RSL gets much-needed win

Real Salt Lake is not a playoff-bound team, but as disappointing as that is for the entire organization, at least RSL can take solace knowing Saturday night it helped ensure that rival Colorado might not be going either.

In the midst of a steady downpour at Rice-Eccles Stadium the entire match, RSL's defense made a first-half goal by Kyle Brown hold up knocking off rival Colorado 1-0 in front of an announced crowd of 14,089.

A Colorado victory could've pulled the Rapids into a tie with Columbus for the eighth and final playoff spot with four games remaining. Instead, Colorado (7-11-8, 29 points) now faces an uphill climb the rest of the way to sneak into the playoffs

As for Real (5-13-8, 23 points), even though it still hasn't been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, the players and coaches know it's an impossible task. A much more realistic goal would be catching Colorado in the Western Conference standings. Considering the teams square off once more in the regular season finale, it's not entirely wishful thinking.

"It's always good to play for something, and the way our year's going we needed the win bad," said RSL keeper Nick Rimando.

The Rocky Mountain Cup will also be at stake at Dick's Sporting Goods Park for that Oct. 20 finale — Real made sure of that Saturday. With the victory, it evened up the season series at 1-1-1, meaning the winner of the fourth and final meeting will be crowned Rocky Mountain Cup champion.

"We tried to stress to the players over the last couple days, this is something to take away from the season. This is a chance to win something to put in the trophy case in the offseason," said Real coach Jason Kreis. "I do believe it's important and I do believe the guys took the message and put it out there tonight."

The match was tightly contested throughout, with the teams each taking 12 shots and putting five each on frame. Even the fouls were pretty even in this traditionally heated rivalry.

The only thing separating the teams occurred in the 30th minute, when an opportunistic Kyle Brown scored the game's only goal by volleying in a rebounded shot by teammate Chris Brown.

"Before the game, we're talking about how (Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul's) going to drop a lot of balls. It's slippery. It's wet. I was just waiting for the shot to go hanging around the goal," Brown said.

Not bad for a guy who didn't know he was going to start until an hour before the match because of a groin injury to Fabian Espindola.

With the 1-0 lead intact, it was then up to keeper Nick Rimando and his defense to preserve it. The decisive moment came in the 86th minute when Rimando saved two shots during a crazy sequence in the box that began on a free kick by Colorado's Jose Cancela.

"I'm running out of words," said Kreis when asked to talk about Rimando's play. "Stellar, fantastic, saved another game for us. Saved two points for us."

It was Rimando's sixth shutout of the season.

RSL is now 3-2-2 over its last seven matches and is quietly building momentum heading into the offseason and then 2008.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com