The win signifies a new beginning. The club is still in playoff contention. Coach John Ellinger is happy. There's more life in the locker room. Everything seems good going into the MLS All-Star break this weekend before RSL could go back into regular season action and make a run for the postseason (the team is fifth in points in the Western Conference standings).
But before then, there's this thing called the U.S. Open Cup, which continues today at home against the Colorado Rapids.
"Now, I think, we still need to go into that game with the attitude you don't wanna lose,"
Ellinger said. "Now it's more so when you beat the No. 1 team in the league. . . . I think everybody feels good about it, I think the rest of the team feels good about it, and they just wanna add to it. They don't want it to stop there."
The fourth-round tournament game doesn't affect the MLS standings. And the last time a Cup game was held at home this season, RSL played against Virginia Beach Mariners of the United Soccer League First Division and no more than 7,000 fans showed up.
But the players insist the Cup game is not getting the cold shoulder. They look forward to it, especially now that, in their second year in the one-game elimination tournament that involves teams from amateur to MLS, they have survived this far.
Last year, RSL was eliminated in the second round in a 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Thunder of the USL.
"For me and the rest of the players, it's an important game," team captain and forward Jason Kreis said. "A lot of fans don't quite understand what it's all about. At the end of the day, it's a chance to win the trophy, it's a chance to put some money in the pocket."
And in tonight's game, RSL is going up against a team with a history in the Cup. Colorado competed in the 1999 finals, but has lost the first game in the tournament in four of the last six years.
On the other hand, RSL moved through the third round by beating the Mariners 2-1 on July 11. It wasn't an easy win. The game was tied in extra time until Andy Williams made a free kick for the victory, sending RSL to the fourth round.
Colorado Rapids
at Real Salt Lake Rice-Eccles Stadium
TONIGHT, 7 p.m.
Started in 1914.
The oldest cup competition in the United States.
Allows any soccer clubs, from amateur to professional, to compete in the single-elimination tournament.
The prize money is $180,000, broken down to the following: $100,000 to the champion, $50,000 to the runner-up and $10,000 to the team which advances deepest in the tournament from each of the Division II and III and amateur levels.
