The Daily Wave: Do We Have To Root For Chivas USA?

With the end of the regular season in sight, the Rapids have a chance to finish anywhere from 1st to 6th place in the Western Conference. Although hitting sixth place and being knocked out of the playoff race is unlikely because the Earthquakes would have to outscore the Rapids by 12 goals and have the Rapids lose on Sunday while San Jose wins. The Rapids have a great possibility of moving up in the standings with a victory over the Whitecaps on Sunday and a few other results going the Rapids way. Starting with a victory by Chivas USA in the regular season finale of Real Salt Lake.

This is going to be a tall order because it will have the Goats going to Rio Tinto Stadium or, loosely translated, the "Dirty River". Which is perfect because it sits on an old used car lot and it basically looks like a sunken pit of sadness. I think they found their scoreboard at the Mile High Flea market after Denver Public Schools threw it out in the year 2000. The beer vendors at Rio Tinto are the loneliest guys in the world. So if RSL's plan is to make the visiting team as uncomfortable as possible, it's working. Although Chivas USA has been in better overall form since Chelis left as coach several months ago, going to the Beehive state will be tough. But I think that Chivas is up to the challenge and that is what Rapids fans who want to host a playoff game have to hope for.

After a trip to the dirty river stadium in the Mountain time zone, Chivas will host the Portland Timbers. The Goats already have something going for them in that the match is in California and not Jeld-Wen Field. A place that the Timbers have not lost since March 9th! The last match between these two teams was a tie at Stub-Hub Center in LA. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that the B-squad in the Chivas family (Editor's Note: You clearly haven't seen Guadalajara recently!) could pull out a victory from the leaders in the West.

The Rapids will have a great idea of what there playoff spot will be by playing the second to last match of the season on Sunday night. The only match that starts after them is the Sounders-Galaxy tilt that has implications to whether or not the Rapids will travel next week or get a week to rest and host a playoff game. For any of the playoff hosting scenarios to happen the Rapids must win on Sunday in Vancouver. I got into a conversation about fandom and the argument that one can sympathize with a team over being a supporter of them. If Rapids fans want to host a playoff game, then they must sympathize with Chivas. This year has seen a great number of matches at the Rapids Park, hopefully we as Rapids fans can celebrate at least one more time like the Sounders and WhiteCap victories.