Fresh off what could be the biggest win in their short history, Real Salt Lake are looking forward to getting back out on the field and playing again.
RSL will get that chance when it faces the Colorado Rapids in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match Wednesday at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Real enters the game having just beaten D.C. United 2-1 on a pair of late-game penalty kicks, ending United's streak of 14 games without a loss.
"Everybody feels pretty good about that," coach John Ellinger said. "I feel good about it, and I think the rest of the team feels good about it. They want to add to it; they don't want it to stop there."
The game against D.C. United ended a horrific July schedule that saw Real play eight games. Between July 4 and July 29, the longest break Real had in between games was five days. Beating United alone, a team with now only two losses on the season, was an accomplishment. Doing it after such an intense schedule, however, did a lot to improve the team's spirits.
So, although Wednesday's game will not count in the Major League Soccer standings, Real still is looking forward to it.
"The guys take it pretty serious," Ellinger said. "Once it gets to this point, you want to go for it as much as you can."
Wednesday's game will be the first time RSL has faced a fellow MLS team in Open Cup play. In its first game in the competition, Salt Lake lost to the Minnesota Thunder. This year, Real won their first Open Cup game by beating the Virginia Beach Mariners 2-1 in extra time.
"We're in a situation where if we win the game, then we host the next round as well, which would be the quarterfinals," Ellinger said. "I'm not quite sure what kind of lineup Colorado will put in there, but most of our starters are healthy, so we're going to have close to the same lineup we had the other night."
That could mean Real starts their neophyte back line of Kevin Novak, Willis Forko, Nikolas Besagno and Jack Stewart. Novak, Besagno and Stewart are in their second year in the league; Forko is a rookie.
Real is left with few options on defense because of injuries to Eddie Pope, Danny Torres and Nelson Akwari. New Zealand native Cameron Knowles also has struggled with injury, but should be available on Wednesday.
"Cameron has less pain, so he'll be on the roster," Ellinger said. "If we do win this game, it pretty much makes it so that every Wednesday and Saturday in August there's a game again, but we've got to get past this one first."
After last Saturday's loss to Real, United coach Peter Nowak said: "If you are going to beat us, beat us in a fair way. Especially the two penalty kicks, this isn't supposed to happen in our league. Maybe this is the way the league works."
Ellinger responded after Tuesday's training session.
"Last time I looked, it's still a fair way. The referee makes the call, and you make the goal, I have nothing to do with that," Ellinger said. "I think making comments like that actually cost me some money and a seat upstairs at one point."
Ellinger was fined and suspended from sitting with his team on the bench for Real's June 24 home game against the New England Revolution for criticizing the referees in his team's previous game.
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
