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MIAMI, FLORIDA – APRIL 11: Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami CF kicks the ball during the MLS match between Inter Miami CF and New York Red Bulls at Nu Stadium on April 11, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Leonardo Fernandez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nMarcelo Balboa remembers the validation he felt 30 years ago as he and the Colorado Rapids walked onto the field at Mile High Stadium for the first time.<\/p>\n
The club icon packed up from a successful Club Le\u00f3n team in Mexico to join the upstart MLS in 1996, which in its inaugural year had 10 teams, most of which were split up between just three owners. After doing work on the ground and hustling street corners to raise awareness of the Rapids, he was awestruck by the some 21,000 fans who witnessed a 3-1 victory over the Dallas Burn.<\/p>\n
Soccer in America, and the financial volatility that came with the territory, put pressure on teams to perform in every match. Balboa recalls that after the league\u2019s inception, it was set for three years, and every few years was a trial run for the next.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on how those three years went, that would determine the next three years,\u201d Balboa told media members on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Safe to say, they went OK \u2014 MLS expanded to 30 teams in 2025 and the average club is valued at $767 million, according to Sportico in a February report. That\u2019s a far cry from the stakes Balboa described.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we stepped out on the field, you see 20,000 people applauding you, it\u2019s like, \u2018Holy crap, OK. This can work,\u2019\u201d Balboa said. \u201c\u2026We wanted to put on a good show because we knew this was going to be the first time fans in Colorado were going to see what we can do, and on a blessed day, it worked out great, we won, 3-1. The idea was to make sure that we try to entertain.\u201d<\/p>\n
30 years later, almost to the day, the Rapids have a similar opportunity. The league\u2019s survival won\u2019t be on the line, but the club\u2019s relevance in the Denver market \u2014 arguably the country\u2019s most successful right now \u2014 very much could ride on a positive result on Saturday.<\/p>\n
MIAMI, FLORIDA – APRIL 11: Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami CF kicks the ball during the MLS match between Inter Miami CF and New York Red Bulls at Nu Stadium on April 11, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Leonardo Fernandez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Inter Miami and its global superstar, Lionel Messi, are coming to town. To accommodate the demand and celebrate the club\u2019s 30th anniversary, Saturday\u2019s 2:30 p.m. kick will be held at Empower Field at Mile High, home of the\u00a0 Broncos.<\/p>\n
The club announced on Friday that it has sold more than 70,000 tickets, nearing the stadium\u2019s capacity and breaking the club attendance record, all just a few hundred feet from where it all started in Denver.<\/p>\n
But the Rapids, in sixth place in the Western Conference, won\u2019t be just happy to be there. They have something to prove.<\/p>\n
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Colorado Rapids manager Matt Wells motions to his team during the first half of an MLS soccer match against Sporting Kansas City, Saturday, March 21, 2026, in Kansas City, Kan. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/p>\n
A solid resume has been building since 37-year-old Matt Wells took over as head coach for the first time in his career. In just seven games, the Rapids have scored 19 goals, deadlocking them with Vancouver for the league\u2019s most. So far, results have mirrored the style of play in terms of being all-or-nothing \u2014 Colorado has four wins, three losses and has not yet drawn.<\/p>\n
The wins so far have come against lesser competition. Inter Miami provides the best challenge and litmus test yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be the best version of ourselves tomorrow. We\u2019ve got an excellent home record, we\u2019ve been superb here in Colorado and in the altitude, so the fact we\u2019re in a different stadium doesn\u2019t make a difference to me,\u201d Wells said. \u201cFrom minute one, we come here, we press the game, we need to take the ball away from them. They want to have the ball, we want to have the ball, so it\u2019s going to be a fantastic occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know if we stick to our principles, we can win this game and we can play some great football that\u2019s going to excite the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defending MLS Cup champions aren\u2019t without their flaws, though. This week, coach Javier Mascherano shocked the league by departing the club, leaving Guillermo Hoyos as the interim coach. On the field, Miami sits in third in the Eastern Conference but isn\u2019t scoring like it\u2019s accustomed to (just 13 goals in seven games).<\/p>\n
Still, like it proved in the MLS Cup final last season, the duo of Messi and Rodrigo De Paul can be dangerous at any given moment. Add into the mix Uruguayan legend Luis Su\u00e1rez, who missed the 2025 final, and you\u2019ve got a nightmare of a puzzle to solve. Whether Hoyos can maintain Miami\u2019s structure in a short turnaround is an open question.<\/p>\n
If the Rapids can solve it, though, they can win much more than a game. Every time Messi and Miami travel to a new city, enormous crowds are littered with fans \u2014 who wouldn\u2019t necessarily go out of their way to watch that market\u2019s team \u2014 there to witness the Argentine spectacle.<\/p>\n
Colorado, which recently announced plans to revamp its brand and redesign its crest in an effort to reinsert itself in the Denver market, has an opportunity to capture the casual soccer fan at Empower on Saturday. Especially now that Wells has reestablished the high-flying, suffocating and dominant product on the field the club often says it wants to get back to, but has gone missing for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I see is opportunity for us to play our football and opportunity for us to put on an incredible showing for our fans that come to every game, and for us to put on a great show to the fans that are maybe coming for the first time and potentially coming for different reasons \u2014 to see Miami and Messi,\u201d Wells said. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely determined to make a good impression on them, and hopefully it\u2019s a catalyst for more people watching us play our football, because so far, we\u2019ve done some great things this season.\u201d<\/p>\n