GRAND FINALE
A lot is riding on Saturday’s showdown between the Rapids and Real Salt Lake
By George Tanner
It’s impossible to believe that with the 2009 playoffs on the line, the Colorado Rapids aren’t also thinking about revenge. Colorado faces regional rival Real Salt Lake on Saturday in Utah. The Rapids know that if they win the game, they advance to the postseason. Considering the history of these two teams, though, there may be more on the line.
Real Salt Lake scored a goal in the last minute of the last game of last season to eliminate Colorado at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Not only did the result, a 1-1 tie, end the Rapids year, it also put RSL into the postseason.
With that level of disappointment, payback must be on the Rapids’ minds. How could it not be?
Think back to the release of the 2009 Major League Soccer schedule. The game that leaped off the page was the season finale: Saturday, Oct. 24, against RSL in Sandy, Utah. If Colorado’s players didn’t literally circle this season’s finale with a big red Sharpie, they certainly made a mental note. A thick, red mental note.
But Rapids coach Gary Smith suggested otherwise back in May. He downplayed the revenge angle as the teams prepared to renew their simmering rivalry.
“I felt as though we deserved the victory at the end of last season, but that’s gone now,” Smith said. “We’re into a new campaign now. We both have new problems to deal with and qualities to be proud of, and I wouldn’t have thought the players will harp on that too much.”
Indeed. Coaches and players looked ahead to 2009, not behind.
They didn’t bring up Yura Movsisyan’s goal in the 90th minute. Nobody mentioned how the Rapids controlled that game in 2008 or how the little pressure RSL could muster, for 89 minutes. No one spoke about the postgame celebrations of the Utah fans in the corner of the stadium. Or about former Rapids midfielder Kyle Beckerman, now the Salt Lake captain, hoisting the Rocky Mountain Cup, which is a trophy awarded to the winner of the season series between the teams.
The letdown of being so close to the playoffs only to have it yanked away, in the rudest fashion, was not discussed.
Time, however, has carved that anguish into the psyche of Rapids fans, and as Saturday’s game at Rio Tinto Stadium approaches, it gets deeper by the day. The players can’t be immune to these same thoughts, even though Smith might not admit it. But publicly the focus will be on the playoffs, the task at hand.
Five teams have already clinched: Columbus, Houston, Los Angeles, Chivas USA and Seattle. Then, in the tightest MLS race ever, seven teams are battling for three remaining postseason berths.
The Rapids are among the few who control their destiny. Win and they’re in. There are other scenarios in which the Rapids would qualify.
If the Rapids and RSL tie, the Rapids would advance:
1. If no more than one of the following teams wins this weekend: Toronto, New England, D.C. and Dallas.
2. Or if Toronto, New England, D.C. and Dallas all tie.
If the Rapids lose, they could still advance if:
1. RSL’s margin of victory is no more than one goal.
2. And no more than one of the following teams wins this weekend: Toronto, New England, D.C. and Dallas.
Whew. That’s a mouthful. But it’s not an unreasonable task.
On the other side of the coin, RSL also has some playoff scenarios to think about.
First, Real needs to beat the Rapids. Then, Salt Lake must hope that no more than one of those four teams (Toronto, New England, D.C. and Dallas) wins its finale. If all four lose and RSL wins, they’re in. If one of the four wins, RSL needs to beat the Rapids by two goals or more.
And, finally, the Rocky Mountain Cup rides on this match. The Rapids have the upper hand in the derby right now, having beaten RSL once and having tied once in 2009. If Real wins Saturday, the trophy’s home for the next year will be determined via a tiebreaker involving aggregate goals or most recent head-to-head victory.
So will Colorado’s players be thinking about the trophy? Revenge? The playoffs? It really won’t matter if they do one thing on Saturday. Win. It’s one result that would settle the score on all fronts.
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George Tanner is the editor of ColoradoSoccerNow.com, which covers the Rapids, college soccer across the state and more.
