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Rapids aim to stay hot against United

Jul 5, 2013 - 8:53 PM Commerce City, CO (Sports Network) - The Colorado Rapids will aim to extend their winning streak in league play to three consecutive matches on Sunday when the club hosts D.C. United at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Last time out, the Rapids put in an effective 90-minute performance to come away with a 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday.

After a scoreless first half the Rapids broke through for the first goal of the night in the 47th minute when Nathan Sturgis collected a loose ball in the New York penalty area and ripped a shot into the roof of the net.

The goal gave the hosts a nice boost of confidence and they extended the lead to 2-0 in the 68th minute when Chris Klute sent a nice low cross into the box where a sliding Deshorn Brown was able to send it past Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles.

"There are a bunch of little things that are getting better. The young boys are maturing," Colorado head coach Oscar Pareja said. "We expect progression from them. Sometimes you have to deal with not having the best performance, but these young boys are getting some maturity. Being more consistent in the middle, we're getting more control of the game. And defensively, today was great."

D.C. United, meanwhile, is coming off a 2-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday at CenturyLink Field, their third consecutive loss in league play.

The Sounders opened the scoring in the 19th minute when U.S. international Eddie Johnson controlled a ball just behind the midfield line, quickly passed it off to fellow American international Brad Evans, who then hit Obafemi Martins with a perfectly weighted through ball. Martins was able to get behind the defense and squeezed a shot inside the near post despite United goalkeeper Joe Willis cutting off the angle.

Martins then completed his brace in stoppage time to secure three points for the Sounders.

Despite the loss, D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen remains optimistic about his team's effort.

"I was pleased with most of the way we played -- the way we built up our attack. But again, the final stuff just isn't there," Olsen said. The quality just isn't there. It's a very frustrating thing because we're getting the right numbers there, we're getting in the right situations to get good service the numbers are there. It's just not clicking."