This is a dual article brought to you by Riccardo Cominelli, who covers the Colorado Rapids, and Carson Lantz, who covers Real Salt Lake.
You can find Riccardo on X; at @RiccardoCLW
You can find Carson on X; at @CarsonLantz
The Rocky Mountain Cup
In 2005, when Real Salt Lake joined Major League Soccer, a new rivalry and cup was born between fans of both Utah and Colorado teams. The Rocky Mountain Cup, created by the fans, awards a trophy to either Real Salt Lake or the Colorado Rapids after whoever has the most points in the games between each other. On April 16th, 2005 the first edition of the Rocky Mountain Cup took place during Real Salt Lake’s inaugural home match where they defeated the Colorado Rapids 1-0. That year, the Colorado Rapids went on to beat Real Salt Lake three more times claiming the first ever Rocky Mountain Cup trophy.
To this day, both teams have met 62 times with the winning record swaying heavily towards Real Salt Lake. RSL has beaten Colorado 28 times while Colorado has only won against Real Salt Lake 15 times. Both teams have drawn out 13 times in their 62 matchups.
This year, a strong Real Salt Lake side hosts the Colorado Rapids for the first edition of 2024. Real Salt Lake is coached by a Colorado Rapids legend, in the gallery of honor, Pablo Mastroeni. The Colorado Rapids have appointed Head Coach Chris Armas back in November 2023 and he currently holds a 0-1-1 record for Colorado. This will be the first time Chris Armas participates in the Rocky Mountain Cup, as a coach.
Real Salt Lake are unbeaten against the Colorado Rapids in their last seven head-to-head, with five wins and two draws.
The game will be played at America First Field on Saturday, March 9th with kickoff scheduled for 7.30 pm MT.
How The Colorado Rapids Are Doing
How are the Rapids doing? Just okay. A mixture of feelings going into this match knowing that Real Salt Lake is a strong side and that the Colorado Rapids have not kicked off 2024 on the right foot. Although some positives to take from their 1-1 draw against Nashville, this team under Chris Armas has yet to start producing more than 1 goal a game and find a win.
The Colorado Rapids kicked off their 2024 MLS campaign with a 1-4 defeat to the Portland Timbers on the road and then drew 1-1 to Nashville SC at home the next week after a late minute penalty kick for Nashville to tie the game. Although a strong showing during pre season, that positive momentum did not carry out into the beginning of the season.
With the departure of Robin Fraser late in 2023 and veteran players also leaving the club, the Colorado Rapids were headed to a fresh restart for 2024. In November 2023 they hired Chris Armas to be the club’s 10th permanent Head Coach. A few off-season acquisitions were made to bolster the team, players like; United States Men’s National Team and Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen was signed as a non-Designated Player, USMNT midfielder Djordje Mihailovic joined the team to partner alongside Connor Ronan and Cole Bassett in the midfield to provide another chance creating midfielder, Omir Fernandez from New York Red Bulls rejoins Chris Armas in Colorado, and even somehow managing to bring back Sam Vines from Europe back to Colorado.
The Rapids have no notable serious injuries to any players, luckily, and can still field a strong team against Real Salt Lake. Coach Armas did not change the lineup in Week 2 that saw the 1-4 defeat against Portland Timbers in Week 1, and it will be interesting to see if he sticks with the same lineup again or makes any changes. Striker Rafael Navarro has yet to find a goal for the club, however winger Calvin Harris has been making the most of the minutes handed to him by scoring the only goal against Portland and providing the cross that eventually lead to a Nashville own goal in the 1-1 draw.
So far this season the Rapids are worse on the road than they are at home, however it is still too early to tell and fans of both sides can expect a thrilling matchup between the two rivals.
How Real Salt Lake Is Doing
Real Salt Lake are doing well so far. I'm feeling confident going into the match against the Rapids, especially after their triumph over LAFC where they won 3-0. I believe RSL will build off that momentum and make this a rough game for their Rocky Mountain rivals. Pablo Mastroeni’s tactical switch from a 4-2-4 to a 4-2-3-1 has had a good start, with his team grabbing 4 points from 3 games, including 1 point from CityPark, home of Saint Louis City.
The only negative so far in the 2024 season campaign was the MLS season opener versus Inter Miami. A weak first-half performance saw Inter Miami capitalize against RSL, putting them up 1-0. Despite a strong showing in the second half, Miami still got the better of Salt Lake. Miami handed RSL their first loss of the season, revealing a need for a playmaker in the middle of the field to aid in transitioning from defense to offense. Fortunately, help was soon on the way.
Many players left Sandy, Utah, this offseason, including club legend Damir Kreilach, who headed to Vancouver, and Jefferson Savarino, who returned to Brazil. While their impact would be missed, a new era was on the way in Utah. In the first two games of the season, impact player Pablo Ruiz started as the attacking midfielder. However, Ruiz didn’t put in the best performances as his play style was clearly better suited to sitting farther back and lobbing balls to Chicho, Luna, and Gomez. In the second game of the season versus Saint Louis, newly signed player from English Championship side Middlesbrough, Matt “The Tree” Crooks, made his MLS debut. Crooks made an instant impact, coming in and assisting Chicho Arango, showing glimpses of his impact and ability. It seemed that Crooks locked down the attacking midfielder position after just one game.
Unfortunately, Real Salt Lake will be without midfielder Pablo Ruiz versus the Colorado Rapids and for the rest of the season as he picked up a season-ending injury on Tuesday in training. Wishing Ruiz a speedy recovery and hoping Salt Lake can cope with his injury as he has a huge presence on and off the field. But other than that one injury, RSL can still field a strong team to compete. Pablo Mastreoni has made only minor changes so far, with notable changes being Emeka Eneli stepping into the midfield and making that spot his own, but for the Rapids game, I expect 1-2 changes to be made.
Real Salt Lake have had an average start to the season, and hopefully, this game versus Colorado starts a great run of form for the Claret and Cobalt.
Riccardo’s Game Predictions
Given the nature of the rivalry and how much stronger Real Salt Lake are this season, like last season, this by no means will be an easy game for the Colorado Rapids. Arguably one of the hardest starts to a season, playing powerhouses in both the Eastern and Western Conferences, the Rapids need to find the right keys to a positive start to 2024. Getting your first win of the season against your rivals, on the road, can shift the mood not only inside the locker room but for fans as well.
I am predicting that Coach Chris Armas will still stick with the 4-2-3-1 and most likely no changes to the starting lineup we have seen the last two games. If there were any changes to be made, it would be Darren Yapi up top for Rafael Navarro, as the team looked arguably more alive and dangerous when he came on in the last 20 minutes of the match against Nashville SC.
Real Salt Lake has some serious talent in their attack that can cause some problems to the Rapids back four. Players like Christian Arango, who leads the league in most big chances created with 4, USMNT up and coming Diego Luna, and Colombian young forward Carlos Gomez who recently bagged two goals against Los Angeles FC. Although they have lost Pablo Ruiz to a season ending injury, they still have talent all around to be a dangerous side.
My score prediction is 2-0 Real Salt Lake.
Carson’s Game Predictions
This game will be a test for Real Salt Lake. By no means is Colorado a terrible team, even after their poor spell of games. It’s too early in the season to fully judge them. Both teams have played some of the best teams in the MLS to start off their season, and fortunately, RSL have been able to snag points off of Saint Louis and LAFC. But I want Real to come into this game confident and composed, looking to put their rivals to sleep and remind them who owns this rivalry. There have been lots of positives from the first couple of games, but the worst-case scenario is the Rapids coming into America First Field and handing RSL their second loss of the season at home.
I’m predicting a few changes from Head Coach Pablo Masteroni, with one being that he sticks with his preferred formation 4-2-3-1. The changes that I see being made are Brayan Vera coming back into the starting XI and replacing Marcelo Silva. The last change I’m predicting is Nelson Palacio coming into the midfield to take Braian Ojeda's spot as he’s out with a red card he picked up versus LAFC. I’m hoping to see Bode Hidalgo retain his spot at right back as he’s been very impressive in the last two games and in my opinion deserves to start once again.
The Rapids added lots of talent to their roster this offseason, with Zach Steffen, Djordje Mihailovic, and Sam Vines being notable additions. I expected these arrivals to make an instant impact and make Colorado better. However, all of that was shut down after I witnessed Sam Vines score an own goal versus the Timbers and then also watched former Manchester City goalkeeper Zach Steffen concede 5 goals in his 2 games back in the MLS. But don’t underestimate these players, as all three of them had better games versus Nashville and will be looking to get their team's season back on track versus rivals Real Salt Lake.
My score prediction is 3-1 Real Salt Lake.
The Game
Kickoff is set for 7.30pm MT on Saturday March 9th, 2024. You can follow Carson Lantz on X for game updates and press conference interviews.
The 2024 first edition of the Rocky Mountain Cup is just hours away!
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