Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids | 2017 MLS Match Preview

Benjamin Baer

Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids
2017 MLS Match Preview
Rio Tinto Stadium – Sandy, Utah
Saturday, August 26 – 10 pm ET
WATCH: MLS LIVE

Real Salt Lake will be riding high coming into Saturday night's Rocky Mountain Cup match against the Colorado Rapids, and will be looking to finish the week off even higher by lifting the Cup on their home turf during Heineken Rivalry Week.

RSL are coming off a romping 4-0 victory against the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday night, which kept their slim playoff hopes alive with seven games left. They will be entering the weekend three points behind Vancouver Whitecaps FC, with the bad news being that the 'Caps have three games in hand on the Claret & Cobalt.

Mike Petke's team has a chance to lift the Rocky Mountain Cup thanks to their 2-1 win at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on April 15, when Yura Movsisyan and Brooks Lennon scored in the last five minutes of the match to erase the Rapids' lead. The final match of the series will be played October 15 in Colorado.

The Rapids will be traveling to Sandy after a 2-1 loss at the Portland Timbers on Wednesday night, in a game where they did show some attacking flair under interim head coach Steve Cooke.

Real Salt Lake

Suspended: M Kyle Beckerman (yellow card accumulation)
Int’l Duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: F Chad Barrett (knee surgery), M Jordan Allen (knee surgery), M Omar Holness (knee surgery), M Ricardo Velazco (ankle surgery); QUESTIONABLE: GK Matt VanOekel (ankle injury), D Demar Phillips (hamstring injury), D Marcelo Silva (hamstring injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1)
GK: Nick Rimando — Tony Beltran, Marcelo Silva, Justen Glad, Danny Acosta — Sunny, Luke Mulholland — Jefferson Savarino, Albert Rusnak, Joao Plata — Luis Silva

Notes: Real Salt Lake has lost just one of their last eight home games (4-0-3), keeping four clean sheets in that time. They started the season winning just one of their first five games (1-3-1).

Colorado Rapids

Suspended: None
Int’l Duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: GK Zac MacMath (meniscus surgery); QUESTIONABLE: D Bobby Burling (foot injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3)
GK: Tim Howard — Marlon Hairston, Jared Watts, Axel Sjoberg, Eric Miller — Micheal Azira, Mohammed Saeid, Nana Boateng — Shkelzen Gashi, Kevin Doyle, Dominique Badji

Notes: Colorado has scored just four goals on the road this season, the fewest in the league. The Rapids scored six goals over their last three regular-season road games last season (1-1-1).