Union Head West To Visit Colorado
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – After a frustrating home loss to Sporting Kansas City last weekend in their MLS regular season opener, the Philadelphia Union will look to bounce back on Saturday when they play their first road game of the campaign, visiting the Colorado Rapids.
The Union had several chances over the first 45 minutes of the match with Kansas City, but only got one goal - from Sebastien Le Toux. KC tied things up late in the first half and then took control in the second half.
"Obviously, the first thing is the result wasn't what we wanted," Union midfielder Michael Lahoud tells KYW Newsradio. "That's kind of a bummer, but apart from the result, I think the first half showed a lot of signs of brilliance and a lot of the things that we spent a lot of time working on in preseason."
Michael Lahoud
The Rapids lost their season opener, falling this past weekend at FC Dallas. This will be their home opener and Lahoud says it is a tough venue.
"The biggest thing is just from experience of playing there, Colorado is never an easy trip," Lahoud says. "Whether you play them in March, April or whatever. Altitude is a big factor. For people that say altitude never matters, I think they are completely wrong. But that's not an excuse at all. It's something that were preparing for and I think it's going to be a big challenge, but I think it is not a question of saying we can get a result there. We're going there to definitely get a result so we are definitely looking forward to the challenge."
As for their personnel.
"When you think of the Colorado Rapids, the first guy that jumps out at you is (midfielder) Pablo Mastroeni," Lahoud says. "I think having him back in the line-up gives their team, kind of that grit that I think they really didn't have last year. So they're going to be coming helter-skelter. A lot of teams really embrace the style of their captain and Pablo is definitely an aggressive player, just from playing against him the past couple years. So they're going to be coming, especially fresh off a disappointing result for them in their last game."
Philadelphia is winless all-time against Colorado, going 0-3-2 in the first five matches between the two squads.
Saturday's match will get underway at 6:00pm.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
