Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Major League Soccer clash between Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Seeking to climb to the top of the Western Conference standings, Real Salt Lake visit Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to take on Colorado Rapids on Saturday.
Having lost each of their last three home games in this fixture, Chris Armas‘s will head into the weekend looking to get one over the Claret and Cobalt and extend their unbeaten home streak to eight games.
Match preview
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Colorado Rapids continue to struggle for results on their travels as they fell to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Los Angeles Galaxy when the sides squared off at the Dignity Health Sports Park on Thursday morning.
All five goals were scored inside the first half as Diego Fagundez, Joseph Painstill and Riqui Puig found the back of the net to hand LA Galaxy all three points, with Kevin Cabral and Cole Bassett getting on the scoresheet for the visitors.
Colorado Rapids have now lost all but one of their last six away matches since mid May — conceding 16 goals and scoring 10 — with a 3-0 victory over St Louis City at CityPark on June 20 being the exception.
Armas’s side have picked up 38 points from their 25 MLS matches so far to sit fifth in the Western Conference standings, level on points with fourth-placed Vancouver Whitecaps who have two games in hand.
While results have been tough to come by on their travels, the Rapids now return home where they are on a seven-game unbeaten run, claiming five wins and two draws since a 3-2 loss against San Jose Earthquakes on May 12.
However, Colorado Rapids will need to be at their best this weekend as they go up against an opposing side who are unbeaten in 17 of their last 20 meetings, claiming 14 wins and three draws since May 2008.
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Real Salt Lake, on the other hand, failed to return to winning ways as they played out a 1-1 draw with Los Angeles FC in a Western Conference top-of-the-table clash at the BMO Stadium on Thursday morning.
Cristian Olivera opened the scoring inside the opening eight minutes to put the hosts in front and after Brayan Vera restored parity with a 33-minute effort, both sides held off each other to settle for a share of the spoils.
Prior to that, Pablo Mastroeni‘s men saw their run of two consecutive victories come to an end on July 14, when they suffered a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Portland Timbers courtesy of goals from Felipe Mora, Santiago Moreno and Evander.
Real Salt Lake have won 12 of their 24 MLS matches so far while losing four and claiming eight draws to collect 44 points and sit fifth in the Western Conference table, level on points with Los Angeles FC and two points off first-placed Los Angeles Galaxy.
The Claret and Cobalt follow Saturday’s game with a clash against Mexican outfit Atlas FC in their Leagues Cup opener on August 2, while Colorado Rapids kick off their Leagues Cup campaign with a visit to Providence Park to face Portland Timbers.
Colorado Rapids Major League Soccer form:
Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer form:
Team News
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Djordje Mihailovic, who has 10 gold and six assists this season, and teenage goalkeeper Adam Beaudry are out of contention for Colorado Rapids as they are currently on duty with the U.S. Men’s Olympic Team.
On the injury front, the Rapids will take to the pitch without the services of 20-year-defender Jackson Travis, who has been out of action since sustaining an ankle injury in June.
English forward Calvin Harris has missed the last two games after coming off with a groin injury against St Louis City on July 8 and will also play no part in this weekend’s game.
Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake will be without several key players down the spine of the team as Marcelo Silva (hamstring), Pablo Ruiz (knee) and Kevin Bonilla (ACL) all continue their spells on the sidelines.
Christian Arango, who currently leads the MLS Golden Boot race with 17 goals, has been slapped with a four-game suspension for violating the competition’s anti-harassment policy.
American defender Erik Holt had been out of action since February through a severe muscle injury while Alexandros Katranis and midfielder Diego Luna are both suspended after crossing the yellow card threshold with their bookings against Los Angeles FC on Thursday.
Colorado Rapids possible starting lineup:
Steffen; Anderson, Bombito, Maxsoe, Vines; Ronan, Loeffelsend; Cabral, Bassett, Lewis; Navarro
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
MacMath; Quinton, Hidalgo, Vera, Oviedo; Palacio, Ojeda; Ramirez, Eneli, Crooks; Julio
We say: Colorado Rapids 2-1 Real Salt Lake
Looking at recent meetings between Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake, we anticipate an end-to-end affair at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with plenty of goalmouth action. While we expect Real Salt Lake to put up a fight, the Rapids have been near-impenetrable at home in recent weeks and we fancy them to secure all three points this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.