Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to Host First-Ever Playoff Match This Thursday COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (Sunday, October 24, 2010) – The Colorado Rapids will play the Columbus Crew in the two-leg aggregate goal Eastern Conference Semifinal series of the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The first-ever playoff game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park will see the Rapids host the Crew on Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m. MT. The following week, the teams will travel to Columbus for the second leg to be played on Saturday, November 6 at Crew Stadium at 2 p.m. MT.
This will be the first postseason meeting between Colorado and Columbus, who are both charter members of Major League Soccer.
The teams split their 2010 regular season series with the Rapids claiming a 1-0 victory on June 5 in Colorado and later falling 3-1 to Columbus on August 21 at Crew Stadium.
The Rapids finished the 2010 regular season with a 12-8-10 (46 points) record, which placed the club 5th in the final Western Conference standings. San Jose also finished with 46 points, but the Rapids won the second tie-breaker over the Earthquakes by virtue of a better overall goal differential.
By finishing 5th, the Rapids slide over and become the #3 seed in the Eastern Conference bracket of the playoffs, where they are matched against the #2 seed, Crew. The East's top seed, the New York Red Bulls, will play #4 seed San Jose in the other Eastern Conference Semifinal series.
The Conference Semifinals consist of a home-and-away series, with the lower seed hosting the first-leg. The team with the most goals after both games will advance to the single-match Conference Championship. The winners of each Conference Championship match advance to the MLS Cup.
Rapids playoff tickets are available for purchase at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park Box Office, via phone by calling 303-825-GOAL, at the kiosks at any Colorado Dick’s Sporting Goods location, or online at ColoradoRapids.com or TicketHorse.com.
