How, exactly, does one become comfortable with a loss to Colorado? It's hard to say, really, because I don't know that any of us are at that level of zen, but certainly having wrapped up the Rocky Mountain Cup in the two previous matches doesn't hurt.
It wasn't exactly a dead rubber, but it fell during the dog days of summer (a very old phrase, it turns out — I've only just learned this) and wasn't exactly the most exciting of matches for Real Salt Lake fans.
This was one of the more shambolic 1-0 losses you'll see, but it should have been worse. Real Salt Lake chances weren't exactly flying, save for a short period in which Justin Braun came alive and Alvaro Saborio nearly clobbered Drew Moor (a legend, that Tico.)
Colorado hit the bar and the post and were stopped by some fantastic work from the one and only Nick Rimando. That's really what it comes down to. Their one goal, though, had an element of luck to it — an unfortunate rebound off Kwame Watson-Siriboe (he had the ball headed to his feet)
Lineup: Rimando; Beltran, Watson-Siriboe, Borchers, Wingert, Beckerman, Grabavoy, Steele (Johnson 63'), Morales, Saborio (Espindola 45'), Braun (Bonfigli 63').
The lineup is obviously a bit different, with Rimando, Beltran, Watson-Siriboe, Beckerman, Grabavoy and Saborio the only projected repeat starters from that day.