The 11th week of the MLS season brought us some major surprises, and also served to remind the league's 18 teams that there is no such thing as an un-winnable road trip.

Portland's Jeld-Wen Field and Real Salt Lake's Rio Tinto Stadium were both considered impenetrable before last weekend, but both the Timbers and Real Salt Lake suffered shocking home defeats at the hands of D.

The Colorado Rapids couldn't have gotten off to a worse start in their CONCACAF Champions League match on Wednesday night, surrendering an early penalty to go down 1-0 to visiting Salvadoran side Metapan.

The defending MLS Cup champions didn't buckle though, not even after a Matt Pickens blunder gave Metapan a 2-1 lead.

(Editor's Note: This is the fourth part in a series on what the Rapids will do with an expanded roster in 2011.)

Who will be the sixth forward?

This is the key question for the Rapids attack as they start the 2011 season. The team has only five forwards on its roster, and one is coming off a major knee injury.

(Editor's Note: This is the fourth part in a series on what the Rapids will do with an expanded roster in 2011.)

Who will be the sixth forward?

This is the key question for the Rapids attack as they start the 2011 season. The team has only five forwards on its roster, and one is coming off a major knee injury.

The Rapids just announced that Andre Akpan, last year's first round pick, and Jamie Smith have signed new contracts. Akpan was probably offered a new contract so quickly due to the new rules on roster spots (which I'll go into in more detail sometime over the weekend) with minimum and maximum salary limits.

Real Salt Lake's Rocky Mountain victory wasn't limited to just Wednesday night's first-team action.

The RSL reserves topped those of the Colorado Rapids, 2-0, Thursday afternoon in the second reserve match for both clubs. Former New York Red Bull Conor Chinn and Collen Warner tallied the goals for RSL, which improved to 1-1 in reserve play.

Photo of cheater via FoxSports

Easing six goals into past the hapless Toronto defense is no way to prepare for the rough and tough Colorado Rapids. With a chance to earn their first two match road winning streak, Peter Nowak handed Jack McInerney his first start of the year and rewarded Gabe Farfan with a second straight appearance in the first team.

Apologies for the delay in getting this live! There was some minor technical difficulties between myself and my SB Nation compatriot over at Burgundy Wave. Anyway, we were both able to get our respective questions/answers to each other just in time. The match thread itself will be posted right after this goes live.

Two teams in red, the home side Portland Timbers and the visiting Colorado Rapids, put the throttle to the floor and did not relent for 90-plus minutes on Saturday night.

Finally, in stoppage time, the Rapids found a goal. Following two great saves from Troy Perkins, Drew Moor rushed in to deliver a dagger that finished the Timbers 1-0 and snapped an MLS-record of six ties.

Photo courtesy of Sporting Kansas City/Taylor Allan

Soony Saad scored for the first time as a professional, tallying the lone goal in Sporting Kansas City's 1-0, weather-delayed victory over the Colorado Rapids in MLS Reserve League play on Monday.

Saad, a standout at the University of Michigan last year who landed with Sporting KC in a weighted lottery on July 5, took a pass from Teal Bunbury and found the back of the net on a shot from the edge of the area to give SKC (2-2-2) all the offense it would need in the third minute of the win.

The Colorado Rapids have only four home games remaining in the MLS regular season, and as the dates dwindle, The Tuesday List takes a look at how the roster has changed since the team moved to Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the 2007 season.

Looking at the 2011 roster, we go back in time to who was here in each of the previous seasons.

Sure, Coach Sark and Coach Wulff will get most of the attention on "signing day" but let's give a little love to the Husky soccer team. The other football had two NLIs come in and one of the players you likely have seen play already, as he's on the Sounders U-18 team.

Drew White, usually at centerback, will be coached by Jamie Clark (no relation).

By AVI CREDITOR

The Colorado Rapids enter the 2011 preseason with an unfamiliar distinction: Defending MLS Cup chamions.

Not much has changed in terms of the team's make-up. Captain Pablo Mastroeni is back in the fold after climbing the champion's mountain for the first time in his career; the lethal strike tandem of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings is still in tact, which may have been an uncertainty had Cummings gotten the chance to impress on trial at Aston Villa; and the defensive unit, which had a number of unknown commodities in 2010, has a successful season under its belt as it enters another campaign together.

You're getting my game preview a day early because I have concert tickets tomorrow night and won't be around. ;) Saturday night the Rapids make their first road trip of the season, heading to LA to face the Under-A-Chivas, now coached by former Rapid Robin Fraser.
Kickoff is at 8:30pm MDT and the game is on Altitude 2.

Fire's Jalil Anibaba -- Getty ImagesIn soccer circles, the home fans represent the 12th man on the pitch. From the Chicago Fire's standpoint, they had a partially direct impact toward the Fire's game-winning goal.
With the smoke still clearing from some previously lit flares close to the Colorado Rapids goal, Fire right defensive back Jalil Anibaba cracked a shot from more than 40 yards out, finding the back netting during Chicago's 2-1 victory over Colorado in a Lamar Hunt U.

Last night Colorado's U.S. Open Cup campaigned started and ended. The Fire beat the Rapids 2-1. Chicago used most of their first team while not a single regular starting XI member of the Rapids even traveled to Illinois. Despite that the Fire still needed a 40+ yard bomb from Anibaba to beat our reserves.

The Chicago Fire finished with a 1-1 draw against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night. It was a night of firsts as Carlos de los Cobos revisited his 4-1-4-1 formation for the first time this year. Corben Bone and Daniel Paladini started for the first time. Dominic Oduro started at RM for the first time.

Marco Pappa -- Getty ImagesTwo struggling teams in need of a victory each wound up with a draw as the Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids played to a 1-1 stalemate Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.
Fire midfielder Marco Pappa tallied his third goal of the season, but Chicago once again could not hang onto a lead.

Nothing like some mid-week MLS action to get everyone excited!

The defending MLS Cup champion Colorado Rapids come to Robertson Stadium tomorrow night in a match-up of two teams moving in opposite directions. While the Dynamo are on a six-match unbeaten streak, the Rapids haven't won a game since April 3rd.

FOXBOROUGH, MA - The New England Revolution and the Colorado Rapids played to a 0-0 draw at Gillette Stadium Saturday night in a match that will leave the home side ruing missed chances. The weather threatened to put a damper on proceedings but, in the end, the 11,755-strong crowd could only look on helplessly as their heroes failed to capitalize on the opportunities they were presented.

By IAN HOLLIDAY

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution hit the crossbar once in each half, but couldn't find the back of the net in a scoreless draw against the Colorado Rapids at Gillette Stadium Saturday night.

The result hurts the Revs more than the Rapids, as the home side felt it played well enough to win.

On the one hand, the New England Revolution will have to look at last night's result as two points lost. The Colorado Rapids side that met the Revs at Gillette were not the MLS Cup Champion Rapids; they were horribly depleted by injuries and playing their third match in seven days. Especially with Conor Casey and Omar Cumming missing it appeared the perfect opportunity for New England to pick up a valuable win against one of the league's class sides, and they failed to do that.

Colorado Rapids have been waiting weeks to get Conor Casey back from a strained hamstring, but now the Rapids will be forced to play without their most dangerous player.

Colorado striker Omar Cummings is set to miss 2-4 weeks with a sprained ankle suffered during the Rapids' 2-1 win vs.

Three days after coming back to tie and then beat the Houston Dynamo, the Colorado Rapids settled for a 0-0 draw with the New England Revolution on Saturday night.

The tie moves the Rapids to 4-3-2 (14 points) and gives the team four points from the first two games of a three-game road trip.

Three days after coming back to tie and then beat the Houston Dynamo, the Colorado Rapids settled for a 0-0 draw with the New England Revolution on Saturday night.

The tie moves the Rapids to 4-3-2 (14 points) and gives the team four points from the first two games of a three-game road trip.

Colorado controlled everything but the scoreboard on Sunday, dominating play for minutes at a time throughout the game, but couldn't crack Toronto FC's defense.

Although the game goes into the books as a 0-0 tie, it was a win for the Reds. The Rapids gave away points at home, despite owning the ball everywhere outside of the Toronto 18.

COMMERCE CITY, Colorado Toronto FC gutted out a valuable scoreless draw on the road Sunday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park as the Colorado Rapids failed to take advantage of their first home game in three weeks. Goalkeeper Matt Pickens was a bright spot for the Rapids, who earned a draw for the third straight [.

By MIKE NASTRI

The rapid succession of goals between Colorado and New York looked more like a boxing match than a soccer game, as the teams went blow for blow scoring four first half goals in six minutes. The blitz started with a Jeff Larentowicz penalty and concluded with a Luke Rodgers class finish.

Jeff Larentowicz provided the offense and the Rapids produced just enough defense to escape from New York with a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night and a vital point on the road.

In a game that featured four goals in the span of five minutes, Larentowicz got the first and third tallies, putting in a rebound of his penalty kick and delivering a scorcher to the far post off another restart.

Jeff Larentowicz provided the offense and the Rapids produced just enough defense to escape from New York with a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night and a vital point on the road.

In a game that featured four goals in the span of five minutes, Larentowicz got the first and third tallies, putting in a rebound of his penalty kick and delivering a scorcher to the far post off another restart.

After pulling off a stunning stoppage time goal to steal a point in Houston, the Red Bulls came home for a mid-week tilt against the defending MLS Cup Champion Colorado Rapids. This was a side that was missing several players due to injury including Jamaican international striker Omar Cummings with a leg injury.

It is disappointing that the Union did not beat the Rapids. At the start of this season I never thought I would be anything less than pleased to see the Union picking up a point at Colorado. So there is a silver lining to this disappointment. It means this team is capable of still more.

It is hard to ask for more from the Union's back four though.

Sure, the Colorado Rapids hold the MLS Cup and got to meet President Barack Obama at the White House, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking they are a good team. They come to this match merely average, much as they were last year. Yes, they've had some injuries that have reduced their effectiveness, as well as having them count on Tyrone Marshall for 14 starts and Sanna Nyassi for 5 starts.

Sanna Nyassi answered the question of who would score in Conor Casey's absence and delivered one of the best performances ever by a Colorado Rapids player on Wednesday night.

The midfielder-cum-forward scored three goals and got credit for an assist on the fourth as the Rapids eviscerated the New York Red Bulls 4-1 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Isidro Metapan and the Colorado Rapids combined for five goals on Wednesday night, but it was a brace from Macoumba Kandji that made the difference in the home side's first CONCACAF Champions League match.

Kandji's goals, in the 16th minute and first-half stoppage time, rescued a discombobulated Rapids side and paved the way for Andre Akpan's second half winner at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Isidro Metapan and the Colorado Rapids combined for five goals on Wednesday night, but it was a brace from Macoumba Kandji that made the difference in the home side's first CONCACAF Champions League match.

Kandji's goals, in the 16th minute and first-half stoppage time, rescued a discombobulated Rapids side and paved the way for Andre Akpan's second half winner at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

Well, it took a number of years, and a couple dozen tries, but an MLS team has finally scored a victory south of the border in CONCACAF Champions League group play as FC Dallas defeated Pumas UNAM 1-0 in Mexico City. It shouldn't have taken this long, but sincere congratulations to Schellas Hyndman's side for finally breaking the ice.

Colorado Rapids Andre Akpan (center) is surrounded by Isidro Metapan Jorge Luis Moran (left), and Alfredo Pacheco during the CCL opener Aug. 17. (Photograph by Jessica Taves/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

With a Rapids squad in Honduras for CONCACAF Champions League play tonight, The Tuesday List takes a look at travel distances for the Rapids, and what the team faces in some away games that are truly far away.

Isidro Metapan's Alfredo Pacheco (left), watches as Colorado Rapids Andre Akpan (top), uses the back of Pacheco's teammate Alex Escobar during the CCL opener, Aug. 17. (Photograph by Jessica Taves/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

The Colorado Rapids players have to stop thinking about the three points at home that got away in the 86th minute on Saturday and turn their attention to a Honduran champion.

The Colorado Rapids season ended at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday.

The team will still play two more CONCACAF Champions League group stage games, four MLS regular season matches and one probable playoff game, but the disappointing 2011 season ended with the final whistle in Real Espana's 2-1 victory at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.