Colorado Rapids vs Houston Dynamo Prediction: Evenly-matched pair to share spoils

Major League Soccer continues this weekend despite the busy international schedule and there is an intriguing contest set for Dick's Sporting Goods Park as Colorado Rapids host Houston Dynamo.

Both sides have made inconsistent starts to the new season, winning one league game apiece, although the Rapids are unbeaten in three, while Houston got their first victory of the campaign against Portland Timbers last time out.

Team News

Colorado remain without German midfielder Jasper Loffelsend, who picked up a hamstring injury in the recent win over Real Salt Lake, while defender Daniel Chacon Salas is a long-term absentee with a cruciate ligament tear.

Former Wolves youngster Connor Ronan missed last week's draw with Seattle Sounders and remains an injury doubt.

Houston remain without midfield duo Nelson Quinones and Hector Herrera due to knee issues, while ex-Celtic centre-back Erik Sviatchenko (hamstring), Sebastian Ferreira (muscle) and Amine Bassi (knock) are also sidelined.

Match Odds

With home advantage, Colorado are the marginal 23/20 favourites to claim all three points, while Houston, who are unbeaten in their last five meetings with the Rapids, are 21/10. The draw is priced at 11/5.

Colorado's Brazilian forward, Rafael Navarro, who is on loan from Palmeiras is the 9/4 favourite to open the scoring, while team-mate Jonathan Lewis is 12/5, the same price as Houston's Sebastian Ferreira.

Draw @ 11/5 

Colorado sit seventh in the Western Conference standings after picking up one win and two draws from their opening four games, while Houston are a point worse off in ninth, but they have played a game less in the league due to their commitments in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Based on that early-season form, there may not be too much between these two sides this weekend, especially as three of their last four meetings have finished all-square, including the last two at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Two of Colorado's last three games have also finished level, the exception being the 2-1 win at Real Salt Lake on March 10th when Cole Bassett struck the winner inside the final 20 minutes.

Houston's most recent road game also finished in a draw - 1-1 at reigning MLS Cup winners Columbus Crew - and it would be no surprise to see these two evenly-matched sides share the spoils in Colorado.

#PickYourPunt - Both teams to score and Ibrahim Aliyu to score anytime @ 7/2 

While there may not be anything to separate these two sides come the final whistle, there should be plenty of entertainment along the way, with Colorado having scored and conceded in all four of their MLS games in 2024.

Houston have also scored in all three of their league fixtures this season - keeping just one clean-sheet in the process - while they have only failed to find the back of the net once in seven matches across all competitions this calendar year.

Nigerian forward Ibrahim Aliyu has been key to that scoring run, netting in back-to-back MLS games, including the winner against Portland last week.

Aliyu is capable of scoring for a third league game on the trot and it could be worth including the 22-year-old to notch as part of a #PickYourPunt that also features both teams finding the back of the net.

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