SOCCER: Rapids, St. Louis City eager to break out of winless ruts

When a team is in the middle of the MLS pack as the Colorado Rapids are, the ability to win on the margins is a necessity.

After failing to do that on May 2 in a 1-0 loss at Houston, Colorado will aim to produce a three-point result Saturday night when it hosts struggling St. Louis City in Commerce City, Colo.

Rapids coach Matt Wells wants to see his team find a flow sooner instead of later in matches.

"We need to be able to put some points on the board where we don't quite hit our stride," he said. "At the moment, if we don't quite hit our stride and our rhythm, we're always on the losing end of these tight games with small margins."

The Rapids (4-6-1, 13 points) own a losing record despite outscoring opponents 22-19. They are tied for third in the league in scoring but are tied for 19th in goals against. Rafael Navarro has posted seven goals, while Darren Yapi and Paxten Aaronson have three apiece.

Yapi, a Denver-area product, signed a contract on Tuesday that binds him to the club through the 2028-29 season, with an option for 2029-30.

While Colorado tries to find its best form, St. Louis (1-6-3, 6 points) continues to struggle, as it has since a magical expansion year in 2023. St. Louis City are coming off a 2-0 loss Sunday in Austin, dropping the visitors to 0-3-2 in their past five matches.

The team has been outscored 11-5 in that span, extending its trend of failing to hit the back of the net this year. St. Louis' nine goals in 10 fixtures are tied for the second-fewest in the league, and the team's once-stingy defense has fallen to the middle of the pack with 18 goals conceded.

However, players such as Eduard Lowen maintain confidence in the system of first-year coach Yoann Damet.

"I'm more confident than ever before," Lowen said. "The results haven't been there and we're not where we want to be right now. If the results come, we'll have a great future ahead of us."

-Field Level Media/Reuters