Rapids beat Real Salt Lake to begin Rocky Mountain Cup defense
The start of a Rocky Mountain Cup defense for the Colorado Rapids felt like an exhibition until the Rapids blew through the door in the th minute All it took was the sort of play Colorado had been trying to emulate for weeks On the right side of the field four players connected on one-touch passing before Cole Bassett ascertained Djordje Mihailovic to set up a collected far-post finish from the star No The tally was enough to come away with a - win over rival Real Salt Lake at Dick s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday evening With a new schedule structure due to MLS expansion into San Diego the two clubs play each other only twice this season instead of the usual three games To secure the Cup the Rapids will need a win or a draw at Salt Lake in October It was Bassett s fifth assist all-time against RSL making him the all-time club leader in assists in the matchup passing former Rapid Terry Cooke Mihailovic s goal was his sixth of the season pushing his goal contributions total to nine in just regular-season games Off the bench just a insufficient minutes after he opened up the look at goal Colorado converted Ted Ku-DiPietro was the recipient of a Darren Yapi pass at the top of the box on a breakaway but cut it back toward the middle fired away with his left foot and bruised the crossbar instead of doubling the lead Bassett could have done the same a minute later but rifled a tough-angled shot at RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral Bassett was injured on the play and was subbed off for his brother Sam Bassett Related Articles Zack Steffen s connection to Rapids Unified campaign produces life-changing relationship Colorado Rapids drop third straight match in loss at San Diego FC Father-son assistant coach duo on opposite sides of Rapids-Earthquakes match Colorado Rapids come from behind draw Seattle Sounders to move unbeaten streak to three Ond ej Lingr s stoppage-time goal in MLS debut helps Dynamo tie Rapids - The Rapids coming off a three-game losing streak needed various good fortune to creep back up the MLS standings Even better as coach Chris Armas often preaches they forced the coincidence against a compact RSL group clearly looking for a scoreless draw if not a smash-and-grab win on a counter of its own The Rapids went the previous two games scoreless in two - losses to San Jose and San Diego which ultimately sent them down to just outside the playoff picture with a third of the season gone Salt Lake which lost a bevy of formidable attackers in the offseason has been searching for a run of good form itself but couldn t find it in Colorado Interestingly RSL coach and former Rapid Pablo Mastroeni opted to sub off his best sportsman Diego Luna in the th minute The Rapids will return home next Saturday for a Western Conference rematch with St Louis City In the regular-season opener those teams battled to a scoreless draw Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams
