Rapids, Real Salt Lake clash in key West playoff-race battle

A massive Rocky Mountain showdown is on tap for Saturday night as host Real Salt Lake faces the Colorado Rapids in Sandy, Utah.

With three matches remaining, Salt Lake (11-16-4, 37 points) sits in 11th place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference, one point behind both the ninth-place San Jose Earthquakes and 10th-place FC Dallas. The top nine teams make the postseason.

After back-to-back losses to Los Angeles FC by identical 4-1 scorelines, Real Salt Lake had three different players score in a 3-1 win over Austin FC on Sept. 27.

The upcoming contest, RSL's home finale, is just another high-stakes matchup for a team currently below the playoff line, coach Pablo Mastroeni said.

"The feeling that we had during the week of training heading into this last game (against Austin) was a bit edgy, and the response ... was awesome. So it's really about building off that," Mastroeni said, according to Salt City Soccer. "The players made fantastic plays (last) weekend, and that's why we won the game. The expectations for me against Colorado is we're going to do the same thing."

RSL midfielder Diego Luna, who had a pair of assists against Austin, was called up to the United States men's national team for its October friendlies against Ecuador and Australia. Luna's nine goals and seven assists lead the team.

The Rapids (11-14-7, 40 points) are currently in eighth place in the West, two points ahead of San Jose and Dallas with two matches to go. In its latest outing, Colorado lost a lead in the 65th minute of a 1-1 draw against Minnesota United on Sept. 27.

Rapids coach Chris Armas acknowledged the "high intensity" of the Saturday derby match -- considering the stakes involved -- adding that he didn't want his team to "play it safe" away from home.

"The match is, of course, just important. We've been playing in these kinds of games lately," Armas told Denver's Altitude Sports Radio on Wednesday. "We have a must-win approach going in. So no matter who this next opponent would have been, that's the idea."

Rafael Santos had the Rapids' lone goal against Minnesota, his first for the team.

--Field Level Media