Real Salt Lake aim to halt a stretch of four consecutive matches without a goal when they visit the Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Commerce City, Colo.
Real Salt Lake (3-6-3, 12 points) has gone 370 minutes without a goal, the third-longest scoreless streak in club history.
“The longer you go without hitting the back of the net, it feels a bit ominous,” Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni said after a scoreless draw against the visiting Portland Timbers on Wednesday. “But I’ve been in this game for quite some time, and when you hit it once, it seems to come in bunches.”
Salt Lake has just one loss during the drought, having played three scoreless ties during the stretch.
Zac MacMath recorded his third shutout of the season on Wednesday while playing in his 200th career MLS match. He is in his second season as the RSL starter after his previous full-time engagement was with the Philadelphia Union in 2014.
“It came down to showing that I am who I have always been, I have always been this player,” MacMath said. “Having an opportunity and taking it and then working to keep it, I just finally had the opportunity to show what I’ve always been capable of.”
Colorado (2-5-6, 12 points) has dropped its past two games and was trounced 4-0 by host Atlanta United on Wednesday.
Atlanta outshot the Rapids 27-6 and scored three goals from the 80th minute on to pull away.
“It’s disappointment. It’s disappointment because they know they can do better,” Colorado coach Robin Fraser said afterward. “It’s disappointment because I think up to about the 80th minute, it was still one-nil. But I thought the second half was decent, and a lot of our problems occurred from our own turnovers.”
Having another game three days later is a good development in the eyes of Rapids midfielder Ralph Priso.
“Yeah, the good thing about the period that we’re in is that there’s games coming fast and there’s no time to dwell on bad results,” Priso said. “I think we have two derbies coming up, so it’s easy to get up for those, and we know those are two must-win games, so we’ll be ready for them.”
The Rapids and RSL play again Wednesday in Colorado in U.S. Open Cup round of 16 play.
Last season’s two MLS matches both ended in ties.
–Field Level Media
