HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, July 19, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (12-4-8 / 44 points / t-2nd West) remains on the road for the third and final away match in an eight-day stretch prior to this year’s MLS All-Star break and the subsequent 2024 Leagues Cup, continuing the critical Western Conference gauntlet Saturday at Colorado, wehre RSL will attempt to capture its 15th Rocky Mountain Cup title in the 20-season history of the fan-created series.
Kickoff Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in suburban Denver is at 7:30p MT, available worldwide on Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, with Steve Cangialosi and Danny Higginbotham (ENG) and Oscar Salazar and Jaime Macias (SPN) on the call.
RSL seeks to remain in MLS Supporters Shield contention as Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team seizes momentum from Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at LAFC, where a 34th-minute Brayan Vera free kick goal – his first of the season – equalized following a fifth-minute concession. RSL’s road record this year is now 4W-2L-7T after seeing its Club-record 10-game road unbeaten streak snapped in the 0-3 loss Saturday at Portland, RSL’s heaviest loss of the 2024 campaign. Still, RSL have dropped just two of its last 20 MLS contests since mid-March in the Club’s best start in nearly a decade.
RSL – now tied on 44 points with LAFC (one fewer game played) – dropped out of first place for the first time since mid-March, now looking up at the LA Galaxy (46 points on 25 games played) in the race for Western Conference supremacy. Wednesday’s hard-fought and valiant 1-1 draw at LAFC served as a course-correcting statement of intent, the Club yet again avoiding back-to-back losses during the Mastroeni era.
In nearly four full seasons under Mastroeni, RSL has played 125 matches across all competitions, winning 52, losing 42 and drawing 31. In that span, the Club has dropped back-to-back contests on just 9 occasions, with four of the nine coming last August/September, when RSL lost six out of seven following Pablo Ruiz’ injury suffered at LAFC in a Leagues Cup Quarterfinal.
Real Salt Lake at Colorado Rapids – MLS Matchday 28
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park – Commerce City, Colo.
Saturday, July 20, 2024 – 7:30p MT
Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass
ROCKY MOUNTAIN CUP SERIES DECIDER
RSL arrived in Denver early Thursday morning following the 1-1 draw at LAFC, now facing Colorado for the third time this season, the teams splitting March (1-2 RSL loss) and May (5-3 RSL win) results in Utah. A win or draw Saturday in Commerce City would give RSL its 15th Rocky Mountain Cup in 20 seasons.
In its last visit to DSG Park, RSL rode a 74th minute goal from **Diego Luna** to secure the 1-0 win last October. Earlier in the year, in May of 2023, RSL won twice against the Rapids in Commerce City just three days apart, a 1-0 Open Cup Round of 16 match followed by a 3-2 reg. season victory, RSL securing its 14th of the last 18 Rocky Mountain Cup titles, with the 2020 edition disputed.
BEST CAMPAIGN IN A DECADE
With RSL boasting 44 points in just 24 games, the Club’s best start in over a decade, RSL has a chance to surpass its all-time high of 57 points in a season, set back in 2012. RSL also has a trio of 56-point campaigns since MLS went to a 34-game reg. season (2010, 2013, 2014). RSL needs just two road wins in its final four away trips to match its second-highest visiting win total (2012, 2013; last year was RSL’s best-ever road performance, with an 8-5-4 / 28-point mark). With six more home games this season, RSL would need to win four of those to match the Club’s best-ever home mark of 12-4-1 / 37 points, set in 2019. Two more home wins would give RSL its eighth season with double-digit wins, and its first since 2019.
Should RSL get another six points this year, it would be the Club’s eighth 50-point season in its 20-year history.
TIME FOR ANOTHER NEW STREAK
Since seeing its single-season Club-record unbeaten streak snapped at 15 consecutive MLS games back on June 22, RSL has won back-to-back matches, both at home. Saturday at Portland denied RSL a chance at three consecutive wins for the second time this season, previously earning nine points out of nine from April 20 – May 4 with road wins at Chicago/Philadelphia and a home victory on May 4.
This week’s Portland match also saw RSL’s Club-record 10-game ROAD unbeaten streak in MLS action terminated, with RSL posting four road wins and six away draws since falling 0-2 at Miami back on Feb. 21 in the MLS season opener prior to Saturday.
That June 22 RSL loss – RSL’s lone MLS defeat in an 18-matche span prior to Saturday – was the Club’s first setback since March 9, falling at home 0-1 to the LA Galaxy in a match marred by **Chicho Arango**’s head injury just 16 minutes into the game. RSL’s 15-game MLS unbeaten run established a new record for the Club’s longest single-season streak in team history – while also matching the Portland Timbers (2013, 2018) and Colorado Rapids (2016) for the second-longest in MLS regular-season history (FC Dallas’ 19 games unbeaten in 2010). In RSL’s 20-season history, RSL also enjoyed a 16-game run from 2013 into 2014 (including a 12-game single-season run in 2014), and a Club-record 18-game unbeaten streak from July 2010 to April 2011 (2010 includes a 14-game single-season run, RSL’s previous best).
