Colorado Rapids' fortress at home — seven wins and five clean sheets in ten — meets a Real Salt Lake side ravaged by absences and owning the league's worst away record. With six regulars missing from the visitors' lineup, including defensive anchor Justen Glad, the hosts should…
Sign in for full analysis →Sign in to view how our call changed
Sign inColorado Rapids host Real Salt Lake on Saturday night in Week 22 of the MLS regular season, a Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry clash that pits one of the league's stingiest defences against the hottest rookie in the West.
Colorado will again be without first-choice goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who remains sidelined alongside Kimani Stewart-Baynes, Jackson Travis, Theodore Ku-DiPietro, Josh Atencio and Mamadou Billo Diop. Cabral Carter, who made his MLS debut against LAFC and kept a clean sheet with three saves, is expected to continue between the posts.
Real Salt Lake travel with a lengthy absentee list of their own. Defenders Justen Glad and Emeka Eneli are out, as are forwards Ariath Piol and Griffin Dillon. That places even more creative burden on rookie sensation Sergi Solans, who has scored five goals in his last six appearances.
The Rapids arrive on the back of three successive 1-0 victories, all built on clean sheets from the defensive unit now marshalled by Carter. The most recent, a 1-0 win over LAFC on August 19, came via a 22nd-minute own goal forced by Youssef Maziz's right-wing free-kick. Head coach Chris Armas' side have won four of their five outings since the mid-season World Cup break, conceding just once in that spell.
Whilst RSL fell to a 2-0 defeat at FC Dallas in their last outing, the match contained a historic footnote. Sergi Solans netted for the fourth consecutive game, taking his league tally to nine goals and breaking the club's single-season rookie record. The Spanish forward has also bagged 13 across all competitions. Head coach Pablo Mastroeni, however, refused to lean on excuses, insisting post-match that his side must "find solutions" rather than dwell on absences.
The contest will likely hinge on whether Solans can unpick a Rapids rearguard that has not been breached in 270 minutes of MLS action. With Diego Luna providing the service and DeAndre Yedlin potentially overlapping from right-back, RSL have the tools to ask questions — but Carter's confident debut and the organisation ahead of him give Colorado a platform few recent visitors have cracked.
A win for either side would sharpen their playoff footing in a congested Western Conference, while the loser faces an uphill fight as the regular season enters its final third.
Sign in to view injury report
Sign inSign in to view group standings
Sign inSign in to view match stats
Sign inSign in to view player ratings
Sign inSign in to view lineups
Sign inSign in to view head to head
Sign in
