Historically, the Rocky Mountain Cup has been doused in claret red, cobalt blue and real gold. On Saturday, the Colorado Rapids have a chance to paint it burgundy and blue for the first time since 2020.
After a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Real Salt Lake in March and a roller coaster meltdown 5-3 loss in May, the Cup is up for grabs. And for the first time in a long time, the Rapids can clinch it at home.
Because of the odd way the Cup is awarded, the Rapids must win in order to take control of it. RSL, which has won the Cup 14 of the 19 times it’s been contested, only needs a draw. The last time the Rapids won it outright (not on goal differential) was in 2013.
To throw interesting wrinkles into the matchup, Colorado’s Cole Bassett and RSL’s Diego Luna were both surprisingly left off of the U.S. Olympic roster. Additionally, Luna and Rapids defender Moïse Bombito were both named to the MLS All-Star roster as replacements for injured players on Friday.
Both teams will be without stars in the Rapids’ Djordje Mihailovic (Olympics) and Kévin Cabral (arm), as well as RSL’s Cristian Arango (suspended).
Coach Chris Armas has a real chance to make good on a promise to win these types of games. Here are three ways the Rapids can bring the Cup home on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.:
Silence the noise
Given the Rapids’ fifth-place standing in the Western Conference, third-place RSL’s historic dominance and the Rapids’ seven-game unbeaten streak at home, this matchup carries plenty of weight.
For captain Keegan Rosenberry, all the heavy lifting will have to be done on the pitch.
“We like to call that a lot of noise. That external noise relates all back to emotion and relates back to things that are trying to take our focus away from the job at hand,” the defender said. “We’re just trying to block all that out and continue to just execute our game plan and focus on the checklist that each player has and the one our team has.”
It all starts from the moment the game is kicked off. The key, according to Armas and Rosenberry, is to play the game on their terms rather than let RSL dictate the pace of the game.
In the case of an early lead, do not get too comfortable.
“We’re most focused on having the right mentality to start and being a little bit more deliberate about how we’re playing,” Rosenberry said. “And I think something we experienced in our last game there is to try not to get too comfortable or try not to sit in after a certain lead or goal.
“I do think it’s going to take two or three goals to win the game. … So we talked about 100 minutes of focus. It’s entirely going to take that sort of focus tomorrow.”
Limit Luna, Goméz
The stars must shine bright in games like this one, but the winner is typically the team that can dim the lights on the other’s stars as much as possible. That’s been a concern lately for the Rapids.
Take LAFC and LA Galaxy. In both games, Denis Bouanga (one assist), Mateusz Bogusz (three goals), Joseph Painstil (one goal, one assist) and Gabriel Pec (two assists) had their way with the Rapids defense.
To credit Armas, he made worthwhile changes in both games that slowed the opponent down. More notable was a change from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-1-4-1 at halftime against Galaxy to clog up wide areas.
With Arango out, a dynamic trio is reduced to a still-dangerous duo of Luna and Andrés Goméz. Armas knows his team can’t think that way. All cylinders must still fire.
“(RSL has) pace up the pitch and they have creativity up the pitch. It’s not a one-man show. They have a lot of weapons and it’s why they’ve done really well this year,” Armas said. “What becomes important against teams that can attack and score a lot of goals is that you limit transition, you have good rest defense and while you’re attacking, you have good structure behind the ball.
“The key in moments that we’re defending are that we’re tight, we’re aggressive and we understand the opponent. To do that, we want to make sure we’re playing more of the game in their half.”
Solid performance out wide
With Cabral out and winger Calvin Harris nursing a minor knock, the Rapids’ attack up the flank is being tested. The timing of Cabral’s injury couldn’t have been worse, as he had just been finding a goal-contributing form.
Harris suffered a groin injury during warmups before last weekend’s match against the New York Red Bulls and was not on the team sheet Wednesday. At training on Friday, he was a full participant and Armas said he will be available against RSL.
Winger Omir Fernández suffered an injury against New York, as well, which took him out. In a roundabout way, Cabral’s injury forced him to play 34 minutes against the Galaxy, which might have been more than Armas would have been comfortable with, but he said Fernández “helped change things in that second half” and is ready to go against RSL.
Only time will tell what effect the injuries will have, but wingers Jonathan Lewis and Kimani Stewart-Baynes will have to be ready.
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Originally Published: July 19, 2024 at 5:51 p.m.
