After another gritty win on the road, Austin put an exclamation point on its fifth away victory at the midpoint of the season. The club now enters game two of a three-match road stretch to take on Western Conference foe Colorado Rapids.

Continuing a jaw-dropping away run in June after an improbable CF Montreal win, super-sub Daniel Pereira launched a 62nd-minute strike from 20 yards out that rung off of the crossbar and in to secure the dub in Charlotte.

It doesn’t get any easier this week as ATX gets just a three-day break between Charlotte and Colorado.

Austin’s return to Colorado harkens back to a special moment for the Verde — when the team recorded both the first goals and the first victory in club history on April 24, 2021. 

Scouting Report

Colorado is third to last in the Western Conference. They’re the second-worst team in the conference in terms of goals scored with 17. They’ve struggled to get goals behind their leader Diego Rubio, who has only 7 so far this season.

The Rapids are coming off of a 3-0 loss to Portland where they were let down by their defensive line. As a team that doesn’t ring up a lot of goals (-4 goal differential), they depend on the backline and defensive shape to step up in order to get wins.

That’s the good news for Verde fans. The bad news: we have a case of Jekyll and Hyde on our hands. As bad as the Rapids are on the road (zero wins and six losses), they are nearly unbeatable at home, losing only one game this season at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The kicker is that Colorado is one of the handful of MLS teams that avoided a midweek match last week, so you can bet that they’re well-rested against ATXFC.

Two key Rapids players to watch out for: Mark Anthony-Kaye and Diego Rubio. Kaye helps them out immensely in the midfield and having Rubio add dynamism creates a problem at times.

Score Prediction

This game lends itself for Austin to collect a second road victory in a row. With Colorado’s defense not being in form, and their attack struggling, it opens it up for an opportunistic Austin side. On a heater throughout June, there’s no reason to doubt the capital city club can’t pull off a big score against a lower-table Rapids side to start July.

Final score
Austin FC – 3
Colorado Rapids – 0

Odds: Austin FC +320 and Colorado -137. A draw is priced at +280.

Injury Report

• OUT – Freddy Kleemann (left knee)
• OUT – Jhojan Valencia (right knee)
• OUT – Julio Cascante (hamstring)
• OUT – Jhohan Romana (concussion)

Kit Matchup

Austin FC has no time to celebrate. On to Colorado wearing Glory Mint. Brad Stuver will be in blue for a change. Plan your July 4th accordingly.

How to watch Austin FC

Austin FC goes to Commerce City to take on Colorado Rapids at DSG park — 8:08 p.m. (CT) kickoff on July 4.  

• TV: KBVO
• Streaming: Austinfc.com, Austin FC app, UnivisionAustin.com (Spanish), ESPN+ (Out of Market)
• Radio: KASE-FM (Alt 97.5), KLQB-FM (104.3-HD.2)

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