RSL Storylines: All Aboard for the Rocky Mountain Cup!

All Aboard for the Rocky Mountain Cup!

Welcome back to another edition of storylines! As always, we thank you for your consistent, unwavering support all through this season.

It’s been quite an amazing year so far, but we’re not done yet. Far from it, in fact. We’re getting to the business end of the season now, and the party’s just getting started. So grab a drink, sit back and relax, and dive into yet another brilliant iteration of RSL storylines.

It’s Rocky Mountain Cup derby time! Pablo Mastroeni and Co., wrap up their grueling three-game road gauntlet with a tantalizing Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry thriller against arch-rivals Colorado Rapids in what - if the previous encounter was anything to go by - promises to be a blockbuster event.

Since 2005, RSL and the Rapids have competed against each other in one of the most passionate and bitter rivalries in Major League Soccer history, called the Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry. A proper derby game. A battle for the title of the best in the Mountain West, and the rights to who rules these footballing lands. A simple glance at the league table will tell you all you need to know about which of the two teams has had the better season this year. Surprise! It’s not Colorado, but that really shouldn’t surprise anyone. Alas, form tends to go out the window really quickly in games such as these, and in the end, only the three points on the day truly matter at the end of 90 minutes. It is a derby game after all, and nothing else matters on derby day.

An RSL win or draw at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Saturday would give RSL a 15th piece of regional hardware in 20 seasons.

Both clubs compete yearly for the Rocky Mountain Cup, a trophy awarded to the winner of the regular-season series, based on total points, and by a bipartisan committee of supporters from both teams. Both teams have already claimed wins in each one of their earlier two meetings this year, with the Rapids earning a fortuitous 2-1 win on March 9, and RSL inflicting a 5-3 thrashing on their mountainous rivals when both sides met for the second time on May 18, where a brace each from **Chicho Arango** and **Andres Gómez**, and a late **Anderson Julio** insurance strike sealed a comprehensive come-from-behind win in undoubtedly one of Real Salt Lake’s greatest-ever games. The stage is thus finely poised to declare a new champion of the Rocky Mountain Cup, meaning this encounter on Saturday will serve as the all-important tiebreaker as to who gets crowned the footballing kings of the Mountain West! Kickoff for this crucial decider at DSG Park is at 7:30 PM MT.

RSL come into this game on the back of a loss and a draw in its opening two road games of this gauntlet, a frustrating 3-0 defeat at the hands of Portland Timbers, and a 1-1 draw against LAFC on Wednesday in a top-of-the-table decider. Pablo and the boys will be hoping to replicate the 5-3 win over the Rapids earlier in the season and enter the 2024 MLS All-Star break with the much-needed boost of a rivalry win. As always in storylines, we bring you some of the most compelling narratives that could sway the pendulum in our favor.

Storylines

• RSL avoided back to back defeats in consecutive games yet again this season in the 1-1 draw with LAFC, Pablo’s 125th game at the helm. The Claret-and-Cobalt have now suffered back to back defeats only nine times in Pablo’s 125-game tenure, and have the chance to wrap up the road gauntlet in perfect fashion with a win on Saturday night. The team’s 5-3 win over Colorado earlier in the season should also provide much optimism ahead of a crucial encounter.

• Defensive solidity will be key against Colorado, and the recent performances of Brayan Vera will be pivotal if RSL stand any chance of keeping its bitter rivals at bay. The return of Justen Glad will also be a huge welcome boost for Pablo and should help return the team to its defensive best. In attack, the performances of Luna and Gómez will be crucial particularly in the absence of MLS golden boot leader, Chicho Arango.

The Deep Dive

• RSL avoided back to back defeats in consecutive games yet again this season in the 1-1 draw with LAFC, Pablo’s 125th game at the helm. The Claret-and-Cobalt have now suffered back to back defeats only nine times in Pablo’s 125-game tenure, and have the chance to wrap up the road gauntlet in perfect fashion with a win on Saturday night. The team’s 5-3 win over Colorado earlier in the season should also provide much optimism ahead of a crucial encounter.

0-2; 1-2; 2-2; 2-3; 3-3; 4-3; 5-3. Those were the sequences of goals, and scoreline, on that fateful Spring night in Sandy on May 18. Those here at the Club still have fond memories of that night, with the iconic image of a shirtless Anderson Julio, celebrating his late goal in front of a raucous home support in the stands, seared deeply in the back of all of our minds.

Oh how America First Field erupted that day. The way it happens in legendary football stadiums all over the world. Old Trafford, Santiago Bernabéu, Anfield, but this time, it was all happening right here at America First Field. Dare I say, this author doesn’t remember the last time before that, when our beloved stadium responded to a game, and team, the way it did on that fateful night against Colorado.

RSL came into the game in a rich vein of form and sitting comfortably atop the Western Conference standings, and were expected by most to make light work of its bitter rivals in what was only the second Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry game of the year. However, disaster struck as early as the fifth minute for the hosts, and within the opening 20 minutes, RSL found itself trailing at home in the contest by two goals. But alas, Resilience! How art thou my old friend, for thy name is #DaleReal.

Two goals down in the opening twenty minutes, and looking down and out, but if Pablo’s boys were suffering from any anxieties or nerves, they certainly didn’t show it, and in the end it only served to inspire one of the most thrilling and captivating comeback victories in the franchise’s 20-year history.

Chicho was the first to strike back, merely three minutes after the team had conceded its second, and Gómez restored parity with a second five minutes before halftime to level the scores at the break. However, in the team’s desperate search for a go-ahead goal, it fell behind again. Only 11 minutes after the restart, now down 2-3. But pressure makes diamonds, and stars shine brightest when the night is darkest. This team did not get as far as it has by giving up. The job’s not done, not yet, and you never, ever give up. That’s the law. The first law of Pablo - is that you never give up.

2-3 down with half an hour to go, and the chase was on. Pablo’s boys gave it absolutely everything, but nothing seemed to work. Soon the game crossed the 60-minute threshold, and then the 70th minute, still behind, and then the 80th minute and it was all hands on deck at this point. No giving up, no settling for less. Just a fight till the end, whatever it takes, and then suddenly it all came pouring down from the 85th minute, and who else but Chicho Arango, again and again for the Claret-and-Cobalt. In the team’s desperate, agonizing, excruciating hour of need, its Captain stepped up and it was 3-3, but the Claret-and-Cobalt weren’t done yet, not by a long shot. Three minutes later and RSL scored its fourth, Chicho turning provider this time for Gómez to score his second of the game, and America First Field bellowed. Pablo’s boys had done it, they had come from the depths of despair to the brink of ecstasy and had found new life. They had, in footballing terms, well and truly risen from the dead.

The score was 4-3 now, with RSL in front for the very first time in the game. We thought it might be over then, but even then this team wasn’t done yet. Then suddenly in the 90th minute, Anderson Julio picked up the ball deep in the Colorado half before dribbling and cutting inside his defender, and then curling a sweetly struck right-footed effort in off the post for RSL’s fifth and final goal of a spellbinding contest. This time the stadium didn’t just react in response, it erupted. Like a volcano unleashing its final, fiery roars.

Three goals in the final six minutes plus injury time to seize control and win the game. We might never see anything like that again, and certainly maybe not in person! What a time to be alive! What a time to be a fan of the Claret-and-Cobalt! These are the moments we live for as fans, and for the sport we all love.

Real Salt Lake won the match in the end, and deservedly so, but football was the real winner that night. Joga bonito; The beautiful game. The game we adore.

The result represented only the second time ever RSL had turned a two-goal home deficit into a two-goal victory (July 24, 2009 v Dallas) - undoubtedly one of the greatest games in the Club’s 638-game MLS history.

Such an inspirational victory will no doubt provide much-needed encouragement and confidence going into yet another Rocky Mountain Cup derby. If we could do it before, we can certainly do it again, and no doubt Pablo will be emphasizing that onto the players in preparation for this crucial tie.

Wednesday night's stalemate with LAFC also extended Pablo’s record of games played whilst avoiding defeats in consecutive games. RSL have now suffered defeat in back-to-back games on only nine occasions throughout Pablo’s 125-game tenure at the helm of the Claret-and-Cobalt.

Since August 2021, RSL has recorded 19 wins and 11 draws and suffered only nine back-to-back losses in Mastroeni’s 125 games at the helm of the Claret-and-Cobalt. The team has now earned a result in 30 of the 39 games following a loss during Pablo’s tenure. This bounce back resilience has continued this season with the 1-1 draw on Feb. 24 against St. Louis following the season-opening loss to Miami, the March 23rd, 2-1 win in Vancouver following the rare home loss to Colorado on March 9, the July 3rd, 3-2 win at home against Houston Dynamo following the 1-0 home loss against LA Galaxy on June 22, and last night’s 1-1 draw following last weekend’s 3-0 away loss to Portland. Every defeat this season has been met with a response in the next game, with two wins and two draws in matches following a loss this year. Pablo and the boys will certainly be hoping to power on from Wednesday night’s draw with an all-important Rocky Mountain Cup win this weekend, and there certainly will be no shortage of confidence or belief within the camp in preparation for what promises to be a titanic battle between to of the West’s top teams.

• Defensive solidity will be key against Colorado, and the recent performances of Brayan Vera will be pivotal if RSL stand any chance of keeping its bitter rivals at bay. The return of Justen Glad will also be a huge welcome boost for Pablo and should help return the team to its defensive best. In attack, the performances of Luna and Gómez will be crucial particularly in the absence of MLS golden boot leader, Chicho Arango.

RSL’s defensive record has admitedly taken a beating in the team’s past few games, with 12 goals conceded in its last six matches. The team has no doubt struggled immensely at the back recently, but a large part of that owed to much to the absences of regular defensive lynchpins, **Brayan Vera** and **Justen Glad**. The Colombian defender had been out with a suspension and then immigration travel before his recent return and gradual reintegration into the team, and showed just why he remains of the league’s best players with a show-stopping performance on Wednesday night. The 25-year-old proved the unlikely goal hero from defense as RSL bounced back from its 0-3 loss away to Portland with a hard-fought point in a 1-1 draw on the road against LAFC.

RSL’s Colombian enforcer has certainly caught the eye with a series of impressive performances this year, recording a goal and two assists, including 22 tackles, 54 clearances, 18 blocked shots, and 10 interceptions in what has been a hugely impressive personal season for him so far, and RSL will no doubt be hoping Vera can continue his stunning form at the heart of defense against Colorado, and as the team gradually approaches the business end of its season and continues its push for silverware on all fronts.

First-time All-Star and homegrown defender **Justen Glad** is also available for starting contention again in what will surely be a welcome boost for the locker room. The 27-year-old had formed a formidable, indomitable defensive partnership with Vera before sustaining an ankle injury which had kept him out of the team’s last six games. No doubt his return will be a huge boost for the rest of the team and Pablo will be hoping his veteran star center back can quickly return to his previous form having now recovered from his injury as RSL continue its title assault for the remainder of the season.

In attack, winger Andres Gómez will also be available for selection having missed out on the draw against LAFC. RSL’s second top scorer was forced to serve a one-match ban for the game in the City of Angels following a caution accumulation sustained during the 3-0 loss to Portland.

Gómez, alongside **Diego Luna**, will be pivotal in attack for RSL going into this game particularly with the added suspension of captain and MLS golden boot leader, Chicho Arango. RSL’s Captain was suspended for three RSL matches and the upcoming All-Star game for a violation of MLS policy, and as such will also miss out on Saturday night’s Rocky Mountain Cup thriller.

In the absence of Chicho, the mantle in attack falls to the young dynamic pair to herald in the new age of Claret-and-Cobat dominance in their captain’s absence and until his return, starting with the clash against Colorado Rapids.

The pair have combined for a total of 16 goals and 21 assists in the MLS this season, and Pablo will no doubt be hoping RSL’s electric, dynamic duo can continue to shine on the brightest of stages and continue their amazing forms this season starting on Saturday.

So once again, grab a drink, sit back and relax, and tune in, and as always, may the odds be ever in our favor.

Enjoy the continued magic of RSL’s 2024 season starting Saturday, with a 7:30 PM MT kickoff in Colorado on MLS Season Pass / Apple TV+