Two teams looking to shake off a rough patch will do battle at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Sunday as Colorado Rapids entertain the challenge of Orlando City in matchday 18 of the 2025 Major League Soccer campaign.

Both sides head into this weekend's encounter on a run of consecutive defeats and will be keen to get themselves back on track by leaving Commerce City with all three points.

Match preview

Colorado Rapids went five games without a victory between April 20 and May 15, but back-to-back wins over Real Salt Lake and St Louis City in the subsequent two outings signalled an apparent upturn in form, which has, however, since vanished into thin air.

Chris Armas's men were beaten 2-1 by Portland Timbers in their final outing of May before falling to a 2-0 defeat against Austin FC last time out courtesy of a Mikkel Desler strike and Rafael Navarro's own goal in either half.

Despite being on top for large spells of their most recent outing, the Pids were once again wasteful in front of goal en route to a third blank in six matches and have now missed exactly two-thirds of their 45 clear-cut opportunities this term.

That has unsurprisingly had a negative bearing on their goalscoring numbers, with only six of the other 29 teams finding the back of the net on fewer occasions than the Colorado Rapids' tally of 18 in 17 matches.

Nonetheless, the Denver-based outfit are ninth in the Western Conference standings with 22 points, one shy of the final guaranteed playoff spot, having played a game fewer due to their clash against Club World Cup-bound Los Angeles FC that was postponed a fortnight ago.

Managing just one win from their last 11 meetings against Sunday's opponents, Colorado Rapids have been abysmal in this fixture, although their home record during that span has been decent with one defeat, one win and two draws across four matches.

After going unbeaten in 12 straight matches across all competitions, Orlando City's 3-2 defeat to Nashville SC in the US Open Cup back in May ushered in a torrid run of results that has yielded three defeats from four matches.

Off the back of a shambolic start to proceedings which saw them concede three times in the opening 32 minutes, Oscar Pareja's men were comprehensively beaten 3-1 by Chicago Fire last time out for their first home league defeat since the opening weekend.

The Lions, who were recently as high as third, following a 1-0 victory over Portland Timbers just under three weeks ago, have now dropped down to eighth in the Eastern Conference, albeit just three points adrift of second-placed Cincinnati.

Games involving Orlando City have proven to be a guaranteed source of entertainment, with their 17 matches so far yielding a combined 53 goals (31 for and 22 against)—the fourth-most in the entire division.

Having not lost three times on the spin since March 2024, Sunday's visitors will be hopeful of securing a positive result on enemy territory, where they were without defeat in seven straight matches prior to a 3-2 defeat against Atlanta United in their most recent away involvement.

Colorado Rapids MLS form:

Orlando City MLS form:

Orlando City form (all competitions):

Team News

Wayne Alix Frederick II is currently on international duty with Trinidad & Tobago at the ongoing World Cup qualifiers and is unavailable to play any part for the Colorado Rapids here.

Cole Bassett and Ali Fadal are also expected to miss out for the home side due to ankle and knee injuries respectively, although the former is drawing increasingly closer to a return.

Wilder Cartagena remains a long-term absentee for Orlando City after suffering an Achilles tendon injury back in February, and the Peruvian is still a long way off making a comeback.

Alex Freeman is also on international duty with the United States, ruling him out of contention for the visitors, alongside Yutaro Tsukada, who is out with a knee injury.

Twenty-one-year-old Nicolas Rodriguez is set to miss game number seven on the bounce as he continues to battle with a thigh problem he picked up in early March.

Midfielder Cesar Araujo did not participate in his side's defeat to Chicago Fire last time out due to a suspension but is now eligible to play a part in this weekend's trip.

Colorado Rapids possible starting lineup:

Defreitas-Hansen; Travis, Awaziem, Maxso, Cannon; Larraz, Atencio; Ku-DiPietro, Mihailovic, S Bassett; Navarro

Orlando City possible starting lineup:

Gallese; Freeman, Schlegel, Jansson, Brekalo; Pasalic, Gerbet, Atuesta, Cortes; Muriel, Ojeda

We say: Colorado Rapids 2-2 Orlando City

This fixture has historically been characterised by lots of goals, and we expect Sunday's game to be no different.

That said, we are backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Adepoju Marvellous

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