Commerce City, CO (Sports Network) - The Colorado Rapids had all the advantages heading into their Major League Soccer fixture vs. Toronto FC on Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

The Rapids were playing at home, had a week off from league play to prepare for the game and had a full compliment of players.

TFC was missing starting defender Marco Velez and starting midfielder Amado Guevara because of red cards earned last week. Also, injuries to Todd Dunivant, and Laurent Robert kept them out as well as the absences of Marvell Wynne and Maurice Edu, who are away with the U.S. Olympic team.

On top of that, TFC (7-8-4) entered the game just 1-7 on the road and was coming off its first home loss of the season.

None of that mattered as Chad Barrett scored the game's only goal to lead the visiting Reds to an improbable 1-0 victory over the Rapids.

"I think that we put a game together for 90 minutes, which we've struggled to do this season," TFC goalkeeper Greg Sutton said. "Tonight we did the job for the full 90 minutes - we were blocking shots, getting in front of balls, and showing a lot of character defensively. It's something we needed to do. And now we use this as motivation to try and continue playing like we did today."

"We've got two guys in the Olympics, two guys suspended, three back home injured, and we picked up another couple of injuries today," TFC coach John Carver said. "So we were down to the bare bones and the young guys have come in there, stepped up, and done a great job."

The Rapids actually dominated the first half, out-shooting TFC 10-4, but the Reds' only shot on goal in the opening frame found the back of the net.

"We didnt come to play," Colodado coach Fernando Clavijo said. "I'm extremely disappointed and embarrassed today with our performance. I'm not going to point fingers at anybody, but the players need to perform. I'm in charge and of course I am responsible, and I will take the blame for it. I expected people to step up and they didn't do it."

With the first half winding down, TFC was awarded a free kick from a little over 30 yards out, which was taken by Barrett. Playing in just his second game since coming over in a trade from Chicago, Barrett unleashed a pinpoint shot into the upper left hand corner of the net for his first goal as a member of Toronto FC.

Colorado (6-10-3) actually widened their shot margin in the second half (21-8) even though Colin Clark was ejected with his second yellow card 20 minutes from time, but it didn't matter as TFC goalkeeper Greg Sutton stood tall, making 10 saves in the shutout win.

The Rapids will try to rebound from the tough loss that has them in second-to- last in the Western Conference when they host Kansas City next Saturday while Toronto plays at New York a day later in its next league fixture.