MLS Real Salt Lake

RSL Looks to Move into 1st place in MLS with Win v. Rapids

Published on August 3, 2012 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SANDY, Utah (Friday, August 3, 2012) - Real Salt Lake (13-7-3, 42 pts.; 2nd in West) heads to Colorado to take on Subaru Rocky Mountain Cup rivals Colorado Rapids (7-14-1, 22 pts.; 7th in West) on Saturday, August 4 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. RSL - which clinched its sixth-straight Subaru Rocky Mountain Cup when it beat Colorado 2-0 on July 21 - will complete a three-game sweep of the Rapids and jump ahead of the idle San Jose Earthquakes into first-place in MLS with a win on Saturday.

Kickoff from Dick's Sporting Goods Park is set for 7:00 p.m. MT, with pre-game television coverage beginning at 6:30 on ABC4. Fans can also catch the action live via the team's official radio partners: ESPN 700/ESPN700Sports.com and La Gran D 102.3 FM.

The Claret-and-Cobalt sealed the Subaru Rocky Mountain Cup on July 21, beating the Rapids 2-0 at Rio Tinto Stadium to build an insurmountable 6-0 points advantage. FW Álvaro SaborÃ-o opened the scoring in the 32nd minute and MF Will Johnson sealed the game with a goal in second half stoppage time.

Saturday's match will be the third in eight days for RSL, which beat Vancouver 2-1 at home last Friday before losing its CONCACAF Champions League opener 1-0 at Costa Rican champions C.S. Herediano on Tuesday night. The team returned to Utah on Wednesday and trained on Thursday. The squad will train and travel to Denver on Friday.

Real Salt Lake DF Jamison Olave won't be available on Saturday after injuring his hamstring on Tuesday at Herediano. He underwent a MRI on Thursday and is expected to miss about four weeks.

Colorado enters Saturday's match on a franchise-record six-game losing streak. The Rapids haven't won a league match since June 30th against Portland, most recently falling 2-1 at home to Seattle Sounders FC on July 28. Colorado's slide has them tied for seventh-place in the West and tied for 16th in the league, just three points ahead of last-place sides Portland and Toronto.

How to Follow Real Salt Lake v. Colorado Rapids

Kickoff : 7:00 p.m. MT from Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO TV : LIVE on ABC4 English Radio : ESPN700/ESPN700Sports.com (pre-game coverage at 7:00 p.m.) Spanish Radio : La Gran D 102.3 FM/ Juan 1600 AM with Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal Online : Live updates via the @RealSaltLake Twitter Feed and MLSsoccer.com MatchCenter

RSL History v. Colorado Rapids

Real Salt Lake holds a 9-8-7 series advantage over Colorado and holds an eight-game unbeaten streak against the Rapids that dates back to May 2009. A win on Saturday would give RSL 10 total wins against Colorado, which would be the most wins RSL has against any one team.

RSL clinched the 2012 Subaru Rocky Mountain Cup with a 2-0 win on July 28. FW Fabian EspÃ-ndola created the first goal, chasing down a weak back pass from Colorado DF Drew Moor and winning a 50-50 ball with Rapids GK Matt Pickens six yards from goal to set SaborÃ-o up for the easiest of tap-ins. RSL took advantage of another Colorado defensive mistake to seal the game in the 90th minute. SaborÃ-o stole the ball from Colorado DF Tyrone Marshall in the middle of the Rapids' final third and quickly played a through ball to Johnson, who buried a hard shot inside the far post from the right side of the box.

RSL beat Colorado 2-0 in the sides first meeting of the year, on April 7 at Rio Tinto Stadium. SaborÃ-o opened the scoring in the 20th minute, deftly chesting down DF Tony Beltran's cross from the right flank before slamming his shot home from 12 yards out. Controversy surrounded Real Salt Lake's second goal in the 57th minute when EspÃ-ndola appeared to have taken down MF Luis Gil's lengthy ball over the top of the Rapids backline with an extended arm, but the Argentine striker finished the play ruthlessly, slotting home to double the RSL advantage.

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