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MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Heads to North Texas Saturday against FC Dallas

April 14, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SANDY, UT - Real Salt Lake (2-4-0, 6 pts., 10th West) hit the road this weekend for MLS Matchday Eight, visiting longtime rivals FC Dallas (3-3-2, 11 pts., 4th West) on Saturday (6:30p MT kickoff on the Apple MLS Season Pass w/ Mark Rogondino & Heath Pearce (ENG) / Ivan Kasanzew & Jesus Acosta (SPN); 6:00p MT radio pre-game w/ David James & Jay Nolly via www.KSLSports.com / 1280 AM / 97.5 FM and www.KSLNewsRadio.com / 1160 AM).

Real Salt Lake arrives in Frisco Saturday surely buoyed by a drought-snapping, dominant 3-1 win at home over Charlotte, the 3-goal / 6-minute outburst equaling the number of goals RSL had scored in the first five MLS reg. season games overall. MF Pablo Ruiz, FW Anderson Julio and FW Jefferson Savarino each found the back of the net during a six-minute span in the second half to reverse an 0-1 halftime deficit. The outburst marked the Utah side's second-fastest three-goal effort in its 19-year history, eclipsed only by a three-goal, five-minute surge in mid-2014 against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids.

Ruiz' equalizer in the 59th minute, followed quickly by Julio's 62nd-minute game-winner and Savarino's insurance strike in the 65th - each goal the first of the year for the South American trio - also featured a pair of assists from newcomer Andrés Gómez. Gómez' two-assist effort at the age of 20 years, 208 marked the second-youngest double-assist match in RSL history, behind current RSL Academy coach Jordan Allen's accomplishment at 20 years, 13 days back in 2016.

RSL's 3-1 victory over Charlotte improved the Claret-and-Cobalt mark against expansion sides visiting Utah for the first time to 10W-4L-3T, a record which includes the 0-4 loss to 2023 expansion team St. Louis just three weeks ago. Previous sides to win in their first-ever visits to Utah are: Toronto (2007), Atlanta (2017), LAFC (2018), and now St. Louis (2023).

America First Field will host two of its next three in the month of April, as RSL seeks to recapture the form that saw the Club post an 18W-7L-9T home record in 2021/22 MLS campaigns. Last Thursday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup draw dictated that RSL will travel to Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 26 to face the USL Lights in Third-Round Open Cup action. Local broadcast information for that match will be announced in the near future.

Real Salt Lake head to the Dallas-Ft. Worth MetroPlex seeking to extend an unprecedented unbeaten run against FC Dallas that dates back to 2017, as the Claret-and-Cobalt own one win and four draws at Toyota Stadium in the last five visits. That lone win - in October, 2021 - saw FW Justin Meram come off the bench to provide assists in the final 10 minutes for both Albert Rusnák and Damir Kreilach to capture the full three points in Dallas for just the second occasion ever, and first since July 2013. All-time, all competitions, RSL is just 2W-15L-6T at Dallas, outscored by 23 total goals in MLS, Open Cup and Playoff action. The RSL/Dallas rivalry reached a peak in 2010/11, as the best teams in Utah's MLS history were eliminated by Dallas in the opening round of the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs as well as the 2011 version of the Lamar Hunt Open Cup.

In RSL's last visit to Dallas, the teams drew 1-1, as Anderson Julio's 69th-minute equalizer salvaged points for a visiting Utah side. A month earlier, FC Dallas arrived in Sandy and won, 1-0, in something of a gut-punch to the home side, ending a 10-game unbeaten run (7W, 3T) to open the 2022 campaign at America First Field.

Twenty of the 26 returning Claret-and-Cobalt players from last season played a total of nearly 27,000 minutes across a 34-game MLS regular-season campaign that saw RSL (12W-11L-11T) amass 47 points and capture the 7th and final Western Conference playoff seed, reaching the postseason for the fourth time in the last five years and the 12th occasion in the last 15 seasons.

A season ago, Real Salt Lake captured the full three points on "Decision Day" to snare the 7th and final Western Conference seed, the Claret-and-Cobalt qualifying for the MLS Cup Playoffs for the 12th time in its last 15 seasons (DNQ 2015, 2017, 2020). For the second consecutive year - both under Mastroeni's supervision - RSL utilized "Decision Day" drama and a "must-win" scenario to advance to the postseason for a fourth occasion in the last five years, despite three different ownership situations, three different head coaches and three different postseason formats during that period.

Visit www.RSL.com for 2023 season tickets at America First Field in Sandy, with RSL's fourth and fifth matches of the 2023 home season coming up on consecutive late-April Saturdays against San Jose and Seattle. The Utah side looks to build upon the recent run of 18 consecutive MLS sellouts - snapped in sub-freezing temperatures three weeks ago - and last year's NEW all-time Club-high average attendance of 20,470. Since the 2021 season, Real Salt Lake has posted a 17-9-9 (W-L-T) reg. season mark in Sandy, one of the League's most dominant home records in that time.

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