The Leagues Cup Round of 16 match continues at DICK’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado, where Toluca FC will square off against Colorado Rapids in a matchup between two sides that needed to overcome deficits in the Round of 32 to advance. Toluca survived in Houston after scoring a second half stoppage equalizer and then winning the penalty shootout over Houston Dynamo. Rapids erased an early deficit against Juárez, then hung on to win 3-2. The winner will face either St. Louis CITY SC or Club América in the quarterfinals.
Even though the two clubs met in the group stage of last year’s Leagues Cup, a 4-1 win for los diablos rojos, Toluca coach Renato Paiva understands the circumstances surrounding the upcoming tilt. “Different teams, different coaches, different ways of playing. The only thing you can compare are the clubs: Colorado and Toluca.” Paiva proclaimed. The round of 16 will also be the fourth match in four different cities for Toluca. An aspect of the tournament Paiva uses as incentive. “Instead of complaining, we turn into motivation and strength. And that is how it was in the last match. We had the belief, the will, and the temperament to score in the 94th minute.”
Playing in Colorado is normally a hard slog for visiting teams because of the mile-high altitude. Not so for Toluca as they play their home games another 3,500 feet higher. This season, however, playing in Colorado has been a tough place to play because of the Rapids themselves. They have only two losses in fifteen matches at home, including a win and a PK win in the Leagues Cup. Their 28 goals at home have them tied for fifth most in MLS. Their attack was boosted even further with the return of Djordje Mihailovic, who scored in his first start after Olympic duty.
The upcoming match vs Toluca will be Mihailovic’s seventh game in three weeks, and he is acutely aware of the toll it can take. “It is important that I am well aware of the physical part, but more importantly, in my opinion, is the mental side.” He continued. “These are high-level games, high-intensity games that we are playing, and I think the mind can start to wear harder than the body physically. So, when we play these games with a short turnaround, it is how fast can you recover mentally and physically and move on to the next one.” He added.
Both sides are in great form. Colorado is undefeated in their ten games at home, while Toluca not only has yet to lose in seven games this season. Toluca is also tied for the most goals in the tournament with seven. “We’ll have to be really organized defensively and try to disrupt what they do.” Rapids coach Chris Armas said in the pre-match press conference. “In the end, we are a team that likes to play in transition, and we’ll try and look for certain spaces and moments to do that.” He concluded.
