By AVI CREDITOR
The Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew have taken different roads to get to this point, but ultimately they're right back where they were a year ago.
Colorado eliminated Columbus in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season en route to capturing its first MLS Cup. Last year, though, Colorado relied on its strikeforce of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings to carry the load while a stout defense and stingy midfield provided support.
With Casey ruled out for the season months ago, and Colorado's forwards playing at an inconsistent level, the Rapids will be a different challenge for the Crew when they square off in a wild card match at Dick's Sporting Goods Park Thursday night (10 p.m., MLS Direct Kick/Free MatchDay Live stream).
"When you consider that Jeff Larentowicz (seven goals) is our Golden Boot for the year ... it's astounding what the team has achieved and produced given some really tough circumstances," Colorado coach Gary Smith said. "It'd be nice if one or more of the forwards found some form, but Omar and Mac (Kandji) are very capable, Caleb (Folan) has shown in flashes what he's capable of. Sanna (Nyassi) has been the breakout forward of the last three months."
Columbus, meanwhile, purged many veterans from its roster and reloaded with youth but still found a way to return to the postseason. It, too, hasn't gotten the most consistent play from its forwards, but Andres Mendoza (team-high 13 goals) and Emilio Renteria (eight) seem to have found a rhythm over recent weeks.
"I think they are finding the partnership pretty good, and hopefully we give them the ball at the right moment and right time and they finish," Crew coach Robert Warzycha said.
A big uncertainty for the Crew is how to replace Emmanuel Ekpo in central midfield. He picked up a needless second yellow card in the final moments of the regular-season finale against Chicago and is suspended for Thursday's match.
Warzycha offered Danny O'Rourke, Rich Balchan and even Tony Tchani, who has yet to play a game with the Crew since being acquired from Toronto in a midseason trade because of injury, as options to take Ekpo's minutes.
Whoever gets the call will have a big responsibility in a key area.
"We need to possess the ball a little bit and win the middle of the field," Warzycha said. "That will be the key to our success."
Colorado is missing a key central cog as well, as Pablo Mastroeni should miss the match as he continues to recover from a concussion. The Rapids still have Larentowicz patrolling the center of the park, but Mastroeni's experience and presence are invaluable to Colorado.
"It's tough to fill (Mastroeni's) shoes, but we've done it before, and I expect the guys that come in to do it again," Smith said.
With two evenly matched, grind-it-out teams both dealing with key absences, the result could come down to Colorado's home-field advantage. While the recent snowfall in the region shouldn't affect the Crew any more than it affects the Rapids, the altitude always plays a part for visiting teams. Colorado only lost twice at home all season, dropping results to the top two teams in the league -- Los Angeles and Seattle -- with the last home loss coming on June 18.
"Columbus at home are a very difficult prospect.," Smith said. "We sampled that this year and in the playoffs last year. We're a similar prospect. Our record at home is good. We have good support. Teams I'm not sure enjoy coming here and playing against us. We've taken a few problems out of the equation for ourselves."
