Real Salt Lake and Colorado battled tooth and nail for more than 90 minutes without breaking through, and the past two MLS Cup champions looked destined for a draw, but not before RSL found magic yet again.
Fabian Espindola scored in the third minute of second half stoppage time when he finished off a Javier Morales free kick that caromed off the woodwork to help RSL post a 1-0 victory against the Rapids at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Espindola appeared to be just a touch offside when Morales struck the initial free kick, but no call was made, and the goal helped extend Real Salt Lake's home unbeaten streak to 27 matches.
The latest installment of the Rocky Mountain Cup featured the past two MLS Cup champions and it was as tightly contested as expected, with blustery winds and rain setting a tough atmosphere for a match RSL had the better chances in.
Colorado played the match without captain Pablo Mastroeni and striker Conor Casey, both out with injuries, but the Rapids defense and goalkeeper Matt Pickens held firm until the final minute of the match, when Morales' free kick struck the right post before falling to Espindola, who buried the chance despite appearing to be offside.
The victory improved Real Salt Lake to 4-0, and dropped Colorado to 3-2.
Here are the match highlights.
What did you think of the match? Impressed with RSL? Think the Rapids showed something by pushing RSL to the brink?
Share your thoughts below.
The officiating in MLS is just terrible. I was at that game last night and am an RSL fan. It was one of the worst officiated games I have seen in a long time, and that is saying something in MLS.
The shame of it is that it just ruins the game. He was clearly off side and I can understand why Crapids fans would be upset. However, the first half, specifically, was extremely one sided with some just terrible calls. I just want to see the same progression in the quality of officiating that we have in the players.
RSL was the better team during the whole game but it still should not have ended like that.
I didn’t say you were wrong. Indeed, I said I thought what you described was quite a plausible scenario.
I just pointed out that there are a lot more teams in the overall picture than just the 2 that played this game, and yeah, those 2 points have made and can make an important difference.
Are you drinking drugs, son? Paulo Jr only had one touch on the ball. It wasn’t a very good touch and he probably mishit it, but it doesn’t matter. When the ball left Paulo Jr.’s foot, he and the ball were just outside the 6 yard box and Espindola was a couple yards inside the 6 yard box. Clearly offside.