Commerce City, CO– The Colorado Rapids (9-1-11, 7th West) host their bitter rivals, Real Salt Lake (8-4-8, 8th West), in the second and decisive leg of the Rocky Mountain Cup. After a 2-1 loss for the Rapids in Utah, Colorado will have to win this game to retain the cup. Any scoreline would do. Both teams lost 3-0 in their last game; both just lost their best player to the Premier League for a big fee; both would love to win the Rocky Mountain Cup. It’s derby week; it doesn’t get any better than this. Let’s take a look at the matchup.
When: Saturday, August 29th @ 7:30 p.m. MST
Where: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
TV/Streaming: Apple TV
Defensive Errors Galore in San Diego
It was a game to forget for Rapids fans, and especially Rapids defender Rob Holding. Holding played a major part in all three San Diego goals and was the key contributor for two of them. It was a similar game to the reverse fixture. Both teams failed to create many chances and did little in front of goal. The difference was Holding giving up two first-half goals to the hosts. This inevitably sunk the Rapids, who were due for a stinker. They got it in San Diego.
While the Rapids defense has been good and has been hailed as the best in the league by Rapids club president Padraig Smith, Holding has been error-prone. He is usually due for one poor touch or one misplaced pass per game. If Holding gets away with this mistake and the Rapids don’t concede or get a red card, it’s great news. However, too many times Holding gets a red card or gives up a goal due to a mistake. This is a big concern for the Rapids, who no longer have a Lucas Herrington to save them.
Outside of the Holding mistakes, it wasn’t a good game for the offense either. Rapids striker Rafa Navarro was barely a part of this game, and that reflects how this offense played. They barely eclipsed 0.5 expected goals according to Futmob. They never looked like scoring in this game. The winger duo of Dante Sealy and Georgi Minoungou was again disappointing. There weren’t many positives to take from the game. It certainly needs to be better against Real Salt Lake.
Colorado has been good since the World Cup break, but hasn’t scored away from home and hasn’t gotten a point away from home either. Concerning, but not for this home leg of the Rocky Mountain Cup.
Lineup Prediction:
Hansen / Cannon, Holding, Williams, M. Navarro / Ojediran, Maziz, Aaronson / Yapi, R. Navarro, Minoungou
The Rapids are as healthy as they have been in quite a while, with only three of the usual injuries on the injury report. Ted Ku-DiPietro, Zack Steffen, and Billo Diop are still out. Kimani Stewart Baynes and Jackson Travis are back. Miguel Navarro is off the injury report after his concussion. That’s great news.
The biggest news of the week was the Rapids reportedly acquiring Sayed Abu Farkhi from Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli League. While the deal is not official, nor has he gone through any of the long Visa processes, it is interesting to see how he fits into this roster. As of now, Rafa Navarro isn’t going anywhere, which means Abu Farkhi isn’t getting anywhere near the starting striker position. At least for now, with this roster, Abu Farkhi’s best spot looks to be on the wing. He can play there, and the Rapids need the most help there as well.
Another huge move this week was Dante Sealy going back to CF Montreal. The Rapids sold the winger for a few hundred thousand GAM less than what they paid for him. He wasn’t very good in Colorado. It is a pretty good haul for a player who never scored for the Rapids. Shows how much Matt Wells will deal with mediocracy.
This is also an interesting game for Youssef Maziz, who has now had a few weeks to get acclimated to the altitude and start to catch up physically with the rest of the team. He got the start against Austin, which was surprising, but now looks to be in pole position to take a starting spot after the midfield struggled against San Diego. He could very well take the spot and run with it.
Downtick in Form for RSL
Real Salt Lake found themselves pretty high up the table for most of 2026, but now find themselves under the Rapids in 8th place. This is largely due to RSL going winless in their last seven MLS games. The last game they won in MLS was against the Rapids in Utah. They have had some success in the Leagues Cup. A win and a draw with a loss in the penalty shootout were enough for RSL to sneak into the fourth and final spot to book a ticket into the quarterfinals.
This quarterfinal had made waves with the Rapids faithful, as RSL chose to have this game at DICK’s Sporting Goods Park. Many Rapids fans were not happy with this decision. It makes sense from an RSL perspective; they travel the least and have the opportunity to stay in Colorado on the short week. However, this controversy lasted longer than RSL’s in the Leagues Cup, as Club Leon made easy work of the Utah side, and RSL left as a 3-0 loser.
Colorado will have to make use of the extra rest, as RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni opted to play his starters in Colorado on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see how much Pablo decides to rotate. Colorado will be off a full week of rest.
RSL also lost their best player to the Premier League, and just a few months from jawing at each other, Zavier Gozo joins Lucas Herrington in the Premier League. Gozo joined Crystal Palace for around $15 million; it’s a big move for the player. It’s also a big move for the club, which, similarly to the Rapids, hasn’t really made much use of the large transfer fee. RSL looks like a club broken by the transfer, not reinvigorated. Time will tell for both of these teams.
Prediction: Colorado continues their good home form, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Rapids win this 1-0 and retain the Rocky Mountain Cup.
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Matt Pollard 
Eamon Shaw 