The Columbus Crew meet the Rapids in a one-shot wild card match the night after FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls tangle in the other wild card match. The winners will then face either Sporting KC or the Los Angeles Galaxy.

This Season: The Rapids managed to get by Columbus on penalty kicks in the first round of the 2010 playoffs after the two sides were tied 2-2 on aggregate goals.

This season, the Rapids suffered a humbling 4-1 loss at Columbus and then delivered the most compelling 2-0 win at home on Aug. 5. Which team shows up on Thursday will determine how much longer the crown wearers get to play for another one.

Even Stevens: Playoffs are the great equalizer, and that’s never more true than a one-game showdown.

Colorado, whose 49 points would have been good enough for second in the Eastern Conference, but only good enough for fifth in the Western, faces a fourth-place squad from the East.

Columbus, which finished with 47 points, faces woes in the midfield, the one area where the Rapids have been sound in recent weeks.

In fact, the midfield did an excellent job in the 0-0 match with Real Salt Lake in the final home regular season match, and followed that up by boasting the only goal scorers in the 2-1 season finale win over the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The win secured the homefield for Thursday’s playoff meeting.

Colorado Rapids Andre Akpan (center) is surrounded by Isidro Metapan Jorge Luis Moran (left), and Alfredo Pacheco during the CCL opener Aug. 17. (Photograph by Jessica Taves/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

With a Rapids squad in Honduras for CONCACAF Champions League play tonight, The Tuesday List takes a look at travel distances for the Rapids, and what the team faces in some away games that are truly far away.

Below are the longest trips in the MLS season and the CCL group stage play.

15. Houston, Texas (Dynamo) 1,018 miles
14. Carson, Calif. (LA Galaxy and Chivas USA) 1,038 miles
13. Torreon, Mexico (Santos Laguna) 1,244 miles
12. Portland, Ore. (Timbers) 1,255 miles
11. Columbus, Ohio (Crew) 1,257 miles
10. San Jose, Calif. (Earthquakes) 1,296 miles
9. Seattle, Wash. (Sounders FC) 1,329 miles
8. Vancouver, B.C. (Whitecaps) 1,463 miles
7. Toronto, On. (Toronto FC) 1,501 miles
6. Washington, D.C. (DC United) 1,683 miles
5. Philadelphia, Pa. (Union) 1,742 miles
4. Harrison, N.J. (NY Red Bulls) 1,763 miles
3. San Pedro Sula, Honduras (Real Espana) 1,962 miles
2. Foxboro, Mass. (N.E. Revolution) 1,965 miles
1. Metapan, El Salvador (Isidro Metapan) 2,036 miles

CCL locations are in italics.

After looking at the list, it’s obvious that the Rapids will be spending a lot of time in transit in the coming weeks. After visiting Real Espana, the Rapids will have trips to Torreon, Mexico, and a 2,000 mile-plus journey to El Salvador.

Even if the team doesn’t run down on the road, all the players may grow a bit tired of spending some much time in the respective crafts of Boeing and Airbus in the next two months.

Of course, advancing to the next round of CCL play and the MLS playoffs somehow soothes aching travel muscles.

Teammates swarm Jeff Larentowicz after his 69th minute header put the Rapids up 2-1 on Chivas USA. The Goats rallied to tie 2-2 on Saturday night. (Photograph by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Twice Colorado led on Saturday night, and twice Chivas USA came back, eventually claiming a share of the points at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Goals from Caleb Folan and Jeff Larentowicz, both clinical strikes, were countered by the visiting Goats, who exploited the few openings they found on the night.

Ultimately, the 2-2 draw proved that remaining undefeated over the past six games (4-0-2) is not the same as winning for the Rapids, and earning another draw on the road (the second straight) was a solid result for Chivas USA.

It could have been much better for the Rapids (10-6-11, 41 points). Colorado started in a 4-5-1 formation with Folan as the lone striker, and the early results were encouraging. The Rapids controlled play for the first 25 minutes, and Folan snapped a precise goal off a Pablo Mastroeni cross in the 13th minute. The Ireland striker has now quietly tied Conor Casey for the team scoring lead in 2011 with six goals.

With Chivas doing an effective job disrupting the midfield, the Goats latest acquisition paid an immediate dividend in the 36th minute. Former Rapids Nick LaBrocca sent a pass to a rushing Juan Pablo Angel, who beat the offsides trap and tapped the ball past ‘keeper Matt Pickens.

In the second half, the Rapids came out the most dangerous side, but struggled to finish. Finally, Sanna Nyassi delivered a corner in the 69th minute that Larentowicz headed home. The two had nearly connected earlier, and Larentowicz made no mistake as he put the ball in the side netting.

The second goal wasn’t enough, however, as Chivas took advantage of a squad that lost its tactical shape. Laurent Courtois was the beneficiary as he ran on to a Michael Lahoud pass and put it between Pickens’ legs in the 86th minute.

Colorado got two chances in second half injury time to grab three points. ‘Keeper Dan Kennedy misplayed a Nyassi free kick in the 93rd minute that no one could latch on to. Then, on the resulting corner kick, Macoumba Kandji fired a rebound into the box. Defenders knocked it out as time was called on the tie.

Iron Man: Drew Moor is now the MLS iron man. The defender, playing at left back, played the full 90 minutes for the 68th consecutive game, setting a record for field players.

Next Up: The Rapids travel to Honduras for a Tuesday match against Real Espana in the team’s second CONCACAF Champions League group stage match. Colorado will remain on the road, facing the Chicago Fire in Bridgeview, Ill., on Aug. 27.

The next home match comes Sept. 13 against Santos Laguna in CCL play. The next MLS home game is more than a month away when the San Jose Earthquakes visit DSG Park on Sept. 24.

Caleb Folan delivers the header that gave Colorado an early lead in a 2-2 tie with Chivas USA. (Photograph by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Sanna Nyassi maneuvers past an Isidro Metapan defender during a CCL match in Seattle on July 28, 2010. Nyassi and the Colorado Rapids face Metapan on Wednesday. (Photograph by Jane Gershovich/Prost Amerika Soccer)

Nearly nine months after winning the team’s first title, the Colorado Rapids finally start the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday night.

Colorado gets the opportunity to host Isidro Metapan at 8 p.m. at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

On Monday, Colorado filed a 23-man roster for the match. Included on the list were the usual stalwarts for the team that won the 2010 MLS Cup and is currently 10-6-10 in MLS play.

Veteran midfielder Jamie Smith, who played in the European version of the Champions League with Scotland’s Celtic, and defender Anthony Wallace were ruled out due to injury. Youngsters Davy Armstrong, Josh Janniere, and Steve Emory will also not be available for selection.

Veteran Feel: While this is Colorado’s first step into the larger world outside of MLS play, the team boasts a number of CCL veterans.

Seven players have Champions League experience with their previous MLS clubs: Marvell Wynne (Toronto), Tyrone Marshall (Seattle), Brian Mullan (Houston), Joseph Nane (Toronto), Sanna Nyassi (Seattle), Jeff Larentowicz (New England) and Wells Thompson (New England).

Groupers: The Rapids were drawn into Group B play with Metapan, Real Espana and Santos Laguna.

Metapan reached the CCL as champions of El Salvador. Metapan has won four league titles in the past seven years. Los Caleros edged the Puerto Rico Islanders to earn a spot in the group stage.

Real Espana claimed a spot in the CCL with the Honduran crown. Los Aurinegros are looking to improve upon a last-place finish in their group in 2009-10.

Santos Laguna, the runners up in the Mexican league, represent the class of the group. Los Guerreros have appeared in the semifinal and quarterfinal of the CCL in two previous appearances.

Streaking: The Rapids enter the group stage on a run of great form. The team has won five of the past seven MLS matches and is undefeated in the past five (4-0-1).

No teams have played more than the 26 games of the Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC. No team has played fewer MLS games than Real Salt Lake’s 22.

Despite this disparity, the teams are ranked for the playoffs by total points accumulated and the team’s standing in each conference. The top three teams in each conference and the teams with the next four highest point totals qualify for the MLS postseason.

Based on the league standard, the Los Angeles Galaxy, FC Dallas and the Seattle Sounders would get the top three spots in the Western Conference, with the Columbus Crew, Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls getting the top spots in the Eastern Conference. The next four spots would go to Colorado, Salt Lake, Houston and Kansas City (on the strength of its tiebreaker over Chivas USA and D.C. United).

The standings, however, start to look a bit silly as four Western teams have more points than the best team in the East (Columbus at 37 points). And the fifth team in the West, Salt Lake, would be second in the East with 36 points.

Trying to make some sense of this has prompted observers to look at the points accumulated per game as a method to determine who is leading the league. For The Tuesday List, we took a look at average goal differential.

Team Games GD AGD
LA Galaxy* 25 15 0.60
Real Salt Lake* 22 13 0.59
Seattle Sounders* 25 8 0.32
Philadelphia* 23 7 0.30
FC Dallas* 25 7 0.28
Colorado Rapids* 26 5 0.19
Chivas USA 24 4 0.167
Columbus Crew* 24 4 0.167
NY Red Bulls* 25 4 0.16
Sporting KC* 23 2 0.08
Houston Dynamo* 24 1 0.04
D.C. United 22 0 0
San Jose 24 -6 -0.25
Chicago Fire 23 -7 -0.30
Portland Timbers 23 -8 -0.34
New England 24 -13 -0.54
Vancouver 24 -15 -0.625
Toronto FC 26 -21 -0.81

* In playoff position.

What does this tell us? First, we are playing with averages, and those are easily influenced by one big win or loss. Second, there are some teams (LA and RSL) that look like they should be running away with the league.

Finally, there is a lot of fluidity on this list. Except for the three things at the bottom and the two at the top of the list, any of the others could be booking postseason trips or planning time on the couch. In particular, it will be interesting to see if Chivas USA gets on a run of form in the coming weeks that unseats any of the Eastern pretenders.

Your thoughts?

Colorado, which hosts its opening match in CCL play on Aug. 17 against Metapan, will also host matches against Santos Laguna on Sept. 13 and Real Espana on Sept. 21.

The Rapids travel to Honduras to meet Real Espana on Aug. 23. The final two rounds will also be on the road as Colorado journeys to El Salvador to meet Metapan on Sept. 28, and then travels to Mexico to close the opening rounds of matches against Santos Laguna on Oct. 19.

For the complete schedule for all five MLS teams, click here. For tickets to the matches at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, click here.

The Rapids qualified for the club championship of the North and Central American and Caribbean region as 2010 MLS Cup Champions. Real Salt Lake, the 2009 MLS Cup Champions, fell to Monterrey in this year’s CCL final.

The top two teams from each group qualify for the knockout round games this fall.

Home hasn't been that kind to the Colorado Rapids this season, as the expression on Jeff Larentowicz face indicates during a home loss to the LA Galaxy. (Photograph by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

First, let’s take a look at MLS team records on the road this season. We begin with wins on the road out of total road matches played, through Wednesday.

Team Wins/Matches
1. LA Galaxy 6/13
2. FC Dallas 4/10
2. DC United 4/10
2. Seattle Sounders 4/12
2. Colorado 4/12
6. Philadelphia 3/10
6. Columbus 3/11
6. Sporting KC 3/14
9. Real Salt Lake 2/8
9. Chivas USA 2/10
9. San Jose 2/10
12. Portland 1/10
12. Chicago 1/12
12. New York 1/12
12. New England 1/12
16. Houston 0/10
16. Toronto FC 0/12
16. Vancouver 0/12

Only one team, the LA Galaxy has more road wins (6) than the Rapids (4) this season. Of the three teams tied with Colorado on road wins, only DC United trails the Rapids in the league standings.

Next, we look at home wins out of total home matches. Again, the records include Wednesday’s MLS matches.

Team Wins/Matches
1. FC Dallas 8/13
2. Real Salt Lake 7/12
3. LA Galaxy 6/11
3. Seattle Sounders 6/11
3. Columbus 6/11
3. Portland 6/12
3. Houston 6/12
8. Philadelphia 5/11
8. New York 5/11
10. Colorado 4/12
10. Chivas USA 4/12
10. Sporting KC 4/8
13. New England 3/10
13. Toronto FC 3/12
13. San Jose 3/12
16. DC United 2/10
16. Vancouver 2/10
18. Chicago 1/9

Looking at these two lists together, several pictures start to emerge. First, Sporting KC had no fun playing so many games on the road waiting for a new home field to open in Kansas City, Kan. Second, Toronto FC has been wretched on the road, Chicago Fire has been wretched at home, and the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps haven’t had succes anywhere.

In addition, the LA Galaxy owns the best record in the league by being tough at home and outstanding on the road. Real Salt Lake, which has suffered from a CONCACAF Champions League hangover since losing in the final, is in great shape to charge to the top of the table.

And for Rapids fans, the two charts provide proof that the team has been one of the best travelers in the league. Unfortunately, Colorado has had a tough time at home. Those home shortfalls are something to keep in mind as the playoff race tightens in September and October, months when Colorado has a total of three games at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Colorado, a team tied for second in the league in road wins, wears the uncomfortable crown of being a team — 10th in the league in home wins — that struggles to put away opponents at home.

CONCACAF announced on Thursday the first two matches of the Group Stage, with the Rapids traveling to face Real España of Honduras on Aug. 23.

As defending MLS Cup champions, the Rapids were drawn into Group B of the CONCACAF Champions League – which features the top club teams from across North America, Central America, and the Caribbean – alongside Real España of Honduras, as well as the winners of the Preliminary Stage series’ between Metapán/Puerto Rico and Santos Laguna (Mexico)/CD Olimpia (Honduras).

Isidro Metapán took a 2-0 win over the Puerto Rico Islanders in the first match of a home-and-home series on Wednesday night, with total goals determining the winner. In the other Group B series opener, Santo Laguna defeated Olimpia 3-1. The second leg of both series will be played on Aug. 3.

The remainder of the group stage will be announced after the conclusion of the preliminary stage.

Aug. 17 (8 p.m.): Rapids vs. Isidro Metapán (SLV) / Puerto Rico Islanders (PUR) at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.

Aug. 23 (6 pm MT): Rapids @ Real España (HON) at Estadio Francisco Morazán in San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Sept. 13-15: Opponent, Location, Date / Time TBD

Sept. 20-22: Opponent, Location, Date / Time TBD

Sept. 27-29: Opponent, Location, Date / Time TBD

Oct. 18-20: Opponent, Location, Date / Time TBD

Tickets to the Rapids CONCACAF Champions League match on Aug. 17 will be on sale Aug. 5 starting as low as $17. Special deals for all three Group Stage games, as well as a limited edition “Champions” shirt, will also be available. For more information, please call 303-825-GOAL.

Tim Ream and the rest if the Red Bulls couldn't stop Sanna Nyassi on Wednesday. Nyassi's hat trick helped him earn MLS honors on Monday. (Photograph by Jessica Taves/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

The Colorado Rapids finally had a player named MLS Player of the Week, and it only took one of the best debuts by a forward ever to get it.

Sanna Nyassi, who scored a hat trick and picked up an assist in a 4-1 beating of the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, was named the player of the week on Monday. The North American Soccer Reporters vote for the honor, and Nyassi is the first Rapid to win the honor this season.

Nyassi, who also earned a penalty kick in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with New England, moved from the midfield to forward for Wednesday’s match. The move was necessitated by the loss of forward Conor Casey for the season due to an ruptured left Achilles tendon.

Nyassi repaid the move by delivering slashing through the center of the New York defense. Working in deft combination with Omar Cummings, who picked up assists on all three goals, Nyassi became only the seventh Rapids player to score three games in a goal. No Rapids player has ever scored more.

Nyassi also picked up an assist on Wells Thompson’s first half goal.

Nyassi and the Rapids (7-6-10, 31 points) travel to Philadelphia to take on the Union on Friday. Meanwhile, Cummings will be in New York for the MLS All-Star game against Manchester United on Wednesday.

CSN Vote: Nyassi, Nyassi, Nyassi. If we could have voted three times we would have. Not only did he deliver on a chance taken by coach Gary Smith, but he reopened the question about who will play in central defense for the U.S. Men’s National Team. Nyassi didn’t score on clever flicks or off dead ball situations. He scored by running at the teeth of the defense and outplaying the New York center backs.

For an encore, Nyassi earned the penalty kick that reduced New England to 10 men on Saturday and allowed the Rapids to pull even at 1-1 en route to a 2-2 draw. Quite a week for the Gambian who rarely saw the field for the first two-thirds of the season.

Evidently, that is the thinking of the English U-20 team, which departed for the Rocky Mountains today. The U-20s are training for the U-20 World Cup, which opens on July 29.

The Young Lions squad met up in Hertfordshire on Thursday before traveling Friday to spend 10 days in Commerce City using the Colorado Rapids facilities in order to help acclimate to the conditions they will face in South America.

Brian Eastick’s side face their first two World Cup group games against North Korea and Argentina in Medellin, which is about 4,800 feet above sea level. To put that into context, the highest football stadium in England is West Bromwich Albion’s Hawthorns at 550 feet, compared to Denver’s 5,280 feet.

“Having spoken to the sports science people, it’s clear that we need a minimum of about eight days to acclimatise, so we’re going to Colorado for 10 days,” revealed Eastick ahead of the trip.

“The Colorado Rapids Head Coach Gary Smith has been really helpful to us and I’ve been over there to speak to him and do the recce, so we will have some great facilities to work in.

“The altitude in Colombia for our first two games is roughly 1500m above sea level and that is almost exactly the same altitude as Denver, so that’s worked out quite nicely for us.”

After those first two games, it’s back to sea level for the final group match against Mexico in Cartagena, a city on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia.