Shortly before this season began, the Colorado Rapids and Chicago Fire each made an eyebrow-raising move, but only one of those has paid immediate dividends.
After helping his team open with a road win for the first time, Marvell Wynne will try to lead Colorado to another victory in his home debut Saturday against Chicago.
The Rapids (1-0-0) made a splash by acquiring Wynne, a U.S. national team defender, from Toronto FC on March 25 for midfielder Nick LaBrocca and a third-round draft pick. Along with his skills on the back line, the former Olympian and No. 1 overall selection had a career-high five assists last season.
The next evening, he helped Colorado beat Chivas USA 1-0 with Omar Cummings scoring the game's lone goal in the 55th minute.
"Marvell was outstanding at center back," coach Gary Smith told the league's official Web site. "He had a five-hour flight, a three-hour time difference and played out of position. I think he was the difference between us getting some points and not."
The Fire, meanwhile, waived former goalkeeper of the year Jon Busch, who started every minute over the past two seasons, on March 22. In his place, they started 24-year-old Andrew Dykstra in their opener at New York last weekend.
Dykstra kept his team competitive in his MLS debut, but it was the Fire's offense that couldn't come through in a 1-0 loss despite a 13-5 shot advantage in the second half. The closest they came to the season's first goal was when Brian McBride's 18-yard bicycle kick went off the post in the 23rd minute.
"I think we caused a few more problems. Unfortunately, we didn't get that first goal," McBride said. "Defensively, I thought we were very solid. We still created a few opportunities, and I'm sure we can create more."
Helping Carlos de los Cobos to his first MLS coaching win won't be an easy task. The Fire have won once in their last 10 matches in Colorado, but that victory came last season, 2-1 on July 4.
The Rapids are 4-0-2 in their past six home openers and 8-3-4 all-time when hosting Chicago.
"They're a quality team that we need to be ready for," Chicago midfielder Logan Pause said. "We know they're going to come out and battle because it's their home opener. We need to stick to our game plan and hopefully come out with three points."
To earn those points, the Fire might have to contain Cummings, who has three goals in two starts against them - tying for the most he's scored against one opponent.
He had a pair of goals in the first 58 minutes of the teams' previous meeting Aug. 23 in Chicago, but the Fire rallied for a 3-2 victory to sweep the season series. Dasan Robinson tallied the go-ahead score on a header in the second minute of injury time.
