RSL demonstrates flexibility in second half of Rocky Mountain Cup

Real Salt Lake left back Danilo Acosta pushed up to join the attack, but his pass meant for Joao Plata went to Rapids defender Marlon Hairston’s feet instead. Hairston turned, and Acosta took him out with a slide tackle from behind, earning a red card and putting RSL down a man against Colorado on Saturday night.

“He’s a young, eager kid,” RSL coach Mike Petke said of the 19-year-old defender, “and him, Justen [Glad], Brooks [Lennon], [Sebastian Saucedo], guys like that are going to have moments in their learning curve. So when we look at the video, we’ll have a conversation with him. It’s happened to me many times as a player.”

But when RSL went down a man in the 57th minute, something…