As recently as the beginning of this week, the Portland Timbers felt as though they were hitting their stride, finishing the first half of the Major League Soccer season with momentum generated by Sunday's gutty, come-from-behind win against the Houston Dynamo.

In their 17th game of the season, Portland had climbed up the table and above the red line. After suffering a slew of injuries, players were returning to training and regaining form.

Now? Not so much.

Timbers coach Caleb Porter said after training on Friday that defender Liam Ridgewell (knee), midfielder Diego Valeri (contusion) and goalkeeper Jake Gleeson (hamstring) all are questionable for the matchup against the Western Conference-leading Colorado Rapids on Monday, July 4.

They play at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce, Colorado. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. Pacific time.

"We thought we were getting healthy, but it's not worked out that way," Porter said.

Ridgewell was expected to play against the LA Galaxy in Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 match. He didn't.

Porter said Valeri suffered "a knock" in that game. And Gleeson was held out on Wednesday as he continues to work through the hamstring issue that earlier had made him a game-time decision (he played) against the Dynamo.

Neither Ridgewell nor Valeri trained on Friday, Porter said.

But patching together a lineup and putting together a system with a roster limited by injuries is nothing new to Porter this season.

Midfielder Darlington Nagbe has returned to the Timbers after his recent stint with the U.S. Men's National Team in the Copa America tournament. He looked sharp in the Open Cup game despite the loss.

But it's the revolving door of injuries that prevents Porter week in and week out from putting his best lineup on the pitch.

"There'll be a day at some point where we get everybody healthy, I'm hoping," Porter said. "But right now we're going to keep doing what we're doing, and that's grinding. We've been bitten by the injury bug this year but we've managed it."

The Timbers head to Colorado to face the buzzsaw that is Colorado. The Rapids are undefeated at home and are riding an 11-game unbeaten streak.

They'll get a extra boost from the return of USMNT midfielder Jermaine Jones and will welcome U.S. national team and international star goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Colorado have "just been a team that's riding a wave of confidence," Porter said.

But the Timbers coach has some confidence of his own, saying he's "excited" for the challenge as Portland continues to look for its first win on the road this season.

"We'll put out a team that hopefully can give us points for that match and move us up the table and keep the momentum going," he said.

-- Molly Blue