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They say it's hard to beat the same team twice in a row, but Real Salt Lake defeated the Colorado Rapids on the road for the second time in five days to advance to the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday.
"Every game has got its own flavor, every game is its own event; no two games will ever look alike," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "Even if you play these guys in three more days, the score won't be the same and the game won't be the same. But what I'm proud of is the way the guys managed this game and held on to the lead."
The victory came by a one-goal margin, once again, following a 3-2 win last weekend. Jefferson Savarino was the difference on Wednesday after joining the team for the first time this tournament, scoring the game-winner in the 30th minute for a 1-0 result.
Anderson Julio was pressuring the Colorado defense high up the field, as head coach Pablo Mastroeni preaches, and it paid off. The Ecuadorian forward intercepted a pass and laid it off to Savarino on a breakaway.
With a couple of defenders in front of him, Savarino may have waited for his teammates to join him in the attack, but not this time. He saw an opening, trusted his foot, and took the shot. He sent a bending banger from outside the box into the far post for the first and only goal of the game.
Big interception by Julio pressing high to start that counter #RSLhttps://t.co/X8lQx1dHC8
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) May 25, 2023
It was Savarino's first goal for RSL since April 22 and gave the team another golazo for its Open Cup highlight reel after Andres Gomez dropped one from distance in Portland.
Mastroeni rotated in plenty of subs in the second half to keep the legs fresh, and the strategy paid off to hold Colorado scoreless at home. RSL's teenager in goal, Gavin Beavers, came up big once again with three crucial saves to maintain the clean sheet on the road.
"Without the boys in front of me we don't get that shutout," Beavers said. "I feel like the save that I had in the first half off the crossbar propelled us forward. You can't get a shutout just by yourself. You've got to have 10 other guys in front of you, and I feel like we did a great job tonight."
RSL will host the LA Galaxy at America First Field in the quarterfinals of the Open Cup on June 7 at 8. p.m. MDT. The team has three MLS matches before then, however, traveling to Minnesota on Saturday and then facing the Galaxy at home on May 31, followed by Austin FC on the road on June 3.
