pts)
When: 7:30pm EST, Saturday, September 17th, 2005
Where: R.F.K. Stadium, Washington, DC
It’s hard to say how good DC United really are this season. After winning five straight to start off August, a home loss to Los Angeles left them looking like an average Eastern Conference team the past few weeks.
Defensively the team remains sound, but they still lack that goal scorer that Alecko Eskandarian was last season. While Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez have been solid creating up top, United are going to need Santino Quaranta, Jamil Walker, or Freddy Adu to give them consistent finishing to become a threat again.
Colorado upgraded in a pretty big way this week. While they were able stroll into the playoffs in the Western Conference because of the expansion teams, no one gave them much of a chance to make a solid run.
After trading for Jovan Kirovski and adding Diego Serna this week, the ‘Pids may have added the fire power that Jeff Cunningham has had to provide on his own all season. With solid defence and a quality core in attack, it’s not up to the midfield alone to create for Colorado.
Last these teams met, the Rapids were able to get an unexpected 1-0 win without Jeff Cunningham. They will have to give it a go without Nat Borchers, who is suspended for the match, but with Pablo Mastroeni healthy and done with national team duty they should be fine.
The deciding factor will be which teams' forwards are more effective, the new faces for Colorado, or the inconsistent finishers for DC. Last weekend we would have taken United for the win, but after this week's movement, Colorado’s question marks make this an intriguing match.
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