COMMERCE CITY — The Rapids face a stiff challenge Saturday night at Real Salt Lake, where their regional rivals are unbeaten in their last 23 games.
RSL hasn’t allowed a goal in an MLS game home or away since Aug. 11, and has been nipping on the heels of conference-leading Los Angeles much of the season.
“They haven’t been in first place all year,” said Rapids midfielder Jeff Larentowicz, “but they play like a first-place team.”
Both RSL and the Rapids are strong in the midfield, but play different styles. RSL likes to deploy in a diamond shape, with former Rapids fan favorite Kyle Beckerman playing deep and Javier Morales playing upfield. The Rapids prefer a flat midfield, attacking the flanks with their wide midfielders.
“They like to overload the midfield,” Larentowicz said. “They like to tuck their wide midfielders in, and they like to keep possession of the ball. That’s why they’re tough to beat, because you can’t beat them without the ball.”
RSL reigning champs.
Last season RSL and the Rapids finished tied in the standings with 40 points — after the Rapids lost 3-0 in Utah on the final day of the regular season — but RSL made the playoffs on tiebreakers and the Rapids failed to make the playoffs for the third consecutive season. RSL went on to win its first MLS Cup, beating Columbus and Chicago in preliminary rounds and Los Angeles in the Cup final.
“Probably the win against us was the catalyst for them to go on and do as well as they did and win the Cup,” said Rapids coach Gary Smith. “On the back of winning the Cup, they look like a really confident group. The players express themselves extremely well, and they’ve got a bit of a champion’s swagger about them. They deserve that.”
The Rapids may get a break because RSL had to play a CONCACAF Champions League match Wednesday night in Panama, beating Arabe Unido 3-2. RSL coach Jason Kreis left three key players home to rest.
“They do have a tough schedule,” Smith said. “Will their mind be firmly on (Colorado)? I would suspect so, given that we are their closest rivals and it’s a bit of a ‘derby.’ And they’ve done a fabulous job at home. It’s an extremely difficult place to go, not just to get a result, but to play.”
Big match in LA.
The most anticipated match of the week is tonight’s showdown in Los Angeles pitting the Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls (ESPN2).
The game lost some of its buzz midweek when the Red Bulls announced striker Thierry Henry would sit it out with a sprained knee, but David Beckham might make up for some of that. After missing most of the season with an Achilles tendon injury, Beckham played 20 minutes on Sept. 11 and 37 minutes last week.
Los Angeles won 1-0 at New York on Aug. 14, shortly after Henry joined the Red Bulls.
