COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — The sun popped out and the temperature soared to 5 degrees for the Colorado Rapids' Tuesday morning training session.
Last year’s Western Conference champions will have classic football weather for Wednesday night’s big matchup at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
“I don’t know what kind of football weather this would be, but it’s certainly not any football weather anyone wants to be a part of,” Rapids head coach Robin Fraser said. "Both teams will have to deal with it, both teams will have to adapt, and we'll have to find ways to be effective in it."
Fraser was not pleased with the weather forecast, but he did say he was more concerned with his squad's actual opponent – Comunicaciones, the top team out of Guatemala.
There has been nothing but sunshine in Guatemala City this week, with temperatures in the low 80s.
“It may pose a little bit of an advantage for us, but we’re also not used to maybe this extreme of conditions," Rapids defender Keegan Rosenberry said. "I think we’re excited for the challenge and excited for the advantage it can pose for us.”
The match is the second in a home-and-home series of a CONCACAF Champions League tournament. Comunicaciones won the first match in Guatemala 1-0, which means the Rapids must win their home game by two or more goals to advance.
The game-time temperature is forecast to be 9 degrees, but the morning could start out at minus 1. That’s cold, but certainly not the coldest the Rapids have ever seen.
On Feb. 20, 2018, it was minus 3 degrees when they hosted Toronto FC in the coldest game ever played between two MLS teams.
Flurries are also possible Wednesday night, but it won’t be anything like the night the U.S. Men’s National Team hosted Costa Rica at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in March 2013.
Nine inches of snow fell in Commerce City on the night of that World Cup Qualifier.
The Rapids/Comunicaciones match is scheduled for 6:15 Wednesday night.
Another CONCACAF Champions League matchup was postponed on Monday due to adverse weather in Montreal. The league said there was concern over freezing rain weighing down the rooftops.
That match between CF Montreal and Mexican side Santos Laguna will also be played on Wednesday.
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