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Rocky Mountain rivals meet up as Rapids face RSL

Jun 5, 2015 - 8:26 PM Sandy, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - The latest edition of the Rocky Mountain Cup will take place at Rio Tinto Stadium on Sunday as the Colorado Rapids hit the road to square off with Real Salt Lake for the first time this season.

Colorado will have a bit of revenge on its mind after the team lost all three meetings with RSL last season, allowing Salt Lake to lay claim to the Rocky Mountain Cup with ease.

Both teams enter the match having lost their last two games, with both giving away late goals in 2-1 defeats last weekend.

The Rapids looked to have clawed back a point at home against the Portland Timbers when Sam Cronin scored in the 90th minute to level the match at 1-1.

However, Jack Jewsbury struck deep into stoppage time to leave Colorado with all three points and the home side with a feeling of frustration.

The late goal is always difficult to deal with, but Rapids midfielder Dillon Powers was even more disappointed with his team's first-half display.

"Honestly I don't think going down the second goal was the most disappointing thing," said Powers. "The first half we came out with a weak mentality and that's been the case for a lot of games at home. We wait to wake up until after we've been scored on."

Another problem for the team is the fact that Colorado has managed to score more than one goal in a game just once in 13 matches this season.

The club boosted its offensive options with the additions of Luis Solignac and Kevin Doyle in the past few weeks, but they will take a bit of time to acclimate.

In the meantime, Powers feels that his team must develop a collective belief that doesn't currently exist.

"I think it's a collective belief and right now we don't have it," he said. "Once you have that belief it makes you a better team. It starts with individuals, myself included."

Salt Lake is also looking to turn things around after back-to-back losses, while head coach Jeff Cassar is hoping his team is able to tighten things up at the back to stop giving away goals.

Jamison Olave gave away a needless handball in the opening 10 minutes two games ago that was punished with the only goal of the game.

And last weekend, it was Elias Vasquez who chested a ball down for goalkeeper Nick Rimando that was intercepted by Cristian Techera and finished off for the winning goal in a 2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps win over RSL with 11 minutes to play.

"I think we did enough to get a result here," said a frustrated Cassar after the match, "and we also did enough to walk out of here with nothing.

"If you're gifting goals in this league, it's not going to be good. If teams are going to earn it, OK, hats off to them. But we can't gift goals."