After a deep exhale that came following a snow-covered 3-0 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC to get the first win in six matches to open the 2017 season, Real Salt Lake is on to the next one.
And while the Rocky Mountain Cup is nothing to ignore, particularly to the avid supporters of Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids, the focus on Saturday is continuing the momentum from the 3-0 victory and carrying it forward against another Western Conference foe.
“At the end of the day the priority is to get three points and we’ll worry about the Rocky Mountain Cup after that,” said RSL Head Coach Mike Petke, who competed in the Rocky Mountain Cup for the Rapids from 2005-2008, winning the trophy twice and losing twice.
Getting into the win column for the first time this season was just the boost the team needed as it turns its attention towards the Rapids, as the Vancouver match acted as a de facto restart to the season in Petke’s first match as head coach.
“It definitely helped us going into the rest of the games. We got that big win off of our shoulders,” said forward Yura Movsisyan, who has three goals in the last four matches. “We just have to stay at it, continue and we’re going into a tough place this weekend. So it’s just about doing the same things we did, playing with a lot of heart and executing the game plan.”
Real Salt Lake has controlled the Rocky Mountain Cup for much of the last 10 years, winning the coveted derby trophy in eight of the last 10 seasons, including a stretch of six straight times from 2007-12. Last year, RSL won two of the three meetings between the two clubs, hosting twice in the unbalanced schedule. This year, Colorado has the luxury of playing twice at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. That is a considerable edge considering the Rapids run of home success recently, boasting a 19-game home unbeaten streak that has seen Colorado go 12-0-7.
“Nobody has an easy time going into Colorado and beating them there or playing for a result. They’ve always been really good at home,” Movsisyan said. “Our job is to go there and get a result, which is a win. We’re not going there to tie a game. We’re going there to win.”
They’ve done that with a stingy defense that limited opponents to just eight goals while posting nine shutouts during the 2016 season. That rugged approach is in the image of the club’s head coach, Pablo Mastroeni. And it has meant a big turnaround for a team that was mired in the Western Conference doldrums for four straight years in missing the playoffs from 2012-15.
“They’re organized. Pablo Mastroeni is an old-school guy in a sense like me. It’s hard, gritty, roll the sleeves up and go to work. He’s done a good job with them of getting them organized and getting them to understand the defensive mentality,” said Petke, noting that the Rapids defense has allowed five goals in the last two matches this season. “It doesn’t matter what’s happened the last couple of weeks. They’re an extremely dangerous team, especially at home. We’re very wary of them and we’re looking into how we can break them down.”
Saturday’s match is the first of three in the Rocky Mountain Cup this season. RSL hosts the Rapids on August 26, then heads back to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on October 15.
