RSL ends 4-game skid in 2-0 home win over Colorado

SANDY — When there's not a lot going right for you, it's important to make the most of the chances you're given.

Real Salt Lake dropped its last four matches coming into Saturday's match at America First Field against the Colorado Rapids but took the golden opportunity of a home game against its biggest rival to "right the ship," as head coach Pablo Mastroeni put it after the most recent loss.

"It's so important to get results, because then it validates all the work and the belief in the system increases," Mastroeni said after Saturday's win. "We just need guys not to get in their own way."

The Rapids fouled RSL early and often, providing ample scoring opportunities for the home team on set pieces: a corner or free kick when play stops and RSL had time to set things up exactly as it liked.

Three such free kicks were awarded just outside the Colorado box in the first half-hour, and defender Brayan Vera got a surprise crack at one in the 19th minute after Jefferson Savarino stepped over the ball and left it for his teammate.

The 24-year-old Colombian — normally known for his bruising physicality — found a moment of brilliance and curved a shot on goal that just grazed the keeper's fingers and hit the back of the net.

"The way I try to explain Vera's technique is like the most beautiful golf swing," Mastroeni said of the free kick goal. "It looks effortless and he smashes that thing. He has the capacity to do that."

Mastroeni and Vera both commented on the importance of making up for the absence of Pablo Ruiz, who Vera called "the owner of free kicks" on the team. Vera gives RSL a left-footed option on set pieces alongside the right-footed Jefferson Savarino to replace the left-footed Ruiz.

It was Vera's first goal in an RSL uniform after his on-target shot in Portland earlier this week was credited to Chicho Arango on a deflection.

Thirty minutes later, Arango, again, found the back of the net on a corner kick — his fifth goal in 11 appearances — to give RSL a comfortable 2-0 lead early in the second half.

The home team was able to hold on and earn its first clean sheet since July 22, giving RSL a much-needed get-right game heading into a two-week break. The win also gave RSL its 14th Rocky Mountain Cup — awarded to the winner of the season series — in 19 tries against the Rapids.

The Claret and Cobalt are next in action on Sept. 16 against the San Jose Earthquakes on the road.

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