DC United at Colorado Rapids Preview

I haven't had a chance to catch any of the Rapids games this season so I'll focus on what DC needs to do.

The game is being carried by Comcast SportsNet at 9:00 PM ET and MLSLive.tv.

They are playing in Colorado and it'll be around 58 degrees with a 40% chance of rain.

Rain has been good this year for DC. A 4-1 thrashing two weeks ago against Red Bull NY and a 2-0 win against a strong Chivas team the second week of the season. Interesting that the even number weeks of the season have all been played in the rain and have resulted in wins.

Keys for DC:

• Patience
• Control the midfield
• Maintain defensive positioning

Against a team like FC Dallas, patience will kill you (see the end of the first half). Colorado on the other hand does not seem to be that type of team. Instead of a relentless attack, DC United should look to string several passes together through the midfield. Gomez has to show up this game and be the general of the team. A controlled, patient attack should wear down the Colorado defense and allow the forwards to make diagonal runs behind the defense. The higher the number of passes strung together the higher the chance that Colorado will take chances and expose themselves. There should be enough room for Freddy Adu and Josh Gros to run at the outside defenders. I wouldn't be surprised if Adu gets a goal this game. Their patience will also reduce the number of careless mistakes (which seemed to be quite abundant last game). The defense should look to maintain its positioning and not run all over the place. It's not necessary against Colorado. Mark your man and the Colorado offense should become ineffective. If the opportunity presents itself then Erpen or Boswell should take advantage and move to the offense but they shouldn't force anything.

The rain hasn't seemed to affect DC that much this year but I have a feeling that this game will be sloppy and rather low scoring. The "keys for United" do seem a bit remedial, but in wet conditions, the team that executes the fundamentals the best usually comes out on top.

If both teams come out to play, DC United should win by one goal but dominate the game.