A more familiar opponent does little to diminish the challenges Colorado Rapids will face Wednesday in a Leagues Cup semifinal in Los Angeles.

After beating four consecutive relatively unfamiliar Liga MX clubs, including Saturday’s dramatic penalty shootout to beat Club America, all that stands between the Rapids and the final is Western Conference opponent LAFC, a team Colorado has already played twice this season.

“Since they’ve come into the league, they’ve been one of the best teams not only in the West but the whole MLS,” Rapids midfielder Djordje Mihailovic said Tuesday. “They pose a different threat than Club America with certain characteristics of certain players.”

The Rapids beat LAFC, 3-2, in Commerce City in March. LAFC returned the favor with a 3-0 win at their home and the site of Wednesday’s match, BMO Stadium, in June. When Major League Soccer play resumes next week, LAFC will sit second, six points clear of the Rapids in fourth.

“We were kind of thinking we’d get another chance at them in the playoffs, at their place, with how well they’re doing in the league, but here we are,” midfielder Cole Bassett said after Saturday’s quarterfinal.

“Now, we’ve got another chance in Leagues Cup. We’re excited to go there. It will be a good atmosphere again and a very tough opponent.”

Each of the four Mexican clubs owned a majority of the possession and created far more shots than the Rapids. Colorado repeatedly found a way to advance behind a mix of calm defending under consistent pressure, clutch performances from goalkeeper Zack Steffen, a game-winning goal from Darren Yapi against Toluca late in the round of 16, and a pair of wins via penalty shootout.

“Those types of games, those types of performances, those types of wins, drama against a team like Club America, (beating) four Mexican teams in a row, only this can give teams (and) individuals real self-belief that they can hang with anybody,” coach Chris Armas said.

“The mood is good.”

LAFC looks likely to present a different type of challenge. Midfielder Cole Bassett, who converted his penalties against Leon and Club America, expected LAFC to look to use its pace on the wings to be more aggressive in attack, whereas the Mexican clubs were more methodical in how they tried to break down the back line.

“It’s going to be tough to stop them from going in behind us, and they’ll challenge us a lot more one vs. one, but we’ll also have the ball and chances in transition will be a lot more than these games have been,” Bassett said Saturday. “We’re excited at the opportunity.”

Regardless of Wednesday’s results, the Rapids are set for two more matches before resuming the MLS schedule on Aug. 31 in Dallas. The winner between the Rapids and LAFC faces the winner between Columbus Crew and Philadelphia Union in Sunday’s Leagues Cup final. The losers will play in a third-place match. The three other semifinalists were seeded in the top 13 before the tournament started. The Rapids were seeded 44th out of 45 teams, based on last year’s results, and have the longest odds to lift the cup on Sunday.

“We’ve been the underdog in a lot of games this year, and I’d imagine that’s what’s being put out there for this game as well, but we relish that. We don’t mind it,” midfielder Connor Ronan said. “The Club America game just gave us that confidence that we can go in, we can see out games, we’re comfortable not having the ball. We’re ready for anything tomorrow.”