PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ MONTREAL IMPACT
SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015 – 1:30 pm MT on KMYU & ESPN700 / 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
1 – goals scored in opening 15 minutes for RSL this year, after accumulating a league-leading total of 10 in 2014 … The club’s first of 2015 came when Jordan Allen found Alvaro Saborio in the 13th minute of last week’s 2-1 W at Chicago …
2 – road games still remaining this month after today, as the Chicago/Montreal trips precede next Saturday’s much-anticipated Rio Tinto Stadium visit from former captain/head coach Jason Kreis and expansion NYCFC, the new home for such RSL luminaries as Ned Grabavoy, Chris Wingert, Mehdi Ballouchy, Josh Saunders, Kwame Watson-Siriboe and Sebastian Velazquez … Then, RSL hits the road again for a back-to-back against West foes LA on Wednesday, May 27 – the club’s first Stubhub return since last Fall’s 0-5 playoff elimination – and a continuation up the West Coast to Vancouver on Saturday, May 30, the first game on the new BC Place turf being installed for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup …
3 – consecutive games in last 10 days that RSL boss Jeff Cassar has gone with the same starting XI, with today’s lineup and bench exactly the same setup as seen in last week’s 2-1 W at Chicago, as well as the home 0-0 draw with LA three days prior … Until now, RSL hadn’t started the same lineup in 3 straight games – LA, @CHI, @MTL – since the beginning of 2012, a span of 129 games total …
4 – years between CONCACAF Champions League Final appearances for MLS teams in the modern-era, as Real Salt Lake (2011) and Montreal Impact (2015) each fell one step shy of the FIFA Club World Cup at the hands (feet?) of Mexican teams … RSL was the first, falling 2-3 on aggregate to Monterrey back in April of 2011, while Montreal was just eliminated by Club America a few weeks ago …
6 – games above .500 all-time for RSL with a win today in Montreal, matching the club’s all-time high-water mark (set April 5 of this year after a 1-0 road win at San Jose) … RSL would need a +4 goal differential to meet the club’s all-time +33 mark in that category …
7 – consecutive playoff berths for RSL from 2008-14 (the longest active run in MLS), during which time the club has amassed a 99-66-62 record (avg. of 1.58 points per game) … RSL also owns a league-record 5 consecutive seasons with 15+ wins and 50+ points, matching LA’s active run from 2010 to present …
8 – number of RSL games likely missed by RSL #SwissArmyKnife Jordan Allen, who departs post-game today for Auckland, New Zealand, to represent the USA in the FIFA Under-20 Youth World Championship … Expecting a deep run from the U.S., RSL will play 7 league games and at least 1 Open Cup match between now and June 28, Allen’s anticipated return date …
9 – consecutive seasons in an RSL uniform for GK Nick Rimando, MF Kyle Beckerman & MF Javier Morales … The longest-tenured RSL men also rank 1-2 amongst Major League Soccer’s active leaders in games/starts/minutes (Rimando: 378/378/34,183; Beckerman: 363/334/29,976) … Morales has either scored or assisted on nearly 25% of the club’s all-time 441 goals scored, with the Argentine “maestro” tallying 39 goals and 68 assists, despite missing most of the 2011 season …
15 – wins needed by RSL GK Nick Rimando in 2015 to become Major League Soccer’s all-time leader in that category, overtaking Kevin Hartman … Rimando now has 119 career shutouts, 7 more than Hartman in 39 fewer games all-time …
19 – players to have started a game for RSL in the club’s first 10 games this season …
24 – all-time PK denials by RSL GK Nick Rimando, who went 1-for-2 last week on PKs – denying LA MF Juninho in stoppage-time prior to Jeff Larentowicz’s consolation late at Chicago … Opposing PK takers have seen their conversion rates now drop to 43-for-67 against Rimando all-time, including 22-for-37 with Nick in an RSL uniform … Amazingly, Rimando has stopped 7 of the last 10 PKs faced and 9 of the last 14 … #WalloftheWasatch indeed …
42 – wins when FW Alvaro Saborio scores in all competitions for RSL, the club recording a 42-6-13 mark all-time when the Costa Rican international finds the back of the net … RSL is only 22-34-26 when he plays and doesn’t score, but is 25-12-8 when he is unavailable due to suspension, injury or national team duty …
56 – points earned by boss Jeff Cassar in his first season at the helm, with a 15-8-11 record … Cassar and his RSL club got out of the gates a year ago with a league-record-tying 12 games unbeaten (6-0-6), the best mark since 1996 for a rookie head coach …
100 – wins in his 8-year RSL career for GK Nick Rimando, with nearly 80% of the club’s all-time 123 victories …
109 – Veteran RSL DF Tony Beltran has earned the start in 109 of the club’s last 127 games (including today) on the right side of the back four ... The RSL “Iron Man” – part of a 3-man outside back rotation with Chris Wingert and Robbie Russell prior to RSL’s trade of Russell to D.C. United prior to the 2012 season – has remained injury-free and playing at a high level, usually seeing days off only in exhibition or Open Cup play, or sometimes succumbing to a rotation during 3-game weeks ...
123 – players to have taken the field in MLS play for Real Salt Lake in last 11 seasons, now that 25-year old Brazilian MF Wellington “Pecka” Paeckart made his debut two weeks ago at New England …
379 – career MLS appearances for RSL GK Nick Rimando, who surpasses Steve Ralston today and trails only fellow league goalkeeping standout Kevin Hartman (411) atop the MLS record book …
