A double from Jacob Peterson sunk Real Salt Lake's Lamar Hunt Open Cup aspirations on a rainy night in Denver, as the Rapids prevailed over their rivals with a 2-1 victory in their Open Cup qualifying match. A controversial goal from Peterson just after halftime was matched by a Chris Klein strike before Peterson scored in the last seconds of second-half stoppage time.
While RSL went with a lineup seeded with several regulars, Colorado opted to start with a lineup with little first team experience.
The beginning of the game was fast paced and hotly contested, but each team had trouble solving each other's stout defense. Daniel Torres and Nick Besagno were doing a good job for RSL in disrupting Colorado's offense within the penalty area, while for the Rapids, Ugo Ihemelu and Stephen Keel were playing a very physical and effective game against Atiba Harris, RSL's main target up top.
Torres made a solid play in the 24th minute when his solid positioning gave Nico Colaluca no angle on his shot, which was easily collected by RSL goalkeeper Chris Seitz.
RSL had their first good chance in the 31st minute. Chris Brown, with his back to goal, settled the ball back for Chris Klein, but his shot went well over the bar.
Just before halftime, hard work from Chris Wingert and Conor Casey created two more chances for the Rapids. First, Casey settled the ball in the box and played it back to Cancela, whose hard shot was blocked. Then, after the Rapids worked the ball around, Wingert played a pass across the face of the goal for a diving Casey -- making his first start in a Colorado uniform -- but Seitz was able to get to the ball first.
The opening goal came in the 47th minute. Casey received a cross, but his header went straight up. As Casey went for the ball a second time, he and Seitz each jumped for the challenge, and while the goalkeeper punched it away, the collision sent him to the ground. Peterson collected the ball at the top of the area and fired home while the RSL goalkeeper was still on the ground.
Klein tied the game in the 64th minute with a very pretty goal. He received a long pass down the flank from Ballouchy, and after some dribbling into the box played a short pass back to Ballouchy who, in turn, played the ball back for Klein. After one dribble, Klein unleashed a beautiful, curling shot past the outstretched arms of Zach Thornton and into the net.
Brown nearly gave RSL the lead in the 68th minute. After Harris had the ball toe-poked away in the box, Brown collected the deflection at the top of the penalty arc and sent a chipped shot that went over Thornton, but just glanced off of the crossbar.
In the 73rd minute RSL again came close as Harris received the ball from Ballouchy, but Thornton reached up with a big hand to deflect the shot straight up. The Rapids keeper was then easily able to collect the rebound.
Two quick end-to-end plays in the 86th minute nearly won the game for each team in turn. First, an RSL free kick from 20 yards on the right found Duke Hashimoto streaking in on the left. Hashimoto was able to chest the ball down in the box, but Keel was able to clear it out to Peterson at midfield.
The Rapids threatened in the 89th minute. Casey played a long ball on the left for Colin Clark, whose long cross from the endline found Peterson at the top corner of the penalty area. He aimed a pass for Casey, but it sailed through to substitute Omar Cummings, whose low, hard shot went just to the left of the far post.
The Rapids finally made good on the promise of their many dangerous chances in the last gasps of stoppage time. Peterson received a ball from Casey, sliced through the RSL backline and raced to goal along the right. Before Torres could catch up, Peterson seized his chance and hit a low shot across the face of the goal that skipped off of the far post and back into the goal for the winner.
With the loss, RSL is knocked out of contention for the U.S. Open Cup, and the Rapids advance to the tournament proper, when they compete in the round-of-16 in July. It's the second consecutive year that RSL has been knocked out of the Open Cup by their Rocky Mountain rivals.
Geoffrey Urland is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
