Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids | 2020 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 11
Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids
Rio Tinto Stadium – Sandy
September 12 – 9:30 PM ET

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US; MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada

LOCAL TV: Altitude, KMYU

A rivalry that has turned decidedly Claret-and-Cobalt is renewed Saturday night when Real Salt Lake host the Colorado Rapids at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Real Salt Lake (3W-2L-5D) are coming off a 3-0 victory over LAFC Wednesday night, their first regular season win over Bob Bradley's side, while the Rapids (2W-3L-4D) rallied to secure a 1-1 home draw with the Houston Dynamo.

Real Salt Lake are on a record five-match winning streak against their Rocky Mountain Cup rivals, which includes a 4-1 triumph in Commerce City August 22 and a 2-0 win at the MLS is Back Tournament in July.

Real Salt Lake

The versatile Damir Kreilach has earned a new nickname after his first-half goal helped pave the way to a 3-0 win at Rio Tinto Stadium Wednesday night. Justin Meram and Albert Rusnak added second-half goals in RSL's first regular season win over LAFC. Their first MLS win came in the 2018 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and it was Kreilach who again burned LAFC with a karate kick goal.

“I think those guys [LAFC] don’t like to play against Damir. They leave him open all the time in the box,” RSL assistant coach Tyrone Marshall said, calling Kreilach "The LAFC killer.". “They don’t realize he’s a goalscorer. Damir is a classy player. He has a knack for finding those free spots in the box. I think Maikel Chang played a perfect ball into him and he found that gap. Damir is just one of those players that comes around every 10 years. He does everything well for you.”

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Tate Schmitt (F) - left knee injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: Justen Glad (D)
International duty: None

Colorado Rapids

Seconds from a home loss to the red-hot Houston Dynamo, Lalas Abubakar latched onto a Sam Vines ball and scored the dramatic equalizer deep in second-half stoppage time to secure a 1-1 draw. The Rapids winless streak is now seven games, but it was a huge point considering how jumbled the Western Conference table around the playoff line is shaping up to be.

"In the end, the resilience of the team showed again and we score a goal late," coach Robin Fraser said. "We come out with a tie, a little bit of a disappointing tie, which sounds crazy for a team that scores in the last second to tie it, but we're definitely a little disappointed feeling that we did enough to win the game and obviously didn't."