MLS Real Salt Lake

Preview: Real Salt Lake Welcomes Zlatan and the LA Galaxy to Rio Tinto Stadium

Published on August 31, 2018 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SANDY, Utah - Real Salt Lake (12-10-5, 41 pts., 4th West) kicks off Labor Day Weekend by welcoming world icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the LA Galaxy (10-9-8, 38 pts., t-6th West), with fans encouraged to arrive early for an 8:00 p.m. MT kickoff before what will be a standing-room only crowd at Rio Tinto Stadium. Attendance Saturday is expected to approach or possibly exceed the venue-record 21,004, set in September, 2015, also against the LA Galaxy, in a 3-0 victory (GK Nick Rimando notching career clean sheet 123, w/ a Devon Sandoval brace and a Javier Morales goal).

RSL sits fourth overall in a tightly-packed Western Conference playoff race, where just nine points separate the top eight teams entering the final quarter of the season. The Claret-and-Cobalt play four of its next six matches at home - where the team enters Saturday boasting a 12-game unbeaten streak and an overall 2018 mark of 9-1-3 in Sandy (outscoring opponents 25-11) - prior to the October 21 season finale at Portland. RSL will be forced to scoreboard watch on the regular-season's final match date - "Decision Day" - with the odd number of teams necessitating a bye week on Oct. 28.

Head Coach Mike Petke's team returns home Saturday looking to capitalize on the momentum created in back-to-back road wins at Houston and at Colorado in recent weeks, both achieved in dramatic fashion. Last Saturday at Colorado, RSL secured the fan-created Rocky Mountain Cup for the fourth consecutive year and for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons with a dominant 6-0 win.

How to Follow Real Salt Lake v LA Galaxy - Sat., Sept. 1, 2018

Coverage Begins: 7:30 p.m. MT

Local TV: KMYU w/ David James & Brian Dunseth, w/ Samantha Yarock

Digital Streaming: KSL 5 TV app or KSL.com

English Radio: ESPN 700 AM (6:00 p.m. MT) - Bill Riley & Jay Nolly

w/ Tom Hackett & Spencer Warne (pre-/post-game)

Spanish Radio: 104.7 /107.1 FM - Fernando Hortal, German Hortal & Carlos Artiles

Per the Elias Sports Bureau, RSL's six-goal road win at Colorado was the fourth-largest margin of victory on the road in 23 MLS seasons. The win - RSL's largest on the road in club history and just the second ever, matching a 6-0 home win in 2009 over New England - gave RSL the distinction of joining MLS originals LA Galaxy, Sporting Kansas City and New York Red Bulls as the only teams in league history to record two wins by six goals or more.

Five different players found the back of the net on the night, with FW Jefferson Savarino notching a brace - the second of his career - while Damir Kreilach, Joao Plata, Corey Baird and Albert Rusnák also seizing opportunities in the race for the club's 2018 "Golden Boot."

Six RSL players have scored five or more goals in the club's 27 games played thus far this season, with eight players providing four or more assists. The balanced 2018 attack sees Rusnák and Plata with eight goals each - exceeding their 2017 team-leading output - while Kreilach (7), Rookie of the Year front-runner Baird (6) and Venezuelan international Savarino (5) - round out the sextet. Savarino's eight assists lead that category, followed by Rusnák and Kreilach (6 each), Plata (5) and Baird and DF Brooks Lennon (4 each).

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Major League Soccer Stories from August 31, 2018


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