Sandy • Real Salt Lake had dominated the Colorado Rapids anytime the two faced off in the greater Salt Lake City area for the past 13 years.
The Rapids had different plans Saturday.
Diego Rubio scored twice in the first 10 minutes and the Rapids washed away RSL 5-0 in front of 4,484 fans at Rio Tinto Stadium. It was the first time since 2007 that Salt Lake lost to the Rapids at home, and that was when the team played its home games at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Saturday’s game was the second of four consecutive at home for a Salt Lake team that thrives at Rio Tinto. It hadn’t lost a home game all season prior to the beating it took against the Rapids.
The home loss against the Rapids was the worst since RSL lost 6-0 to the New York Red Bulls in 2006.
Saturday was also the fourth time this season RSL conceded at least four goals.
Forward Douglas Martinez, who subbed in at halftime, picked up a straight red card for violent conduct in the 64th minute, leaving RSL with 10 players for the remainder of the game. By that time, though, the game had been decided for quite some time.
Rubio earned a brace with relative ease in a first half where RSL couldn’t get much going offensively because of Colorado’s defense. The Rapids pressed effectively, blocked shots and frequently forced Salt Lake to play backward.
Not five minutes into the second half, Sam Vines put Colorado up 3-0. Six minutes later, Braian Galván added a fourth.
RSL has a week between the loss to Colorado and its next game against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3irOeeG
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