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Rapids try to end horrid form vs. Sounders

Jul 27, 2012 - 8:02 PM Commerce City, CO (Sports Network) - The Colorado Rapids will be looking to end a horrid run of form on Saturday when it welcomes Seattle Sounders FC to Dick's Sporting Goods Park for a crucial Western Conference clash.

Colorado is at the bottom of the MLS form table having lost five in a row by a combined score of 9-3. It is the club's longest losing streak since the 2007, and the Rapids are just one defeat shy of the club record set back in 1997.

The Rapids are 1-7 over their last eight games. Most recently, Colorado surrendered defeat in its Rocky Mountain Cup clash, losing 2-0 to rival Real Salt Lake.

Oscar Pareja, head coach of the Rapids, looked for the silver lining after the tough loss.

"We're not going to feel defeated after this game," said the Colorado boss. "A lot of guys that usually don't have a lot of playing time played very well today. There are some things that are improving but at the end of the game, we need three points."

The poor run has dropped the Rapids to seventh place in the West where it sits eight points shy of a playoff spot.

The Sounders have found wins hard to come by as well. Seattle has come out on top just once in its last 11 games. That win, oddly enough, came against the Rapids on July 7.

Still, Seattle has picked up its fair share of points to remain in the thick of the Western Conference playoff picture. The Sounders are 1-4-6 over their last 11 games, keeping the club fourth in the West with 31 points on the season.

While the Sounders are winless in their last seven road games, they still have managed to take five points from that stretch. Seattle played Red Bull New York to a 2-2 draw at Red Bull Arena on July 15, its most recent outing.

"We continue to be a decent road team although we'd like some of those ties to be wins," Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid said. "I think [the draw with New York] was our sixth [road] tie. We knew we don't get to play these teams more than once so we wanted to win the season series against teams, so we won the season series against four of the East Coast teams. Now we go into the Western Conference primarily and it gives us the opportunity now to win the season series against some of the West Coast teams."

Eddie Johnson and Osvaldo Alonso featured for the MLS All-Stars in their 3-2 defeat of Chelsea on Wednesday with Johnson grabbing the game-winner in the 90th minute. With both players on short rest, it is unknown what type of role they will play in Colorado on Saturday.