RSL enters Sunday with dual purposes, first to capture three valuable points in an effort to continue the club’s late-season season surge and challenge for a Western Conference playoff berth; and second, to win by the necessary two goals to match Colorado on aggregate in the 2015 series and retain the Rocky Mountain Cup for the eighth time in the last nine seasons (2013 won by Colorado).
RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman – traded from the Rapids to RSL back in July, 2007 – would become just the second Claret-and-Cobalt member to surpass 20,000 regular-season minutes for the club in the 83rd minute of Sunday’s match. This week’s MLS Save of the Week winner, GK Nick Rimando (with 22,175 minutes played), is the only other player to have surpassed the threshold.
RSL is 3-8-5 all-time at Colorado, last winning at Dicks Sporting Goods Park on August 2, 2014, a gritty 10-man, 1-0 win to capture the Rocky Mountain Cup for the second time away from home (2007). RSL went ahead on a Javier Morales goal midway through the first half that day, but was forced to play nearly the entire second half down a man after an Aaron Maund red card. GK Nick Rimando preserved the clean sheet, one of his opponent-high 16 against the Rapids, out of his MLS-record 123 all-time.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake @ Colorado Rapids- Coverage Begins: 5:00 p.m. MT
- TV: Fox Sports 1 – Mark Rogondino, Brad Friedel & Katie Witham
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (4:00 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley & Brian Kamler
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
- Online: The @RealSaltLake Twitter feed provides updates
Following is the link to the Adobe PDF version of the MLS Game Guide in advance of Sunday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Colorado.
Click here to download the PDF version of the MLS Game Guide for Sunday’s RSL @ Colorado matchupRSL remains on the road after last Sunday’s 0-1 loss in San Jose after winning a pair of home games the prior week in separate competitions. On Saturday, Sept. 19, a record crowd of 21,004 witnessed a comprehensive 3-0 dismantling of the LA Galaxy, as FW Devon Sandoval scored two goals off assists from Javier Morales and Juan Manuel Martinez, including the game-winner in the third minute. Morales provided a goal and an assist for the second consecutive MLS match, giving the “maestro” three goals in his last four games and a club-high 8 goals and 11 assists this season, just 1 goal and 4 assists away from career highs in both categories.
At Rio Tinto Stadium this season, RSL is now 11-2-6 across all competitions, including a trio of home wins in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Since the beginning of 2008, RSL boasts a 97-20-39 mark in its last 156 home games (all comps) in that span, during which it has outscored opponents by 169 goals (282/113), with a 77-15-36 regular-season mark (230/92), a 7-1-1 CCL record (19/6), 5-2-2 in playoffs (11/4) and an 8-2-0 ledger in the Open Cup (21/10).
Following next weekend’s CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying doubleheaders for the Semifinal and Final Rounds on October 10 and 13, RSL hosts MLS opponents Portland Timbers FC on Wednesday, October 14 and FC Dallas on Saturday, October 17. RSL then commences its 2015/16 CONCACAF Champions League Group play, RSL now three points clear in the Group G standings of Guatemalan side Municipal, which visits Utah on October 20. With a win or draw at home – where RSL is now 7-1-1 all-time in the continental competition – the Claret-and-Cobalt would advance to next February’s Quarterfinal stage.
In Colorado, RSL could welcome the return of MF Javier Morales, who missed last week’s 0-1 loss at San Jose game after straining a hip flexor while providing both assists in the club’s 2-1 comeback win on Sept. 24, against Santa Tecla in CONCACAF Champions League play. DF Chris Schuler is out for the season after undergoing surgery on his ankle/foot two weeks ago.
