Austin FC heads into Austin Vs Colorado on Saturday with one clear burden: it is still the lone MLS team without a road victory. The trip to Commerce City, Colo., gives Austin a chance to end that drought against a Colorado Rapids side that has also been searching for rhythm.
That is why the matchup has drawn attention now. Austin is 4-8-5 with 17 points and sits near the bottom of the Western Conference, while Colorado is 6-10-1 with 19 points and is 13th, five points below the playoff line. Only Austin FC and Sporting KC are behind the Rapids in the standings, which gives this game a rare edge between two teams trying to stop the slide before the margin grows wider.
Austin interim coach Davy Arnaud said the club is approaching the trip with the same mindset it takes into any away game, even as the results have not matched the effort. Brandon Vazquez is part of that push. He played the full 90 minutes for the first time this season in Saturday's 3-0 loss at Houston, but he is still looking for his first goal or assist. Vazquez said he likes getting into the box and wants better service, adding that Austin has not reached the end line enough and needs to keep improving as a group.
Colorado, meanwhile, arrives with a much different problem. Since MLS play resumed, it has scored once. The Rapids beat visiting San Diego 1-0, then lost 1-0 at St. Louis last Saturday and failed to put a shot on goal after Rob Holding was shown a red card in the 12th minute. Holding is suspended Saturday, and that matters because Colorado wants to get back to the pressing style Matt Wells prefers while missing a defender who was also sent off against St. Louis on May 9.
Wells said the Rapids want to impose themselves offensively and believes they have the players to make a playoff run. He also called them a dynamic team by the league's sprint-distance and high-intensity-distance measures, and said they know they are a top team in the division when they score first. That is the friction in this matchup: Colorado wants to play forward and fast, but it has been blunt in front of goal and will have to do it without Holding after another red card has left the side short-handed.
For Austin, the task is simpler to state than to solve. Arnaud said the club is hoping its first road win comes in Colorado, and Saturday is the clearest chance yet to make that true. For both teams, the result will do more than shift a record. It will decide whether a fading season gets a jolt or another reminder of how narrow the margin has become.
