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Real Salt Lake-Rapids Preview

Oct 22, 2010 - 2:34 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Senior Writer

Real Salt Lake (15-4-10) at Colorado (12-8-9), 9:00 p.m. EDT

The Colorado Rapids went into their season-ending matchup with Real Salt Lake the past two years needing a win to get into the playoffs, but on both occasions came up short.

There's far less of a sense of urgency this time.

Colorado put an end to its four-year playoff drought by wrapping up a berth last weekend, and now turns its attention to trying to ruin visiting RSL's 13-match unbeaten streak in Saturday's Rocky Mountain Cup clash.

The Rapids (12-8-9) missed out on the playoffs in 2009 by losing a tiebreaker to Real (15-4-10) after falling 3-0 to their archrival on the season's final day. A year earlier, Colorado fell a point short of the league's last postseason berth when the teams played to a 1-all draw in the season finale.

Colorado isn't in desperate need of any points in this meeting. It clinched a spot Saturday afternoon with Kansas City's loss, then celebrated in fine form later that night by bouncing back from an early deficit to beat league-best Los Angeles 3-1 on the road.

"Winning is a mindset," said midfielder Pablo Mastroeni. "After not making the playoffs for a few years, you start getting into that rut where it's a little harder to do."

It was the first time since May 2006 - an 0-51-17 stretch - that the Rapids won after falling behind.

"It was very nice to put that statistic to bed and, all in all, the guys were fantastic," coach Gary Smith told MLS' official website. "This was a wonderful display and we showed some really good form."

Colorado and RSL played to a 1-all draw Sept. 25 in Utah, with Nat Borchers' stoppage-time goal helping Salt Lake preserve its 24-game home unbeaten streak.

That means the Rapids need to win Saturday to claim the Rocky Mountain Cup for the first time in four years. A draw would leave the teams level on points and goals, in which case the Cup returns to RSL, the previous winner.

Three points aren't necessarily a good thing for Colorado, though. A win opens the possibility they could jump from sixth to fourth in the West, which would leave them in a tough bracket with Los Angeles, RSL and FC Dallas.

Finishing fifth or sixth mandates a trip to the less threatening East bracket.

RSL still has a chance to overtake the Galaxy for the West's top seed and the Supporters' Shield. The defending MLS Cup champions would need to beat Colorado and have Los Angeles draw or lose Sunday against FC Dallas, or tie the Rapids and have the Galaxy lose.

It's tough to imagine RSL failing to come away with at least a point. Salt Lake extended its overall unbeaten streak to 13 and its home streak to 25 last Saturday with a 2-0 win over FC Dallas, ending Dallas' own 19-game undefeated run.

"Every game has been a big game lately and we just keep on going and going and going," midfielder Ned Grabavoy said after scoring RSL's first goal. "We still have the Supporters' Shield in our reach, and as long as it's still there we're going to go for it."