Real Salt Lake won the 2015 Desert Diamond Cup as RSL defeated Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday night in front of a record attendance in Tucson, Arizona.
Olmes Garcia opened the scoring in the seventh minute as Luis Gil crossed the ball low inside the box and Garcia was wide-open by the far post for the tap-in goal. It was poor defending by Colorado to allow the ball to go across the 6-yard box unchallenged, reaching Garcia. Álvaro Saborio received a yellow card in the 13th minute on a hard challenge on Colorado defender Bobby Burling. RSL’s Javier Morales had a nice curling shot in the 16th minute, but his shot went just wide.
RSL nearly had a second goal in the 24th minute. Morales sent a lovely through ball to Garcia who stayed onside and slid the ball past Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin, but Burling ran the ball down to make a sliding stop on the shot.
The Rapids equalized in the 28th minute as Vicente Sanchez’s shot from outside the box was mishandled by RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando, and Dillon Serna was there to slot in the rebound for the goal. Rimando was able to make a clean save on a Dominique Badji shot inside the box in the 33rd minute.
In the second half, a free kick called in favor of RSL in the 50th minute was the moment that changed the game. Saborio was sent off after a scuffle between the Costa Rican forward and Rapids defender Michael Harrington during the setup for the free kick. The ensuing play saw Morales with a brilliant free-kick goal over the Colorado wall to give RSL the lead, but down to 10 men for the rest of the match.
Rimando took a hit by Colorado’s Gabriel Torres in the 55th minute, who was given a yellow card for the play. Badji had a close look at goal in the 60th minute, but Rimando was there for the easy save.
Colorado pushed forward in the last 20 minutes, but Real’s defense kept the Rapids out of the box. Sanchez sent a long curling shot from outside the box in the 76th minute, but Rimando was there to grab the ball for the save by the near post. The last opportunity for the Rapids came in stoppage time as Badji had another clear shot at goal inside the box, but once again it was a shot straight to Rimando. Real Salt Lake ended its preseason with a perfect record of four wins, no draws and no losses as RSL hung on for the 2-1 win.
Down to 10 men with over 35 minutes to go, Real obviously didn’t go forward much the last half of the match. RSL manager Jeff Cassar’s players essentially went with five men in the back line after Saborio was sent off, expecting a Rapids attack. RSL’s defense stepped up and kept Colorado out of the box, forcing the Rapids to take long shots from outside the box to try and beat Rimando. The Rapids went all-in on attack the last few minutes, but having five in the back line plus dropping back two midfielders to help on defense shut down Colorado’s chances at creating goal-scoring plays.
RSL was forced to play the match wearing its training shirts instead of its traditional jerseys because Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids have similar-looking jerseys. A coin toss before the game determined who would wear their game jerseys, and the Rapids won the toss. Thankfully for RSL, the coin toss was the only thing Colorado won on the night, as Real Salt Lake finished the preseason with a perfect winning record and lifted the trophy as Desert Diamond Cup champions.
Individual awards were handed out after the match. For RSL, Jamison Olave won the Defender of the Cup award for the tournament's best defender, Devin Sandoval won the Copper Boot as the tournament's leading goal-scorer with three goals, and Javier Morales was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Barring a work stoppage in the MLS due to ongoing labor negotiations, Real Salt Lake will open the MLS season next Saturday night on the road against the Portland Timbers.
Xoel CÀrdenas, is a writer with Deseret News sports. He is also a columnist at SB Nation, the largest sports blog site in the country, where he covers FC Barcelona. Follow him on Twitter @XoelCardenas.