Real Salt Lake will travel to Commerce City, Colo., on Saturday night to face the Colorado Rapids in the third and deciding match of the Rocky Mountain Cup.
The teams have met twice this season, both in Sandy, Utah. RSL won 5-3 in the most recent meeting on May 18, while the Rapids took the first match 2-1 on March 9.
Salt Lake (12-4-8, 44 points) enters Saturday’s contest with points in three of its last four matches (2-1-1) and is in third place in the Western Conference. It is coming off a 1-1 midweek draw against LAFC in Los Angeles.
“The first five minutes are critical, and we want to get after the ball in the first five minutes. We don’t want them to get into rhythm. We want them to force it long, we want to dictate the tempo,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said.
“(In LA), even though we conceded early in that first half, I thought we had a good start, a bright start, an aggressive start. The first five minutes of both halves allows you to grow into the (match), but it also allows you to dictate the tempo in which you want the (match) to be played.”
RSL will be without the league’s leading scorer, Cristian Arango, who is serving the second match of a four-match suspension for violating the league’s anti-harassment policy. Arango has 17 goals and 11 assists in 23 appearances this season.
Midfielder Andres Gomez, who missed the midweek match against LAFC due to yellow-card accumulation, has 11 goals and nine assists in 22 outings.
Colorado (11-9-5, 38 points) is coming off a 3-2 loss to the host LA Galaxy, also on Wednesday, but also has points in three of four matches.
“I think we got punished on a few mistakes on some good goals in the first half, and we made the game interesting. I think we had a good push right after halftime,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said.
“We see once again the team has character, the team has grit and that’s going to be important for Saturday, when we have a quick turnaround at home and ramp things up for a big game on the weekend.”
The Rapids, who are fifth in the West, are six points behind RSL.
Forward Rafael Navarro has a team-leading 11 goals to go with four assists in 25 matches this season. Midfielder Djordje Mihailovic has 19 goal contributions (10 goals and nine assists) in 21 appearances.
–Field Level Media