Real Salt Lake’s party didn’t get rained on Saturday night, but the Colorado Rapids certainly spoiled the ending. Skip right to the photo gallery.

With a sold-out crowd on hand and a second-half lead on a goal from Yura Movsisyan, RSL was poised to earn its first win in six games when Robbie Russell was sent off for his second yellow card in the 82nd minute, leaving Real to defend its lead a man down.  Then Colorado’s Omar Cummings took advantage of a gap in the Salt Lake backline and equalized in the 88th minute, giving the Rapids a 1-1 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium and a leg up in the Rocky Mountain Cup series.

Just like that, RSL was left wondering what might have been yet again, as Saturday’s match marked a tremendous opportunity for Salt Lake to get back on track after several disappointing results.  Although Real was missing starting midfielders Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman through yellow card suspension, their opponent was also missing two key players in Pablo Mastroeni and Conor Casey, both of whom were away with the U.S. national team.

To accommodate the roster changes, RSL coach Jason Kreis changed his team’s formation again, utilizing what on paper was a 4-3-3 but pulled some of the strikers back into the midfield at times.  The change seemed to pay off immediately, as Real possessed the ball well, particularly in the first half.  However, finishing remained problematic for Kreis’ side.  Robbie Findley missed on two headers in front of goal, Fabian Espindola’s point-blank header was on frame but took a hard bounce over the top of the goal, and RSL’s set pieces seldom produced anything to trouble Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens.

The missed chances came back to haunt Real, as a Rapids side that had already stepped up its play in the second half  capitalized on the man advantage late in the match.  After Cummings’ equalizer, RSL had little time to push for another goal, and the match ended in yet another tie.

Despite the disappointing result, Kreis’ comments were guardedly optimistic after the match.

“I was really pleased with the commitment, the dedication, the hard work that our guys put in tonight.  They really played with some self-belief, and I thought they really looked like a team that was wanting to fight and do all those things together. At the end of the day I am pleased; pleased with the guys, obviously not pleased with the result, because we always want three points at home. But I think this may be something to build off of,” Kreis said.

Midfielder Ned Grabavoy spoke about the long-term consequences of Saturday’s result.  “It’s disappointing because this is one of the teams we’ll be fighting with. It’s unfortunate. We get a red card, their guy turns and hits an unbelievable shot. We just have to work through this now. Getting ties is better than getting losses, but at some point we need to start getting wins,” he remarked.

Colorado, however, seemed pleased with the point it earned in Salt Lake City.  Rapids coach Gary Smith said of his team, “A couple of the boys picked a big time to step up to the plate and realized it was on their shoulders today.  The off time gave us the opportunity to regroup, settle down and put in a very stalwart second half performance.”

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RSL Player Assessments:

Rimando:
Had a relatively easy night until he got caught off his line on the Cummings goal. That one will hurt for a while.

Russell:
His first-half performance was excellent, but his dismissal proved devastating for RSL. Of course, players are going to get sent off now and then, but when the first yellow card is for dissent rather than an actual play, it makes it much more difficult to overlook.

Borchers:
Was his usual consistent, well-organized self for most of the match, but Cummings exploited an unusual gap between Borchers and Beltran in the back to score the equalizer. Unfortunately for him, he’ll absorb most of the blame as the central defender.

Olave:
Had some fantastic physical matchups with Cummings in the first half. I’m not sure why teams try to go over the top of Olave regularly, though.

Beltran:
“Slater” deserves credit for his improvement over the course of the season but was somewhat unremarkable last night. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Grabavoy:
Did well in the first half, helping RSL maintain possession and dominate the midfield, but lost some steam in the second half, which led to his substitution.

Mathis:
Had some absolute howlers on corner kicks and free kicks, but was markedly better during the run of play.

Johnson:
Played in a different role last night due to the formation change, but did fairly well. Like Mathis, though, could have done much better on set pieces.

Movsisyan:
“Enigmatic” is probably too mild of a word to describe his play last night. He played hard, finished horribly most of the time, yet scored a beautiful (and crucial) goal. Really, Yura?

Findley:
It’s been nice to see Findley broaden his game beyond running onto long balls, but he simply has to do better with the two headers in front of goal. While the defenders and goalkeeper will take a lot of heat for the equalizer, those mistakes were just as important to the result. Came off with injury during the second half.

Espindola:
I don’t think the formation really suited Fabi’s strengths, as he got pulled back into defending quite a bit rather than running the angles up front. However, his commitment to win the ball is refreshing for a striker, he earned RSL several good free-kick chances by taking on defenders, and got an assist despite his miss on the header.

Subs:
Williams:
Helped RSL calm down considerably after coming on, which was critical, as the Rapids had begun to assert themselves after halftime. Was also a key component of the play leading up to Movsisyan’s goal, but was otherwise fairly quiet on the attacking end.

Escalada:
His most notable moment of the match came toward the end, when he was judged to be offside on a long ball from Wingert. I still don’t have much of a read on his potential, to be honest.

Wingert:
Came on late after Russell was sent off, but didn’t have much of a chance to impact the game.

Match Facts:

Colorado Rapids (4-2-5) vs. Real Salt Lake (3-6-3) June 06, 2009 — Rio Tinto Stadium

Scoring Summary:
RSL — Yura Movsisyan 2 (Fabian Espíndola 1) 79
COL — Omar Cummings 3 (Mehdi Ballouchy 4) 88

Lineups:
Colorado Rapids — Matt Pickens, Ugo Ihemelu, Cory Gibbs, Scott Palguta (Ross Schunk 84), Jordan Harvey, Terry Cooke (Kosuke Kimura 31), Mehdi Ballouchy, Nick LaBrocca, Colin Clark, Jacob Peterson (Greg Dalby 71), Omar Cummings.

Substitutes Not Used: Preston Burpo, Ty Harden, Michael Holody, Rob Valentino

Real Salt Lake — Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Tony Beltran, Ned Grabavoy (Andy Williams 70), Clint Mathis, Will Johnson, Yura Movsisyan, Robbie Findley (Luis Miguel Escalada 76), Fabian Espíndola (Chris Wingert 83).

Substitutes Not Used: Jean Alexandre, Raphael Cox, Tino Nunez, Kyle Reynish

Misconduct Summary:
COL — Mehdi Ballouchy (caution; Reckless Tackle) 3
RSL — Fabian Espíndola (caution; Reckless Tackle) 22
COL — Nick LaBrocca (caution; Delaying a Restart) 45
RSL — Robbie Russell (caution; Dissent) 73
COL — Ugo Ihemelu (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 76
RSL — Robbie Russell (ejection; Second Caution) 82
RSL — Clint Mathis (caution; Reckless Tackle) 87

Referee:  Jeff Gontarek
Referee’s Assistants:  Greg Barkey; David Bragg
4th official:  Landis Wiley
Time of game:  1:58
Attendance:  19,546
Weather:  Partly Cloudy -and- 68 degrees