Real Salt Lake will welcome Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids to Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday (8:00p MT, KMYU, KSL TV app, ESPN700) as it looks to claim its 11th RMC trophy in the last 13 seasons.
RSL currently leads the 2019 edition of the fan-created tournament by a 3-2 aggregate scoreline earned earlier in the season. RSL will retain the Rocky Mountain Cup if one of the following scenarios takes place on Saturday:
RSL wins, draws or loses by one goal. It's as simple as that.
The only way RSL does not retain the Rocky Mountain Cup is if it loses by two or more goals. If RSL is to lose by one goal, it will retain the Cup due to the fact that the current holder of the Cup keeps the Cup - RSL won in 2018 - should the two teams finish the season tied on aggregate goals. Only regular season matches count towards the record while own goals scored in the match do not count towards the goal total.
The largest margin of victory in the rivalry came in 2018 when RSL claimed an emphatic 6-0 win over Colorado at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
The Utah side leads the all-time series with a 21-13-11 (71 points) record since the teams first met in 2005. The Utah club has built a resounding +21 goal differential over the Rapids since 2005 and currently has its name etched in the trophy 10 times. Colorado on the other hand, has only claimed the trophy on four occasions, including the first two seasons of the rivalries existence.
The rivalry is led in scoring by RSL striker Joao Plata who has scored eight goals against the Rapids while goalkeeper Nick Rimando has earned 13 total shutouts against the Rapids in its 15-year history.
Since the the trophy switches hands from one fan group to another, it was decided that each team would be represented by five fans of each club who would be responsible for for creating at upholding the rivalry's guidelines and the generating the funds necessary to create the Rocky Mountain Cup trophy.
