Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Leagues Cup clash between Juarez and Colorado Rapids, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
A place in the Leagues Cup round of 16 is up for grabs on Saturday as Juarez and Colorado Rapids face off against each other at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
The away side cruised through their group-stage campaign to secure a place in the last 32, while their hosts just about did enough to avoid an early exit.
Match preview
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Colorado Rapids saw off the challenge of Club Leon courtesy of a 4-3 penalty-shootout victory when the teams locked horns in their final group outing on Tuesday.
Off the back of a 4-0 defeat to Portland Timbers in their opening cup involvement, Chris Armas‘s men narrowly managed a second-place finish in Group 5 with two points from two games – the joint-fewest tally of any team in the knockout stages.
Nonetheless, The Pids have already surpassed their performance from last season’s edition of this competition, where they crashed out in the group stages having been beaten in both matches.
Colorado Rapids will be bracing themselves up for a potential goalfest this weekend with their 28 matches across all competitions yielding a combined 99 goals, which is the most of any MLS side this term.
However, Saturday’s hosts are unbeaten in eight straight home clashes leading up this one and will fancy their chances of getting the job done in front of what is set to be an expectant home crowd.
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Despite having already qualified for the round of 32 with a game to spare, Juarez showed no signs of letting off in their 2-1 victory over St Louis City on penalties in Monday’s meeting between the teams.
That triumph saw Mauricio Barbieri‘s men leapfrog their last opponents by one point to finish top of Group 3 with five points and enter the knockout stages as one of the teams to look out for.
Los Bravos’ impressive cup performances have been in stark contrast to their woeful Liga MX campaign which has seen them manage just one point from a possible 12 to sit 15th in the standings.
Juarez will now set out to make amends for their woeful performance in the Leagues Cup first knockout stage last time out, when they were comprehensively beaten 7-1 by Los Angeles Galaxy.
Juarez Leagues Cup form:
Juarez form (all competitions):
Colorado Rapids Leagues Cup form:
Colorado Rapids form (all competitions):
Team News
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Daniel Chacon Salas is still ruled out for Colorado Rapids with a long-term knee injury, and the 23-year-old will not play any part in Saturday’s affair.
Chris Armas will be expected to name the same defensive unit for the fourth consecutive match, with Sam Vines and Keegan Rosenberry occupying the full-back positions either side of Andreas Maxso and Moise Bombito.
Rafael Navarro will be looking to pick up where he left off having ended a seven-game goal drought with his stoppage-time equaliser against Club Leon.
Twenty-seven-year-old Diego Valoyes made his return to action for Juarez last time out from a lengthy injury spell and is on course to be handed another cameo appearance here.
Midfielder Edson Fernando will miss a fourth game on the bounce for the visitors due to a muscle injury he sustained in last month’s defeat to Club America.
Juarez possible starting lineup:
Jurado; Orquin, Calvo, Mosquera, Abella; Del Campo, Mendoza; Garcia, Villalpando, Ramirez; Caviedes
Colorado Rapids possible starting lineup:
Steffen; Vines, Maxso, Bombito, Rosenberry; Larraz, Ronan; Lewis, Bassett, Harris; Navarro
We say: Juarez 1-2 Colorado Rapids
Both Juarez and Colorado Rapids have been defensively suspect of late, so we expect neither of them to come away from this weekend’s clash with a clean sheet.
That said, we are backing Colorado Rapids to edge out their Mexican counterparts and secure progress into the next round.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.