Match Storylines: Fire visit first-place Colorado on Saturday

The Chicago Fire are set to resume MLS play on Saturday night with an away tilt against the Colorado Rapids in Commerce City. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. CT, with coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. on CSN Chicago Plus. Colorado enters the match atop the Western Conference standings with a record of 8-2-4, with six of those wins coming within the confines of Dick’s Sporting Goods park. Below are five storylines to watch out for when the Fire arrive in Colorado to stall the Rapids' ascent in the West.

A Rapid Turnaround

The Fire face fatigue fears after a nail-biting finish in the opening match of their 2016 U.S. Open Cup campaign against Indy Eleven. The Men In Red hosted the first-place NASL side at Toyota Park in the fourth round of the tournament on Wednesday, and were ultimately victorious in a penalty kick shootout.

The sides played to a 0-0 draw at the end of regulation before Indy’s Justin Braun opened scoring in the first period of extra time, but the Fire kept pressing in the second period equalized when David Accam took it upon himself to find net in the 111th minute. After 120 minutes, it was the heroics of goalkeeper Matt Lampson and Accam that saw the Fire through 4-3 after the five-round shootout. Lampson came up big with two penalty stops and Accam put the icing on the U.S. Open cake with a cool finish in his game-winning penalty attempt.

The Fire underwent re-gen sessions on Thursday in preparation for the quick turnaround at altitude and will have their stamina put to the test on Saturday night. Some amount of squad rotation is likely imminent, particularly given the midfield absence of Matt Polster in the wake of suffering a concussion Wednesday night. 

Mountain-sized absence

Two of Colorado’s biggest offseason additions – American midfielder Jermaine Jones and Albanian forward Shkelzen Gashi – will not feature for the Rapids when the Fire visit them on Saturday night in Commerce City. The pair of designated players are currently away with their respective national teams competing in two of the summer’s biggest international tournaments.

Jones has been a rock for the U.S. Men’s National Team during their run through Copa America Centenario. He’s started each of the team’s four games and has them preparing for a semi-final showdown with the winner of Saturday night’s Argentina-Venezuela matchup. Jones will sit that match out, however, after earning a red card in the USA’s quarterfinal victory over Ecuador on Thursday night. Meanwhile, Gashi’s Albanian squad is preparing for their third and final match in the 2016 European Championship’s Group A against Romania on Sunday. Gashi appeared as a substitute in Albania’s 1-0 opening loss to Switzerland and watched from the bench as his team fell 2-1 to France in the next game.

Despite a late arrival to the Rapids, Jones was quick to make his presence felt. Jones shook off the rust from a six-game suspension and willed the Rapids to a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls with a goal and an assist in his debut. After Gashi arrived in early February from FC Basel, he quickly became a Rapids regular. In 10 games played this season, he’s scored two goals, assisted three, and leads the team in shots and shots on target.

Best in the West

The Rapids are in the midst of a remarkable turnaround in the MLS table, having finished at or near the bottom of the Western Conference standings in each of Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s first two years in charge.

The decorated former U.S. Men’s National Team member and first-time head coach endured a couple rough seasons as he got his pieces in place, and put a cap on his roster development with the offseason additions of Jones and Gashi as well as goalkeeper Tim Howard, who will join the team in July. Colorado’s rise in Mastroeni’s third season is a credit to a few different factors. First, the Rapids defense has been very stingy through the first third of the season, allowing a league-low 10 goals to this point. Mastroeni has also made a fortress of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in 2016. The team has yet to lose a game at home, going 6-0-1 in seven games.

The Rapids currently sit level atop the West, even at 28 points with FC Dallas and Mastroeni’s predecessor, Oscar Pareja. The Rapids, however, boast two games-in-hand over their co-leaders, having played 14 MLS matches to FC Dallas’ 16.

Rocky Mountain Return

Saturday night’s trip to Colorado represents a homecoming of sorts for Fire midfielder Nick LaBrocca and defender Michael Harrington. Both wore burgundy-and-blue last season as members of the Rapids before joining up with Veljko Paunovic's side this past offseason.

LaBrocca was selected by Colorado with the club’s 35th pick in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft and plied his trade there from 2007-09, earning a U.S. Men’s National Team camp call up in 2008. He returned to the Centennial State from 2013-15 after stints with Toronto FC and Chivas USA. Harrington -- who has not seen match action since May 14 due to injury -- played just one season in Colorado, starting 14 games for the Rapids in 2015 after coming in from Portland.

Head-to-Head

The Fire and the Rapids have met once in each of the last four seasons, most recently meeting at Toyota Park last August. Colorado left Bridgeview victorious on that occasion after a Dillon Serna first-minute strike stood up in a 1-0 win. The two teams last met in Commerce City in June of 2014, a game that finished in a 0-0 draw. LaBrocca started both matches for Colorado and will have an opportunity to play on the other side of the tilt for the first time Saturday night.

Since the two clubs first met in 1998, the Fire hold the upper hand in the all-time series against Colorado with a record of 18-13-9. Chicago, however, will be looking for its first road win at Colorado since July 4, 2009 (0-1-3 since). 
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