On a night with everything on the line, it all went right for Real Salt Lake. RSL put together a near perfect performance against its rivals, the Colorado Rapids, while every other result from around the league fell into place to give RSL a playoff berth. Robbie Findley scored twice in the first half and Yura Movsisyan added an insurance goal in the 85th minute.
Coach Jason Kreis called the 3-0 win a “fantastic performance.” “It probably will go down as one of the best RSL games in the history of the franchise,” he said. “The performance was second-to-none tonight, and so rewarding to see the players play that way when all the chips were on the table.”
RSL also qualified for last season’s playoffs with a pressured win against Colorado, winning in dramatic fashion with a stoppage-time goal from Movsisyan. But Kreis believes that this year’s team is better poised for a playoff run. “The reason is because this year, in the most highest pressure situations, our team tended to play its best,” he said. “For me, in five to eight — maybe 10 — games this year, we’ve shown, in my opinion, that we can win it all.” RSL will face the reigning champions, the Columbus Crew, in the first round of the playoffs.