WINNERS OF THREE STRAIGHT, STREAKING RAPIDS FACE EARLY CONFERENCE BATTLE IN DALLAS

WHAT:	The Colorado Rapids travel to the Cotton Bowl to face the Dallas 
Burn on Saturday, May 8, at 6:30 p.m. (MT).

RECORDS:	Colorado (3-2, 7 points, 3rd place in West)
		Dallas  (4-3, 10 points, 2nd in West)

TELEVISION:	Fox Sports Rocky Mountain

RADIO:	KMXA 1090-AM (Spanish)

1998 SEASON SERIES:	Burn won 3-1

ALL-TIME SERIES:	Burn Leads 8-4

MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS 		   	
             	 W	L	SOW	PTS	STREAK	
Chicago		5	1	0	15	Won 2		
Dallas		4	3	1	10	Lost 1	 	
COLORADO	3	2	1	7	WON 3			
Los Angeles	4	3	3	6	Won 2			
San Jose	5	2	5	5	Won 1		 
Kansas City	0	7	0	0	Lost 7		
	

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS:
RAPIDS 2  New England 1
Goals:  Dely Valdes (2), Harris (4) 

Following their 2-1 win in New England on Saturday, the Colorado Rapids have now won three games in a row heading into back-to-back conference games over the next two weekends.

Colorado, currently in third place but with two games in hand on the entire conference except for Chicago (one game in hand on the Fire), travels to Dallas to face the second-place Burn on Saturday.

Colorado forward Wolde Harris, whose late goal sealed the win for the Rapids on Saturday, has scored four goals over the last three games, all of which were Rapids wins.

After not starting the first two games, Harris was inserted into the starting line-up on April 10 and has responded by scoring in each of the three games in which he has been in the first eleven.

Harris has joined Panamanian striker Jorge Dely Valdes on the forward line for the past three games, and the results have been very impressive.

Over the three games that Rapids coach Glenn "Mooch" Myernick has started them together up front, the duo has combined for six goals and an assist.

With Swedish midfielder Anders Limpar sidelined on Saturday with a left calf strain, forward Paul Bravo moved back to the attacking midfielder role and responded with assists on both Colorado goals in the win over New England.

Bravo was making his first start since March 27, after he was forced to miss Colorado's last two games with turf toe in his right foot.

Limpar is still listed as questionable for this Saturday in Dallas.

With both losses this season coming in shoot-outs after ties in regulation, the Rapids have yet to be defeated in regulation play this season.

One major reason for that fact is the play of the Rapids defense, which has given up a total of just six goals over the five games (1.20 per game).

Colorado has moved Marcelo Balboa back to the central defender position this season, with his former role as a defensive midfielder now filled by Matt McKeon, acquired for Chris Henderson in the off-season.

This defensive turnaround follows the 1998 season in which the Rapids gave up a Major League Soccer record 69 goals over the 32-game season (2.16 per game).

* A win Saturday in Dallas would give Colorado its first four-game winning streak in team history.

* A win Saturday would also put Colorado two games over the .500 mark for the first time in team history.

* A win Saturday would give Colorado its first-ever regular-season win over the Burn at the Cotton Bowl (0-6). The Rapids did, however, defeat the Burn at the Cotton Bowl in Game One of the 1997 Western Conference Finals, a 1-0 win on a Sean Henderson header.

The Colorado Rapids on Thursday called up goalkeeper Johnny Morton from their A-League affiliate, the Raleigh Capital Express. Morton will join the Rapids for Saturday's game in Dallas and then return to Raleigh.

Morton will fill in for goalkeeper Ian Feuer, who will remain in Denver this weekend to attend to some personal matters.

Morton, 23, has a 2-1 record so far in 1999, and has turned in two consecutive shutouts. After beginning the season with a 2-0 loss to Jacksonville, Morton shut out Maryland (2-0) and Charleston (1-0, keeping a clean sheet for 90 minutes plus 15 minutes of overtime and then saving 3 of 5 shoot-out attempts) in his last two outings.

Following his 105 minutes of shutout goalkeeping, Morton was named to the A-League Team of the Week for the week of April 26.

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