Local MLS exhibition could be annual event
If you’re a sports fan from Los Angeles or Denver, you probably enjoy living here.
Teams from those cities have made a habit of playing in Las Vegas during the preseason.
In hockey, the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche meet every September at the MGM Grand Garden in the “Frozen Fury” NHL preseason game. In basketball, the Los Angeles Clippers hosted the Denver Nuggets at Mandalay Bay in October, an NBA preseason game that might become an annual event.
Now, it’s soccer’s turn.
The Colorado Rapids will play Chivas USA, located in Carson, Calif., at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Sam Boyd Stadium in a Major League Soccer preseason match that supporters of the league hope one day will culminate with Las Vegas getting a franchise. The “Las Vegas ProSoccer Challenge” is being held in conjunction with this weekend’s Mayor’s Cup youth tournament.
“We’d love to make this an annual event,” Rapids president Tim Hinchey said. “We’ve had a relationship with the Downtown Soccer Club for a few years now, and we feel like we have planted a flag in the ground in Las Vegas.
“For our fans in Denver, it’s a no-brainer to come to Las Vegas for the weekend and watch the team. So we’re real excited about the possibilities.”
The Rapids are no strangers to Las Vegas. In the 2007 MLS preseason, Colorado played Real Salt Lake to a 0-0 tie in front of 2,000 at UNLV’s Peter Johann Memorial Field. In 2003, the Rapids defeated Santos Laguna of Mexico 2-0 in a friendly match before 6,122 at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Friday’s game features two teams that missed the MLS playoffs last year. The Rapids were 11-19-4 and finished seventh in the Western Conference, and Chivas went 7-18-9 and was last in the West.
The Rapids missed the playoffs by six points. They had a hard time scoring away from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, with a minus-16 goal difference on the road.
“We have to create more offensive opportunities,” second-year coach Oscar Pareja said. “We might have been a little conservative at times, but we have to be sharper, especially in the last third.”
Goalkeeper Matt Pickens, entering his fifth year with Colorado, said the team has a fresh attitude.
“We went through a transition period last year, and it was a challenge,” he said. “But we learned from it, and we’ve brought in some new guys who have experience in the league, and I believe we’ll be better.”
The Rapids, 2-2 in the preseason, will scrimmage UNLV at 7 p.m. today at Johann Field. Chivas is 4-0-1. The MLS regular season begins March 2.
“We’re trying to accomplish a couple of things” against Chivas, Pareja said. “We want to give our first team some time together, and we also want to take a look at some of our young guys. But with the changes we made, I think we have a team that will make the playoffs.”
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.
