Photo by ISIphotos.com
The rivalry for the Rocky Mountain Cup has always been one of the more fierce battles in Major League Soccer.
Now that tonight's match at Rio Tinto Stadium pits the last two MLS Cup champions against each other, the rivalry, in its seventh year, has hit its peak.
Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids meet in Sandy, Utah, in a key early-season Western Conference battle (9 p.m., MLS Direct Kick/Matchday Live). After what each team has accomplished the last two seasons and the manner in which last year's Rocky Mountain Cup was won — two stoppage-time goals by Alvaro Saborio in the final matchup — the 2011 first leg of their annual competition is a must-see for any MLS fan.
The last three editions of the rivarly have been pretty tight, with RSL winning each of them via different tiebreaker.
Last year's tiebreaker was the fact that RSL had won the cup the previous year. In 2009 RSL won via aggregate goals, and in 2008 it won via away goals after the teams tied on aggregate.
RSL is the clear favorite in tonight's first leg of the matchup, though, considering the team's current form and the 36-match home unbeaten streak (in all competitions) it is currently riding.
Colorado, which owns an 8-6-6 edge over RSL all-time and won the first two Rocky Mountain Cups but lost the last four, had been one of the league's more impressive teams in the early going until stumbling last weekend at Pizza Hut Park in a 3-0 loss to FC Dallas.
The Rapids were without the injured Conor Casey and Pablo Mastroeni for that 2010 MLS Cup rematch, and they will face that adversity again tonight as both have been ruled out.
RSL will be a little shorthanded as well, as Canadian international winger Will Johnson is out serving a yellow-card suspension.
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Who do you see winning tonight's match? Disappointed it's not being nationally televised? Which Rocky Mountain battle over the years sticks out for you?
Share your thoughts below.
lol, thanks 4 spoiling the game 4 me ! i was at 4min mark when i read ur comment. i suppose i deserved that
Er, wasN’T, that is. 🙂
It wasn’t boring.
Offside, from the sound of various reports.
And definitely lucky, resulting from Toledo biting on Olave’s dive.
But not boring!
Happily the game was boring, either.
Yeah what a boring 93rd minute game winning goal that was… yawn.
That was a pretty nice win by RSL tonight, in the cold and rain, scoring despite having the wind in their face in the second half… too bad it doesn’t matter because it wasn’t against FC Dallas!
OK, thanks for the input.
Well, I know I’m excited any time two infant franchises face off for a meaningless mid-season trophy.
How many red cards can we expect with Toledo reffing tonight?
Lord knows people aren’t Dallas fans because of the city itself.
That is the problem with Colorado. You are expecting little of Colorado and they are only missing 2 players? And it is true, Col played horrible last week without Mastroeni, which could end up being a big problem for Col if they are missing players regularly.
I don’t know what it is with RSL and Dallas. The only team that I was afraid of last year in the playoffs was Dallas, and it proved to be correct.
However, I don’t think that you need to beat Dallas to prove that you are elite. You can have a team that you struggle with and still be the best in MLS.
oops I thought you had meant an “international following”
My answer is still no but youll have more MLS fans tuning into thier games if they indeed play good ball…much like NY and LA get a lot of crossover viewership from other teams fans.
Clouds are looking ominous… Could mean trouble. I hope it doesn’t rain until AFTER i get on trax out of the stadium.
Yes. Just like Dallas put a beatdown on CO last week RSL will need to beat up FC Dallas to show they are for real.
History lesson:
7/17/10- FCD 2 RSL O
10/16/10- FCD 0 RSL 2 – (No Hartman in net)
-playoffs-
10/30/10 FCD 3 RSL 2 (aggregate)
They may have every other teams # but not Dallas. If they are as great as Kries and yall think they are they should have no trouble beating Dallas right?
And of course im a Dallas fan lol
I don’t see this as being a great match at all, or the rivalry as being well represented by it tonight. Am expecting little out of Colorado without Casey and especially without Mastroeni. They will do well just to play a bit more solidly and get going back in a more positive direction after the Dallas match. And if they do cause RSL much trouble, I imagine it will have to do with the latter’s schedule lately and being understandably distracted by CCL.
yes. (that was softball question btw 🙂 )
Well Luis Gil is already getting into games now as a 17 year old, so maybe he can be that guy.
Yes, I think that’s natural in the sports world. Look at the Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, LA Lakers, NY Yankees, etc. If RSL can consistently win over the next three or four years they could develop a national following. It wouldn’t hurt to have a transcendent American player on their team either, but they don’t have one of those at the moment.
All eyes in my home in Michigan will be staring at that screen, willing RSL to win!!
They have to beat FC Dallas of all teams to be legit? Not the Rapids, Galaxy, Red Bulls, Union…?
Are you by any chance a Dallas fan?
They barely tried and killed the Revs last weekend. You’re not trying to suggest FCD is better, are you?
NO because they are in MLS and they are located in a place nobody outside of the US has ever heard of. Unfortunate indeed.
Personally I think RSL is a paper tiger (same as last year) ..despite all the pre/early season power rankings and what their coach/hype man says they ARE NOT the MLS equivelant to Barcelona.
Now if they stomp out (or even just beat) FC Dallas then my opinion may change
go watch a tape of them winning the MLS Cup in 1996 then.
Depends on how define “great” – DC is a great team all things considered with our past!
Yes this match has all the ingredients for a great game. It really is a shame it’s not on national TV. The recent results have been absolute nail biters.
This time out though I would like to see a lopsided affair, 3-0 for the good guys (RSL)! A nice win tonight will set us up perfectly for Monterrey.
hah
If RSL can sustain this long term and play attractive football while dominating MLS… will they develop a national following?
We all know that they only do the national broadcasts for the important matches with the truly great teams that will captivate an audience with their skill and play… like this weekend’s FSC broadcast of Toronto-DCU.
For those in Colorado, it’s on Altitude2.
Channel 105 on Comcast/Denver.
List of Altitude2 in other cities:
http://www.altitude.tv/Alt2/Alt2Info/default.aspx
Must see match for mls fans….what channel is it on again? Pretty sure it’s not nationally televised. In fact, if I recall correctly RSL has only 2 games on national networks this season.