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Colorado Rapids postpone fourth straight MLS game after another player tests positive for COVID-19

Make it four postponed games in a row for the coronavirus-hit Colorado Rapids.

Major League Soccer announced Friday evening that it had called off Saturday’s match between the Rapids and the Los Angeles Galaxy in suburban Denver. The news came after a fifth player from the club returned a confirmed positive test for COVID-19. In all, five players and 13 staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus since Sept. 23.

The Rapids crushed the San Jose Earthquakes 5-0 that night, but they haven’t played since. Colorado’s Sept. 27 match against Sporting Kansas City was postponed after a player and three staffers were infected. Last Saturday’s meeting with the Portland Timbers and Wednesday’s contest against LAFC also weren’t played.

Apr 13, 2019; Commerce City, CO, USA; General overall view of Dick's Sporting Goods Park prior to a MLS soccer game between the D.C. United and the Colorado Rapids. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Rapids match against LAFC, which was scheduled for Saturday at Colorado's Dick's Sporting Goods Park, was postponed. (Kirby Lee/USA Today)

All four matches are expected to be rescheduled, but time is running out. The MLS regular season ends on Nov. 8, and there doesn’t seem to be room on the calendar to accommodate another makeup game, let alone two. The SKC and Timbers matches have already been rescheduled for Oct. 24 and Nov. 4.

Assuming that Colorado is able to travel for its next scheduled contest, on Wednesday in Seattle, the Rapids will play every three or four days until Deadline Day. That’s eight games in three weeks.

In its statement on Friday, MLS said that “further details regarding when Saturday's postponed match will be played will be announced at a later date.”

Robin Fraser’s team sits eighth in MLS’s 12-team Western Conference, but it has also played two or three fewer games than every other club in its division as a result of its coronavirus-caused shutdown.

The Rapids haven’t trained since Oct. 5.

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