The Colorado Rapids are the only winless team in MLS at this point in the 2019 season, and with a coaching change they still have the belief they can't be totally counted out yet.
With a trip to face the LA Galaxy looming on Sunday (8 pm ET | TV & streaming info), interim head coach Conor Casey insisted the Rapids aren't far away from posting a first win this season.
"We haven't been as bad as our record shows," Casey said at training this week. "We've been so close in many games and my message to them is to concentrate on what you can control, which is training every day, continue to build the culture and just focusing on doing your tasks. We've set up training to build on some of the individual stuff each day as well as the bigger group stuff, and it's really just focusing on your tasks, doing your job, and if everyone has that mindset then I think we'll start turning this thing [around] soon."
While Colorado are well adrift of the rest of the league through the first months of the season, sitting on two points with the next closest team on 10, but they can take some heart from six of their nine losses so far this season each coming by a single goal.
And even though the Rapids did not experience the "new coach bounce" felt by FC Cincinnati and the New England Revolution once head coaches of those clubs were similarly dismissed, with wins in the first match after the change, Casey is determined to bring a culture shift to his team while he's in charge.
With the Galaxy losing three straight, Casey sees an opening for his team.
"They're well-coached and they have a good history. We too have a good history against them recently, we played well against them in preseason and we've had some good results over the years, so our mindset is: We're the underdogs, good," he said. "We embrace it, and we're going to go there and we're going to cause some problems."
