AlexanderP
FC Dallas (+114) at Colorado Rapids (+225), Draw (+240)
The top of the Western Conference will be at stake this weekend when the current leaders, FC Dallas (12-4-6, 40 pts), visit the second-place Colorado Rapids (10-7-2, 37 pts) on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (9:00 PM Eastern)
Take Dallas’ status as the Western Conference leaders with a grain of salt. The squad has played 22 games already, three more than Colorado, who are just three points back.
Dallas have an impressive 12 wins and just six losses on the season, but they haven’t been a dominant team, posting just a +4 differential on the season. Their 30 goals-against are third-worst in the conference. The team’s struggles have come exclusively on the road where they’ve been outscored 23-11 in 11 games and posted a 4-1-6 record.
They do enter this weekend’s matchup with four wins in their last five games, beating Real Salt Lake (2-0 Home), Orlando City (4-0 Home), San Jose Earthquakes (1-0 Away), and Chicago Fire (3-1 Home). But sprinkled in was their worst loss of the season, a 5-0 setback in Seattle.
Colorado, meanwhile, has lost only two games all year, and hasn’t been on the wrong end of a scoreline since falling 1-0 at Real Salt Lake in early April. In 14 games since, they have a sparkling 8-6-0 record, including a 1-0 (home) victory against Sporting Kansas City last time out. That result snapped a run of three straight draws.
At home, the Rapids remain undefeated (8-2-0), outscoring opponents 13-4.
The last three meetings between these two teams all ended 1-1, and I see another draw on the horizon. Don’t let Dallas’ road issues scare you away. They’re playing at a high level right now and know full-well the importance of Saturday’s match.
Pick: Draw (+240).
Photo Credit: Francoise (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.
