SANDY, Utah (Sunday, June 7, 2015) – Real Salt Lake was in need of a result after dropping two road matches against the LA Galaxy and Vancouver Whitecaps FC last week. And while a scoreless draw wasn’t what the team hoped for, the shutout in a scoreless draw against the Colorado Rapids in the first match of the Rocky Mountain Cup got it back on track defensively.
GK Nick Rimando finished with the one save necessary to earn his sixth shutout in 13 starts this season and 121st clean sheet of his career and RSL finished the match with 15 shots on Sunday, but only put one on frame and the club finished with its fourth scoreless draw of the season.
There were 15 shots between the two teams in the first half, but neither team registered a shot on goal.
FW Alvaro Saborio had three headers that missed the mark in the 13th minute, 38th minute and 39th minute, all on plays set up by crosses from MF Javier Morales. Meanwhile, Colorado took five of its seven shots from outside the box and none were particularly threatening to find the back of the net.
The first shot on goal came in the 53rd minute when Sam Cronin hit a half-volley from the top of the box and rocketed it straight into the chest of Rimando for the first save of the match. RSL responded minutes later with its first shot on goal too, as Saborio got his head to a headed pass from FW Sebastian Jaime, but Clint Irwin was there for the save.
Then, as they have in many Rocky Mountain Cup matches before, the final 10 minutes got hectic.
It looked like Axel Sjoberg may break the deadlock in the 82nd minute, but his header from the middle of the box skipped just wide of the net.
In the 84th minute, FW Joao Plata missed just wide on a shot from the edge of the box and moments later MF Luke Mulholland saw the same fate on a diving header off a ball from Morales.
Then, in the 88th minute, DF Aaron Maund was whistled for a foul in the box as he jostled for the ball with Luis Solignac and Colorado was awarded a penalty.
With Rimando waiting on the line, Dillon Powers stepped to the ball and fired. Rimando dove to his right and Powers shot to his left, but missed wide of the goal and the match remained scoreless.
Morales ended up with one last opportunity on the final kick of the ball and missed wide right and the referee sounded his whistle for fulltime.
RSL doesn’t have another MLS match until hosting Sporting Kansas City on Sunday, June 21. However, RSL will meet Seattle Sounders FC 2 in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday, June 16 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Real Salt Lake Match Notes – RSLvCOL
- Sunday was the first of three matches in the Rocky Mountain Cup. The two remaining matches will be played July 11 and October 4 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
- DF Jamison Olave was subbed out in the sixth minute with a right quad strain.
- After being on the bench for the U.S. National Team’s come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Netherlands on Friday, GK Nick Rimando flew back over 5,600 miles to Utah for Sunday’s match, starting against the Rapids.
REAL SALT LAKE 0-0 COLORADO RAPIDS
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015
RIO TINTO STADIUM
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Colorado Rapids 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
None.
Misconduct Summary:
RSL: John Stertzer (Yellow; Foul) 25’
COL: Axel Sjoberg (Yellow; Foul) 32’
COL: Bobby Burling (Yellow; Foul) 79’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-3-3): Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran, Jamison Olave (Aaron Maund, 6’), Elias Vasquez, Abdoulie Mansally; John Stertzer, Luke Mulholland, Javier Morales (C); Sebastian Jaime (Olmes Garcia, 63’), Alvaro Saborio (Devon Sandoval, 80’), Joao Plata.
Substitutes not used: Jeff Attinella, Demar Phillips, Luis Gil, Pecka.
Colorado Rapids (4-2-3-1): Clint Irwin; James Riley, Bobby Burling (C), Axel Sjoberg, Michael Harrington; Sam Cronin, Marcelo Sarvas (Lucas Pittinari, 62’); Gabriel Torres (Charles Elondou, 82’), Dillon Powers, Juan Ramirez (Nick LaBrocca, 46’); Luis Solignac.
Substitutes not used: Zac MacMath, Marc Burch, Kevin Doyle, Jared Watts.
Referee: Kevin Stott
Assistant Referees: Felisha Meriscal, Paul Scott
4th Official: Nima Saghafi
Attendance: 18,895
Weather: Cloudy and 75
