Real Salt Lake continue their unbeaten home run as they thrashed Colorado Rapids 4-1 at the Rio Tinto Stadium last weekend. Goals from Joao Plata (41'), Luis Silva (50', 90'+) and Brooks Lennon saw Mike Petke's side outplayed Colorado Rapids in front of 18,855 spectators. Joshua Gatt (41') scored the only goal for the visitors. With this victory, RSL is ninth in the MLS Western Conference, while Colorado Rapids are in the bottom on twenty-two points. Here's a look at the Match between the both teams:
Real Salt Lake outlook
Starting XI and individual performance points: Goalkeeper - Nick Rimando (6.2).
Defenders - Tony Beltran (6.7), Justen Glad (6.9), David Horst (6.5), Danilo Acosta (5.0). Midfielder - Sunny (6.1), Luke Mulholland (6.9), Jefferson Savarino (7.3), Albert Rusnák (8.8), Joao Plata (8.2). Forward - Luis Silva (7.5). Used substitutes - Sebastián Saucedo (6.2), Chris Wingert (6.1), Brooks Lennon (7.4).
Team's strength and weakness: RSL were strong at creating goal bound opportunities from counter-attacks, and they were brilliant at converting those chances. RSL stole the ball often from Rapids players and set up a lot of chances relatives to their possession, but they were too aggressive in the match.
Team style of play in the match: The hosts had high shot frequency when in possession, and they attacked largely through the middle and held a large possession in the Colorado Rapids' half.
Colorado Rapids outlook
Starting XI and individual performance points: Goalkeeper - Tim Howard (6.00). Defenders - Marlon Hairston (5.9), Eric Miller (5.7), Axel Sjoberg (6.1), Mekeil Williams (4.9). Midfielder - Bismark Boateng (6.00), Mohammed Saeid (5.2), Luis Gil (6.1). Forward - Shkelzen Gashi (5.9), Dominique Badji (6.2), Kevin Doyle (6.5).
Used substitutes - Micheal Azira (6.1), Alan Gordon (4.1), Joshua Gatt (6.9).
Team's strength and weakness: Colorado Rapids were good at setting up goal scoring chances from the sides and were fantastic at creating goal bound chances from long range shots. However, the visitors were caught offside most times, and they were too aggressive in tackling.
Team style of play in the match: Colorado Rapids largely attacked through the middle and severally favored long range strikes.
Who's the Man of the match?
Albert Rusnák was superb manning the midfield for Real Salt Lake. He was the one responsible for providing those goal scoring opportunities. Rusnák attempted three shots on target, made five key passes and completed a total of sixty touches in the match. Albert Rusnák obviously deserves the Man of the Match honor.
The both teams upcoming matches
Real Salt Lake will travel to Canada to face Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday 9 September, while Rapids will hit the road once again to take on Houston Dynamo the same day.
