SANDY, Utah (Saturday, August 21, 2021) – Real Salt Lake (7-7-6, 27 points) suffered a 2-1 defeat at the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night in a fiery Rocky Mountain Cup affair at Dicks Sporting Goods Park.
Albert Rusnak scored his fifth goal of the season to open the scoring but a second half surge from the Rapids was enough to claim victory in Commerce City.
RSL came out with a strong press in the first half, pestering Colorado’s backline and forcing the goalkeeper to make several saves. RSL almost found the lead in the 34th minute when Albert Rusnak sent a freekick to Justen Glad, leading to Rubio Rubin putting the ball into the back of the net, but video review determined Glad to be in an offside position. From there neither team found the opener and went into the halftime break scoreless.
RSL broke the stalemate in the 51st minute when Rusnak connected on a cross from Aaron Herrera to take the lead. But Colorado was quick to respond with two goals in quick succession from Diego Rubio in the 64th minute to erase the deficit and Mark-Anthony Kaye in the 71st minute to take the lead.
It seemed as if RSL might have a chance to draw the match level when the team was awarded a penalty kick, but video review judged Damir Kreilach to be in an offside position prior to the foul in the 81st minute. In the final moments RSL continued to press for an equalizer and had several chances at goal, but to no avail and the match ended 2-1 in favor of the home team.
UP NEXT: Real Salt Lake will now head to Canada to face Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Sunday, August 29 at 8:00 p.m. MT.
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN:
RSL: Albert Rusnak (Aaron Herrera, Jonathan Menéndez) 51st minute - Sprinting onto a long pass from Menéndez, Herrera dribbled the ball towards the touchline, cutting in towards goal to serve a cross towards the top of the box. Rusnak ran onto the cross and pummeled the ball past the goalkeeper.
COL: Diego Rubio (Jack Price) 64th minute - Connecting off a corner from Price, Rubio headed the cross low and underneath Putna in the RSL goal to draw the match level.
COL: Mark-Anthony Kaye (Braian Galvan, Keegan Rosenberry) 71st minute - Galvan received the ball outside the 18-yard-box and hit a cross directly to the oncoming run of Kaye who moved through the pass to place the ball into the back of the net.
NOTES:
- Midfielder Damir Kreilach was named to the 28-man roster for the 2021 MLS All-Star Game. The best in MLS will face the LigaMX All-Stars on August 25 at Banc of California Stadium.
- Forward Bobby Wood was unavailable due to a hamstring strain.
- Goalkeeper David Ochoa was unavailable due to quad tightness.
- Forward Jeizon Ramirez (quad) and defenders Andrew Brody (toe) and Zack Farnsworth (ankle) were unavailable due to injury.
- Real Salt Lake had three RSL Academy products in the XI and one more available on the bench. Additionally, one starter and four other players on the 20-man roster were previously signed to the Monarchs.
- Goalkeeper Andrew Putna made his season debut coming on as a halftime sub for Zac MacMath.
- Midfielder Damir Kreilach received his fifth yellow card and as a result will miss the next match against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Match: Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids
Date: August 21, 2021
Venue: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park; Commerce City, Colorado
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 70 degrees
Attendance: 13,134
Scoring Summary:1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
Colorado Rapids 0 2 2
RSL: Albert Rusnak (Aaron Herrera, Jonathan Menéndez) 51’
COL: Diego Rubio (Jack Price) 64’
COL: Mark-Anthony Kaye (Braian Galvan, Keegan Rosenberry) 71’
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Zac MacMath (Andrew Putna 46’); Aaron Herrera, Marcelo Silva, Justen Glad, Donny Toia (Noah Powder 85’); Nick Besler, Damir Kreilach; Jonathan Menendez (Maikel Chang 77’), Albert Rusnak, Anderson Julio (Justin Meram 77’); Rubio Rubin
Subs not used: Erik Holt, Toni Datkovic, Noah Powder, Ashtone Morgan, Everton Luiz, Pablo Ruiz
Colorado Rapids (3-5-2): William Yarbrough; Danny Wilson, Auston Trusty, Lalas Abubakar; Keegan Rosenberry, Mark-Anthony Kaye, Jack Price, Kellyn Acosta, Cole Bassett (Jonathan Lewis 66’); Michael Barrios (Braian Galvan 66’), Diego Rubio (Andrew Shinyashiki 66’)
Subs not used: Clint Irwin, Drew Moor, Dominique Badji, Nicolas Mezquida, Colleen Warner, Lucas Esteves
Stats Summary: COL / RSL
Shots: 15 / 17
Shots on Goal: 7 / 6
Saves: 5 / 5
Corner Kicks: 4 / 6
Offside: 1 / 3
Fouls: 10 / 9
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Donny Toia (caution) 3’
RSL: Jonathan Menéndez (caution) 56’
RSL: Justin Meram (caution) 85’
COL: Braian Galvan (caution) 85’
RSL: Damir Kreilach (caution) 90+3’
OFFICIALS:Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referees: Brian Poeschel, TJ Zablocki
4th Official: Mark Allatin
VAR: Ismir Pekmic
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
