Colorado Rapids v Vancouver Whitecaps: Armas demands response for home fans

Chris Armas called on his Colorado Rapids side to pay back the support of their fans when Vancouver Whitecaps visit Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in MLS.

The Rapids fell to a 3-2 reverse at home to San Jose Earthquakes in their last outing, missing the chance to make it four wins in five league games.

Sixth-placed Colorado are one of three teams on 18 points, behind Los Angeles FC and also the Caps in the Western Conference standings, and head coach Armas wants to make home advantage count for this one.

“I’d like to acknowledge our fans once again, they came out in good numbers to support the team, gave us good energy on a rainy night [against San Jose],” Armas said.

“They still came out and supported us. We don’t take that lightly.

“We have to do better and we will get back, dust ourselves off. Wednesday becomes really important again, so we’ll ramp it up.”

Rain or shine, we the support from our fans!

We go again Wednesday #Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/zy6xopfM7R

— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) May 12, 2024

The Caps return to action after a 3-0 defeat to Los Angeles FC last time out, leaving them level on points with Colorado.

Vancouver head coach Vanni Sartini will be desperate for a response from his side after slamming their performance against the Rapids.

“I don’t want to be misunderstood, it’s not out of this world that we lost here,” Sartini said of the LAFC defeat.

“You can sometimes lose away. It was the performance in the first half which was actually bad, so that’s the thing that makes me a little p***ed off…

“We were losing every battle. We killed ourselves doing things that we never do.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Colorado Rapids – Rafael Navarro

Rafael Navarro has scored in consecutive games for the Rapids for the second time this year (also in April).

The only Rapids player to score in three straight games since the beginning of the 2020 season was Diego Rubio, who did so in August 2022.

Vancouver Whitecaps – Brian White

Brian White became the Caps’ top scorer in history last month and leads the club charts for goals once more this season.

The Vancouver forward has five goals in just 10 games this term and will be hoping to continue that run against the Rapids.

MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW

The Whitecaps have lost only one of their last seven visits to Colorado (W3 D3), dating back to 2017. That suggests Sartini will hope to leave Colorado with at least a point.

Vancouver also hold a record of W10 D3 L5 in Wednesday regular-season matches since the beginning of the 2021 season, with the 10 wins in that time more than any other MLS team.

Yet Colorado’s loss to San Jose was just the fourth defeat in the last 15 regular-season home games (W5 D6), after losing three home league games in a row last May.

That three-match losing run is the last time Colorado lost consecutive home matches, which Armas will hope to avoid here.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Colorado Rapids win – 44.3%

Vancouver Whitecaps win – 27.5%

Draw – 28.2%