MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Returns Home Saturday for National-Televised Matinee against LA Galaxy

Published on April 29, 2022 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - Real Salt Lake (3-2-4, 13 pts, 6th West) returns home this weekend, welcoming long-time rival LA Galaxy (5-2-1, 16 pts, 3rd West) Saturday afternoon. All-time, RSL is 9-5-8 (W-L-T) in MLS regular-season play on Utah soil against the Galaxy, with a 2-0-1 MLS Cup Playoff / U.S. Open Cup mark at home against the original MLS side. In 2009, RSL famously outlasted a star-laden Galaxy side at the MLS Cup final in Seattle, winning a shootout tiebreaker to bring the State of Utah its first major-league professional sports championship since the early 1970s.

Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni's side has not won since March 19, a 2-1 home victory over Nashville, a span of five games in League play and six overall, as the Claret-and-Cobalt were bounced unceremoniously from the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on April 20 at home. Last weekend's 0-0 draw at Portland closed out an injury-filled season-opening stanza that saw RSL play six of its first nine games on the road, while Saturday's home match against the Galaxy now opens a stretch that sees Rio Tinto Stadium host five of the next eight and eight of the next 12 at home. Mastroeni has used 24 players already through nine games this season, with the primary MLS transfer window closing middle of next week.

Saturday's match will be broadcast locally via KMYU (12 over the air, 22 satellite and 643 HD on cable), with streaming on the KSL Sports App, as well as ESPN700 AM radio. Spanish-speaking fans can tune in on KBMG Latino 106.3 FM, La Gran D 102.3 FM and KTUB 1600 AM for the local radio broadcast.

Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy

Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, UT

Saturday, April 30 at 1:30 p.m. MT

2022 Records: Real Salt Lake (3-2-4, 13 pts, 6th West); LA Galaxy (5-2-1, 16 pts, 3rd West)

OTHER 2022 RSL NOTES:

FOUR CONSECUTIVE SEASON-OPENING SELLOUTS FOR FIRST TIME EVER

RSL is tracking for an unprecedented fourth consecutive sellout Saturday afternoon against LA Galaxy, which would be first in the Club's 18-year history to start the season. Back on March 19 at Rio Tinto Stadium, 20,036 fans attended to give the Utah side its first back-to-back 20k crowds since late Summer 2016, and its first March with 40,000+ tickets sold since the 2013 and 2015 seasons. With RSL selling out the RioT April 9 against Toronto for 20,136 fans, it marked the first three-game sellout streak to open a season since 2015, and only the second ever.

In that fateful non-Playoff 2015 season, RSL sold out 11 of the Club's 17 home reg. season contests, including seven straight from late June through mid-September. Wednesday's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup contest saw 19,301 tickets distributed, while April 30 at home vs. LA Galaxy and Chicharito is already approaching Standing Room Only status.

HOME SWEET HOME

Currently, RSL owns an MLS-best regular season home record of 126-36-56, 434 points since 2009 (includes one "road" match against RioT tenant Vancouver in 2021).

In Sandy, Utah, RSL has enjoyed a prominent home-field advantage - posting a dominant 148-44-47 (Win-Loss-Draw) record across all competitions at home (2.07 points per game for a 0.722 win pct.) - since opening its permanent Rio Tinto Stadium venue in Sandy on Oct. 8, 2008, more than 13 years ago.

In 2021, RSL earned a 9-4-4 home record and set a new Club mark for most consecutive home wins, earning seven straight victories. Rio Tinto Stadium will host seven home matches in 10 weeks between May 8 - July 23, including the Rocky Mountain Cup vs. Colorado on July 9 and hosting rival Sporting Kansas City on July 17 as the club looks to build upon its league-best regular season home mark and retain the Rocky Mountain Cup for the 13th time in 18 seasons.

TERRIBLE TIMES ON TURF

RSL owns an all-time MLS regular-season and playoff mark of just 15-39-19 (W-L-T) on artificial surfaces across the league since its 2005 inaugural campaign. Last Saturday, April 23 at Portland, with a 0-0 draw, RSL snapped an overall five-game winless streak at Providence Park. In those 73 all-time games on the fake stuff, the Utah side has been outscored 127-74. RSL is now 5-4-3 all-time at Foxborough against the Revolution, the March 12 win at Gillette Stadium snapping a three-game winless streak. In both 2015 and 2017, RSL lost 0-4 in turf drubbings, prior to a 0-0 draw in its last visit to Gillette, in 2019. From 2010-13, RSL did win three consecutive road matches against the Revs by an aggregate score of 6-2.

ROAD-HEAVY START

RSL's trip to Gillette Stadium March 12 marked the second away match in the Club's first three games this season, which sees RSL travel for six of its first 9 matches overall. Following a Rio Tinto Stadium win against Nashville on March 19, RSL has now gone winless in four with just two points accrued in three road matches at Kansas City, Colorado and New York City FC sandwiched around the 2-2 home draw with Toronto April 9.

Despite historic anemia away from home, RSL has earned results in six of its last nine overall road contests dating back to 2021. Late regular-season wins in Dallas and Kansas City overcame home stumbles to San Jose/Portland and made the postseason possible, while RSL deserved to advance in the MLS Cup Playoffs with its unforgettable performances at Seattle and Kansas City before falling at Portland in the West Final.

Can RSL regain its 2.00 points-per-game road average established this early part of the year with a response to its worst road performances of the year at NYCFC?

RSL finally gets a stretch of eight home games in 12 contests from April 30 to July 9.

RSL EAST COAST HISTORY

In the Eastern Time Zone, RSL is now just 14-41-20 all-time / all competitions, outscored in the previous 75 matches by an aggregate score of 148-73. Five of the 14 wins and 16 of the 73 goals have come in New England, with RSL at .500 or better in NE (5-4-3), PHI (1-1-4) and Cincinnati (1-0-0). RSL owns two wins or fewer in the other eight ET cities - Toronto (2-5-2), Columbus (2-10-2), NYCFC (1-2-0), NYRB (1-6-4), D.C. (1-7-3), Montreal (0-4-0), Orlando (0-1-2) and Atlanta (0-1-0). Will May 22 at Montreal be different?

CASEY AT THE BAT / MONUMENT PARK

Easter Sunday marked RSL's ninth all-time MLS game played on a baseball diamond, with the 1-2-0 (W-L-T) record at Yankee Stadium part of an all-time 2-5-2 record in games played across an infield. When RSL entered MLS in 2005, D.C. United shared RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. with the MLB Nationals through the 2007 season. During that period, RSL posted an 0-2-1 mark in the Nation's Capital. From 2008-10, RSL faced the Kansas City Wizards at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kansas, posting a 1-1-1 mark against the team now known as Sporting KC.

EASTER HISTORY

Sunday also marked just the second occasion in RSL's 18-year history that the Club played on Easter Sunday, winning its previous road contest in 2015 at San Jose. That day, iconic playmaker Javier Morales provided the game's lone goal with a stunning free kick in the 44th minute, blasting his initial offering off the wall but quickly slamming the rebound from 30 yards out past Earthquakes 'keeper David Bingham. RSL GK Nick Rimando needed to make just two saves to post the clean sheet.

This week's 0-6 bloodbath at Yankee Stadium matched RSL's worst-ever loss, suffered back in August, 2006 at Giants Stadium against the MetroStars. In that match, an eighth-minute Jack Stewart red card forced RSL to play with 10 men, getting to halftime scoreless. However, in the second 45 minutes, RSL conceded six, as 2005 FW Jordan Cila victimized his former team, future LA Galaxy man Edson Buddle notched a hat trick and Todd Dunivant and John Wolyniec also victimized Jay Nolly and the RSL rearguard.

On Easter Weekend, RSL has played nine other contests, posting an overall 6-2-2 (W-L-T) record, including a 2-1-0 mark away from home. RSL won away in 2017 - 2-1 at Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado, with both Yura Movsisyan and Brooks Lennon striking in the 85th and 88th minutes to steal three road points - and away again in 2019, a 3-0 Friday night victory in the Club's lone visit to Cincinnati that saw an Albert Rusnák brace surround Sam Johnson's second-ever RSL goal. RSL suffered its previous Easter Weekend road loss back on March 30, 2018 in a 1-3 decision at Toronto, a game that saw Justen Glad, Marcelo Silva and Damir Kreilach each start and play the full 90 minutes.

INJURY BUG SLOWLY SUBSIDING / SQUAD ROTATION

Real Salt Lake boss Pablo Mastroeni has now used 24 players this season, including seven RSL debutants in 2022. RSL Captain Damir Kreilach started back on April 9 for the first time since the Feb. 27 opener at Houston, while FW Rubio Rubin - who appeared in all 34 matches a year ago - has logged just 37 minutes this season off the bench at KC on 3/26 and 4/17 at NYCFC, prior to a hometown Portland stint last week.

DF Justen Glad started Saturday in Portland after resuming full training two weeks, following a hamstring pull on March 19 at home against Nashville, while FW Bobby Wood - who also suffered a hamstring injury the day before RSL suffered its only loss of the year, 0-1 at Kansas City on March 26 - started and played 60+ minutes each of the last two weeks. RSL DF Aaron Herrera has also made his first two consecutive starts of the year, after leading the team with 11 assists in 2021.

Seven players have made their RSL debuts this season, including Bundesliga loanee Sergio Cordova & MLS free agents Scott Caldwell and Johan Kappelhof, homegrowns Jaziel Orozco & Bode Davis, MLS SuperDraft pick Jasper Löffelsend and Monarchs college free agent Pierre Reedy, a roster hardship addition prior to April 2 at Colorado.

ON-FIELD MILESTONES

Captain Damir Kreilach scored his 43rd career RSL/MLS reg. season goal on Saturday against Toronto, leaving him three goals shy of matching former Claret-and-Cobalt fan favorite Joao Plata for third place among the Club's all-time scoring register (46 goals). Costa Rican legend Alvaro Saborio leads with 63 goals in his illustrious RSL career, followed by Javier Morales at 49 goals.

RSL DF Aaron Herrera went the full 90 for the first time this year on Sunday at NYCFC, making his 100th career MLS regular-season appearance, the second Homegrown to surpass the century mark (DF Justen Glad, 161 games / 156 starts). Herrera has now made 96 starts for RSL in MLS reg. season play since his RSL Academy / Univ. of New Mexico career. In that time, he has scored one goal (July 17, 2021 at LAFC) and notched 16 assists, including a team-high 11 last season.

O CAPTAIN OUR CAPTAIN

Fifth-year MF Damir Kreilach was named RSL's captain during the preseason following the free agency departure of Albert Rusnák. Kreilach becomes the Club's sixth mainstay captain in the Club's history, following the footsteps of M/F Jason Kreis (2005-07), MF Carey Talley (2007), MF Kyle Beckerman (2008-20) and Rusnák (2021). Kreilach - referenced by Mastroeni as the team's "X FACTOR" - continues the 2022 season as the team's leading active goal scorer (fourth all-time), with 43 goals to go along with 23 assists in reg. season play.

CULTURE KING

Real Salt Lake Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni began his first full season as the Club's sixth-ever permanent head coach Feb. 27 in Houston. As RSL's interim manager for the final 100 days of 2021, Mastroeni posted a combined reg. season / postseason record of 8-8-1, leading a shock "Cinderella" run to the West Final in Portland, RSL's fifth Conference Final appearance since 2008. With 10 Conf. Semi appearances in the last 14 years, RSL is second only to Seattle in terms of perennial MLS Cup Playoff advancement from 2008-21.

Mastroeni's all-time RSL record is now 11-10-5 (38 pts), while his all-time MLS coaching record is currently 50-62-40 (187 pts) in reg. season / playoffs combined. Pablo spent one year as an assistant in Houston on Tab Ramos' staff in 2020 before coming to RSL to join Freddy Juarez' staff in February, 2021. With Colorado from 2014-16, Mastroeni led RSL's Rocky Mountain Cup rivals to their best-ever regular-season in 2015. The former U.S. Men's National Team stalwart played 7 matches in the 2002 / 2006 World Cups for current Revolution boss Bruce Arena, part of his 65-appearance career with USMNT.




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