• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

FC Dallas-Rapids Preview

Jul 10, 2009 - 10:55 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

FC Dallas (4-7-5) at Colorado (5-4-6), 9:30 p.m. EDT

The Colorado Rapids extended their unbeaten streak to a franchise-record eight games with a late goal against FC Dallas last month, but have struggled to come up with timely scores since.

The Rapids will try to snap a three-game winless streak Saturday when they host Dallas.

Colorado (5-4-6) went unbeaten in eight games from April 25-June 24, going 3-0-5. In the finale of that stretch, the Rapids and FC Dallas (4-7-5) finished in a 1-all draw at Dick's Sporting Goods Park after Colorado's Omar Cummings scored the tying goal in the 84th minute.

Colorado then suffered its first loss in more than a month in its next game, falling 3-0 to Seattle on June 28. It followed that with a 2-1 loss to Chicago last Saturday after allowing two first-half goals en route to its first home loss in 11 games against the Fire.

"I have no explanation for the way we played tonight," said Colorado forward Conor Casey, who returned after missing the team's past four games to be with the U.S. national team. "We came out flat and dug ourselves a deep hole and couldn't come back."

Jacob Peterson scored in the 76th minute for Colorado, which was without Cummings, who left to play for Jamaica for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and will miss Saturday's game. The Rapids, who have scored 22 goals this season, didn't have a shot on goal in the first half.

While Colorado tries to snap out of its funk, surging Dallas is 2-0-1 in its last three games.

It's coming off a 2-1 victory over New York last Saturday behind two goals from Jeff Cunningham, who started in place of striker Kenny Cooper (U.S. national team duty). Ray Burse made six saves.

"Today's game was the start of the second part of the season," coach Schellas Hyndman said. "This is what we have talked about all week in training. ... Our objective was to get three points tonight. We have won our past two games at home, so there are some good things."

Cooper will also miss Saturday's game, giving Cunningham another chance to shine. He has three goals and two assists this season and Hyndman said Cunningham brings a different quality to the pitch than Cooper, the team's leading scorer with seven goals.

"I think that Jeff brings to us ... that pure athleticism, that pure speed where he's able to gain quick ground," Hyndman said. "If you look at the first goal, he took it off a defender. He outran a guy and then he's one-on-one without the keeper. I thought Jeff had a very good game and I thought the team performed well without Kenny."

Dallas, which is second-to-last in the Western Conference, is 1-4-2 on the road, scoring just seven goals away from home. It plays its next two league matches on the road before the All-Star break at the end of July.

Dallas is 7-11-5 all-time at Colorado.