Rapids-Sporting Kansas City Preview

At a quick glance, the Colorado Rapids' results have lacked excitement this season, particularly over the past four matches.

Given the history of their visits with Sporting Kansas City, they might welcome another indecisive finish Saturday night as they try to begin an ascent from the bottom of the crowded Western Conference.

At some point, that'll require a victory rather than a tie. A year after Chicago set the MLS single-season record with 18 draws, the Rapids (1-2-7) are on pace to substantially pass that with between 23 and 24.

If they learned anything from the Fire, it's not something that's likely to result in a postseason berth. Chicago finished ninth in the East, and Colorado enters the weekend last in the West despite being tied for the conference low in losses.

Colorado has played four straight 1-1 draws, and the latest on May 8 against visiting San Jose provided the most drama. The Rapids fell behind in the 19th minute, but James Riley scored in the third minute of stoppage time to salvage a point.

The two before that came on the road, where Colorado is yet to lose, going 1-0-4 after ending 2014 with nine consecutive away defeats.

"We are 10 games in and we have a team that is brand new almost so it's still that adversity and that jelling in battle," Riley said. "You can do it in practice but it's pulling out results like this and doing the road trip that we did last week and get results like that. It helps build the foundation of character that we need to succeed."

The next obstacle is leaving Kansas City with that away unbeaten run still together. Sporting (3-2-5) is 6-0-5 in all competitions against Colorado dating to September 2009. In Kansas City, it's 11-0-4 since August 2003.

Sporting won 3-2 in Colorado on March 29, 2014, and Graham Zusi and Benny Feilhalber have scored in the last two meetings.

Zusi might not have a chance to extend that. The U.S. national team midfielder is considered doubtful after knocking heads with Bobby Boswell in last Saturday's 1-1 draw in D.C. Zusi has already missed two matches because of a strained hamstring. Sporting will also be without defender Marcel de Jong (hip) for a third straight match.

Dom Dwyer scored the game winner two minutes into stoppage time in the most recent match with the Rapids, and he also took care of the scoring against United just before halftime. It evened the match and ultimately allowed Sporting to leave with a draw against one of the league's top teams.

"I thought the response by the team was good and it has been like that most games," coach Peter Vermes said. "We find a way to get back in it when we give something up, so that mentality is pretty good."

The meeting with Colorado is possibly Kansas City's easiest in a six-match stretch that began against D.C. After the Rapids, it faced New England, Seattle, Dallas and Seattle again.

Four of the next five come at home, where Sporting is 2-0-3 with three shutouts.