Colorado hopes for Rapid improvement in K.C.

Soccer Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Wizards won for the first time in seven games last week, and will try to continue their winning ways on Sunday when the club hosts the struggling Colorado Rapids at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Wizards 1-0 win last time out coincided with the return to the lineup of the league's leading scorer, Eddie Johnson. The team posted a 0-3-2 mark while Johnson was away on international duty with the United States, but along with the return of defender Jimmy Conrad, K.C. is looking to turn things around and make a run at the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Even with that poor run of play, last week's win pulled the Wizards to within one point of conference leaders New England, who host Houston on Sunday. Kansas City may have a chance to take over the lead in the East by the time they step onto the field on Sunday night, and with Johnson back in the lineup leading the way, that looks like a good possibility.

K.C. tallied just four goals with Johnson out of the lineup and the team lacked a confidence around the net when it came to finishing. They still created chances, but without Johnson to provide the finishing touch, they were held scoreless twice and scored just one goal in two other contests. They had plenty of opportunities to score and win games, but Johnson's return last week as well as the team's return to the win column has to be a relief to head coach Curt Onalfo.

"It was a great three points," Onalfo said of his club's 1-0 win against Real Salt Lake last week. "At times we were not as sharp as we wanted to be. Some things were a little out of whack in the midfield, but we got things worked out and ended up playing pretty well. At times we were not as sharp as we wanted to be, but it was the first time in a while we played with our full team."

The Rapids will have their full team as well for the game, but it has not done the club much good in recent weeks. Colorado is winless in its last eight games, including six losses. A large part of the team's struggles has been an inability to score goals. The Rapids have tallied just three goals in that eight-game stretch, and have been held scoreless in five of their last six matches.

The Rapids are still sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference, but the L.A. Galaxy has played a number of games less than Colorado, and will likely pass the team in the next month if things don't turn around quickly.

Herculez Gomez leads the team with four goals this season, but has not found the net since June 2. The team's second leading scorer, Roberto Brown, was let go by the team this past week, leaving head coach Fernando Clavijo with little in the way of experienced scorers up top. Much of the scoring burden will fall to Jacob Peterson, who has replaced Brown in recent weeks in the starting lineup. Peterson has scored one goal in 13 appearances this season, but is one of only five players left on the roster to have scored for the squad this season.

Clavijo has quite a turnaround on his hands if Colorado is to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2001 season.

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