If Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids did not feel any bad blood toward each other before Saturday's match at Rice-Eccles Stadium, they certainly do now.
The game saw seven yellow cards, many of which could have been red; there were dozens of questionable tackles and players got in each other's faces over and over again. In the end, the Rapids earned a 1-0 victory and took home the Rocky Mountain Cup for the second consecutive year.
The Rapids celebrated the victory with in-your-face demonstrations to the Real faithful. Colorado captain Pablo Mastroeni had his shirt off, waving it in front of the fans and taunting them; Real investor/operator Dave Checketts scolded Mastroeni as the Rapids exited the field, and the two had some heated words.
Mastroeni was kept away from Checketts by three of his teammates.
Ironically, it was Clint Mathis, the Rapids' veteran with a hot-tempered reputation, that played the role of peacekeeper between Checketts and Mastroeni.
"Pablo's celebration -- antics -- were over the top," Real general manager Steve Pastorino said. The game's fourth official will submit a report of the exchange to the league this week.
Afterwards, Checketts released a statement calling Mastroeni's actions "appalling," saying: "I am both outraged and embarrassed that players in this league -- especially a World Cup star like Pablo Mastroeni -- would engage in obscene behavior towards our fans, and am dismayed that no one from the Colorado organization was present tonight to discourage such boorish behavior. This is not what this league is about, nor is it representative of what Real Salt Lake or MLS stands for as we provide family-friendly entertainment and spirited competition."
Even if emotions had not been so hot, the game would have been intense. The teams entered the match tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. What's more, the Rocky Mountain Cup, awarded to the winner of the regular season series between the rivals, was on the line.
All of that just made the loss much more difficult to take.
"It's a rivalry," Real coach John Ellinger said. "We've allowed them to come in here three times and walk away with wins in our stadium, and for us it's unacceptable."
Colorado scored the game-winner right after halftime. Dan Gargan played the ball across the box to Nicolas Hernandez, who put the ball home with a header. Real's Mehdi Ballouchy seemed injured during the play, and Real's defense seemed to hesitate, waiting for the Rapids to play the ball out of bounds.
"You can't stop," Real midfielder Chris Klein said. "You can never trust them to kick the ball out, and I don't know if they should have, but we have got to keep playing."
Real entered the game with a knock against them. Just before the first kick, veteran Jason Kreis was taken out of RSL's starting lineup with a bone bruise in his left knee. Kreis sustained the injury in last Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Ellinger inserted Jafet Soto into the starting lineup, but Real were not allowed to make another player available on the bench. Real, then, had only six players available. But the real loss was Kreis.
"Jason does a lot more than score goals when he's on the field," Ellinger said. "He's part of the emotional voice. He's an engine, he generates people to work a little bit harder. Jason does a lot for us as a captain on the field. When he's not on the field, it hurts."
In many ways, RSL was not the same team that won four consecutive games in August and that went unbeaten in five.
"The little things we've been doing right the last 6-7 weeks, personally, I don't think we were doing them tonight," Ellinger said.
Klein also recognized that Real did not play as well as they could have. The last time Real and the Rapids played, Real earned a 4-1 victory in Denver.
"We pounded them in their place, and they came in and beat us tonight," Klein said. "They deserved to celebrate -- we don't like to see them celebrate on our field, but they got the job done."
Peter Richins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
