Colorado Rapids vs. Real Salt Lake – Three Keys to the Game

Basically, to keep themselves in the RMC they'll need to get at least a point out of Salt Lake. Here's three keys to a possible shock victory for the burgundy boys…

You know that kid that the Rapids signed a few weeks ago from their academy? Yeah, he might be getting his first ever MLS minutes and maybe even his first ever MLS start in the most important game of the season. O'Neill played both midfield and forward in the academy but has been getting trained up as a defensive midfielder by the team since he joined the first team. Since the team released

and

got suspended, it's essentially just down to O'Neill and

for that position. If I have to guess, I'd assume that O'Neill, an unproven commodity, will get the minutes over Nane, a proven, but only proven to be not all that good, commodity.

Go With What Works – OK, so maybe 'works' isn't the right word, but in general this season it's been one failed endeavor after another for Oscar Pareja on the road in terms of rosters and formations. The best soccer we've seen this season has come from the diamond 4-4-2 formation, with essentially the same roster that we saw against Portland in the Rapids' last win.

You'll remember last time, he went for a weird 4-3-3 that had Drew Moor in the midfield and Jaime Castrillon as a striker, which worked about as well as you would expect it to as the Rapids fell 2-0. If he starts with the same formation and lineup he started in those well played games against Portland, Vancouver and 60 minutes of Dallas, they will have their best chance to win.