Real Salt Lake ties 2-2 with rival Colorado

SANDY — Real Salt Lake was forced to settle for a 2-2 draw against rival Colorado Rapids Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium after a goal in the 89th minute from Lalas Abubakar.

"It feels like a loss," midfielder Justin Meram said after the match. "This result sucks. We feel it, everybody feels it, the fans feel it."

Anderson Julio was injured just 12 minutes into his first start of the season and had to be replaced by Meram, who came off the bench for the first time this year.

The change moved Jefferson Savarino from his usual winger position to a forward up top with Sergio Cordova, which turned out to provide an offensive spark for the squad.

"Putting him in a position to be dangerous — I think it's good," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "Obviously, he's comfortable on the right, but I think this position for him could be a good one."

RSL had a pair of chances in the 22nd and 24th minutes when Jasper Loffelsend sent a rocket toward goal that was saved, and then Meram got on the end of a rebound after a corner kick and headed it toward goal only for the attempt to be cleared off the line. Meram pleaded to the ref for a handball, but to no avail.

Pablo Ruiz had the Claret and Cobalt's next chance in the 30th minute when he sent in a banger from outside the box that came within inches of the crossbar. With high temperatures Saturday in Salt Lake, both teams took a mandatory water break after the 30th minute.

Things started getting chippy between the rival teams toward the end of the first half when Zac MacMath felt his RSL teammate was fouled and received a yellow card in the 38th minute for retaliating against the Colorado player.

Max had the Rapids' best chance to that point in the 46th minute when the ball was crossed in front of the RSL goal then passed back to him at point-blank range in the box. Luckily for the RSL defenders caught sleeping, Max's shot went wide left.

Meram then got an equally tantalizing chance for RSL in first-half stoppage time when he fired a curler from the edge of the box that very nearly found the upper 90.

Seconds later, Savarino got the ball in a similar position, juked a defender and sent a ground shot across goal and into the far post, just out of reach of Colorado keeper William Yarbrough.

RSL took a surprising 1-0 lead into halftime with the last-minute Savarino shot, despite trailing Colorado 1.3-0.4 on expected goals after 45 minutes.

It didn't take long for RSL to add to its lead in the second half, as Savarino's attacking run led to a Pablo Ruiz free kick in the 51st minute, and Meram headed home the rebound off the save to put the home team up 2-0.

Colorado was awarded a penalty kick in the 66th minute after a Marcelo Silva foul in the box and Diego Rubio slotted it home to bring the Rapids with one goal 2-1.

Star youngster Diego Luna came on for RSL in the 85th minute as the home team looked to have a handle on three points. Colorado had different ideas, however, as Abubakar hit an acrobatic finish in the box to tie the game in the 89th minute and send each team home with just a point.

"It's your biggest rivals and you want to get a result and you're up 2-0," Mastroeni said. "There's no reason why you don't come away with three points after the performance we put forward."

Fans placed much of the blame on the officials, shouting "ref you suck!" at the end of the game, to which Mastroeni said: "You heard the fans as the refs were making their exit."

Despite the frustration coming from the rivalry and officiating, Mastroeni and Meram were both already looking ahead to the team's next chance to perform.

"One positive is we don't have to wait till Saturday or Sunday to play," Meram said. "We got Wednesday, so it'll be nice to go to Atlanta."

RSL hits the road for its first Wednesday match of the year next week, taking on Atlanta United FC on July 13 at 5:30 p.m. MDT.

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