Real Salt Lake won its regular-season home finale on Saturday night in Sandy, 1-0 over the Colorado Rapids, to climb into a wild-card playoff spot.
With its second straight victory, RSL (12-16-4) moved into ninth place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference with two road games remaining. The eighth- and ninth-place teams in each conference will meet in wild-card games.
Diogo Goncalves scored the game’s only goal in the 39th minute. RSL’s Alexandros Katranis passed the ball to Rwan Cruz inside the box, and Cruz sent the ball back to Goncalves, who drilled it into the net.
RSL acquired Cruz in August on loan from Brazilian club Botafogo.
Colorado (11-15-7) had a 16-11 edge in shots in the game, but RSL had a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal.
RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral and Colorado’s Zack Steffen each made three saves.
Despite RSL’s victory, the Rocky Mountain Cup will remain with the Rapids. Colorado won the first meeting of the season between the regional rivals 1-0 on May 17. Because the teams split their two games and tied 1-1 on aggregate scoring, the trophy stays with the Rapids, who claimed it last season.
Real Salt Lake will visit the Seattle Sounders next Saturday (7:30 p.m. MDT, Apple TV) before wrapping up the regular season on Oct. 18 at St. Louis.