Atlanta Silverbacks to face Colorado Rapids Tuesday

The Atlanta Silverbacks are headed to the Mile High City, as the Colorado Rapids defeated the soon-to-be-MLS Orlando City Lions 5-2 in Denver earlier tonight in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Silverbacks and Rapids will meet in the fifth round of the tournament on Tuesday.

The Rapids, a founding member of the MLS, were lead by a great performance from Deshorn Brown, who netted a hat trick in the span of 20 minutes to help catch Orlando City off guard and fall to eliminate them from the tournament. All game long, the Lions defense was iffy, at best (aside from goaltending, which was actually really solid), and it finally caught up to them in the 35th minute, and that’s when the onslaught began. The Lions weren’t able to regain their footing, and Colorado scored quickly to begin the second half to all but seal the deal.

The Rapids are in third place in the MLS’ Western Conference, with a 6-5-4 record and 22 points to their credit. They are lead by the aforementioned Brown, who is tied for the lead on the team with goals in MLS play with five (Vicente Sanchez also has five), and leads the team in shots with 48.

By the looks of it, the Rapids will be a very different beast than what the ‘Backs saw with RSL. RSL was content with playing Atlanta’s game, but the Rapids played a lot of the game in the open field and sat on their heels until Orlando made mistakes, and made them pay.

The Silverbacks, who only won three games in the NASL Spring Season, will once again have to play up to their competition, but after what we’ve seen with the last two meetings versus an MLS squad (both against RSL), they should have at least a fighting chance.