Rapids-Real Salt Lake Preview
Real Salt Lake dominated the Colorado Rapids last season in becoming the first club to win every matchup of this Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry.
RSL won't have two key players in the first 2015 meeting, though the home fans will see two others in the starting lineup together for the first time.
A short-handed Real Salt Lake club will have Javier Morales and Joao Plata in the lineup Sunday as it tries to extend the Rapids' road winless streak in this series to 12 games.
Real Salt Lake (4-5-5) will be without goalkeeper Nick Rimando and star midfielder Kyle Beckerman, who are both with the United States national team. Jeff Attinella will make his third start in goal and second of his career in this rivalry.
Attinella played in the first of last year's three meetings, in which RSL outscored Colorado 8-2. Morales had three goals and one assist and Plata scored twice in those contests.
Morales hasn't started at home since May 1, though he scored in his first start since then in last Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Vancouver. The playmaker, who had been battling a hamstring problem, is tied with Alvaro Saborio for the team lead with three goals.
Plata, whose last home start was alongside Morales on Nov. 1, 2014, made his first 2015 start against the Whitecaps after missing the first 11 games with a broken bone in his foot.
These teams are among the league's lowest scoring, with RSL averaging 0.93 goals and Colorado 0.85. Both seek to avoid their first three-game losing streaks.
Colorado (2-4-7) is eager to get back in action after losing 2-1 at home to Portland last Saturday. Sam Cronin scored the tying goal in the 89th minute before the Rapids allowed the winning tally in the 93rd.
The Rapids are 0-8-3 at Salt Lake since a 2-0 win there April 30, 2007. They are 0-6-3 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
"The guys have been chomping at the bit after our last game, to really get after it, and there's no better team to go up against than Salt Lake," coach Pablo Mastroeni told the Rapids' official website. "We're going there with a mentality to win that game, and we've done that in every away game that we've played."
Salt Lake fell 1-0 at Los Angeles on May 27 before last Saturday's defeat, though coach Jeff Cassar isn't discouraged with his club beginning a stretch in which it plays six of eight at home.
"I think our last two performances are promising. The results weren't, but the performances were promising," Cassar told RSL's official website. "We still have a ways to go, but if we can make a strong push here with these games at home, that's where you really start to make jumps in the league is taking care of business at home."
RSL defender Jamison Olave returns from a one-match suspension.
The Rapids will be without Dillon Serna and Shane O'Neill, who are with the United States under-23 national team.
Colorado's Gabriel Torres has gone four straight games without adding to his team-high total of four goals. Dillon Powers has one of his team-best five assists in his last five games.