Real Salt Lake chasing 7th consecutive Rocky Mountain Cup Saturday in Colorado

SANDY — Real Salt Lake returns to the pitch Saturday night in Denver as it faces Major League Soccer Western Conference rival the Colorado Rapids in the final match in pursuit of the prestigious Rocky Mountain Cup.

The match will be the third and final match between the two sides during this regular season and is the decision-maker for the RMC — a trophy RSL is looking to keep for a seventh consecutive year.

It is something that can only happen with a win Saturday night, and RSL knows Colorado will be looking to take that away with a win or even a draw.

“Definitely a good team on set pieces,” RSL defender and former Rapid Nat Borchers told ESPN 700 Thursday. “Definitely a blue-collar, hardworking team. I think that they’re going to come out flying. I think they want to be aggressive, and they want to go for it. They see an opportunity here, and I think aside, we do too. We haven’t won at Colorado since I’ve been on the team. We’ve gotten results, but we haven’t won, but I think there’s an opportunity there just like Toronto and Dallas (this year).”

The Salt Lake side enters the match on a two-game losing skid but still sits atop the MLS Western Conference table with 37 points and an 11-7-4 record on the season thus far.

The Colorado side enters Saturday’s match on a hot streak and unbeaten in its last six matches. The Rapids sit just behind RSL, tied for second in the West with the Portland Timbers with 34 points on the season and a 9-7-7 record.

The match will be the first time RSL captain Kyle Beckerman and goalkeeper Nick Rimando have been available in more than a month following international duty Gold Cup action and the MLS All Star game earlier this week.

They are players the roster and club are happy to have back.

“Just to have them back, to have their presence and know that they’re around is huge for this team,” said Borchers.

Beckerman, Rimando and defender Tony Beltran returned to the club midweek and returned to training on Friday. Beltran won’t be available Saturday for head coach Jason Kreis as Beltran will serve a one-game red card suspension he was handed prior to leaving on international duty.

The Salt Lake club will also be without defender Chris Wingert and midfielder Yordany Alvarez due to suspension.

The match opens a three-games-in-eight-days schedule for RSL as it returns to Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup action again on Wednesday, Aug. 7, hosting MLS opponent the Portland Timbers in a semifinal match. RSL will finish up the busy week hosting the Houston Dynamo in MLS action the following Saturday, Aug. 10. Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.

Related topics