PREGAME FACT & INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE v HOUSTON DYNAMO
SAT., APRIL 30, 2016 – 7:30 p.m. MT – RIO TINTO STADIUM
on KMYU, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
1 – LOSS THIS SEASON IN THE CLUB’S FIRST 7 GAMES, as the 4-1-2 mark gives Jeff Cassar and his club a league-high points-per-game average (2.00, joining LA) going into tonight’s match v Houston …
2 – GAMES MISSED BY RSL FW JOAO PLATA due to a hip flexor injury suffered 10 days ago, RSL losing 2-5 at LA last week without the early-season MLS MVP candidate … Plata has scored (5x) or assisted (4x) on nine of the club’s 13 MLS goals in 2016, as well as hitting on the lone RSL goal in CCL play against Tigres earlier this year … For his efforts, the diminutive Ecuadoran was named the March 2016 Etihad MLS Player of the Month, RSL’s first winner of the monthly honor since June, 2010 (Nick Rimando) … Plata is just the fourth RSL player to have earned the award, as Rimando (2x), Jeff Cunningham and Alvaro Saborio join him …
3 – WINS IN AS MANY HOME GAMES SO FAR THIS YEAR, as RSL owns a perfect 3-0-0 league mark with 1-goal wins over Seattle (2-1), Colorado (1-0) and Vancouver (1-0) …
4 – HOME GAMES IN FIRST 13 OVERALL for RSL, as the Claret-and-Cobalt travel for five consecutive matches after tonight, with the May 7 – June 2 trip to Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Columbus and New York City the longest in club history … The glut of early-season road matches is due to a resurfacing of Rio Tinto Stadium in the month of May, with the venue re-opening to MLS and USL play on June 18 with an exact replica of the original field installed back in September, 2008 …
4 – WINS THIS SEASON WITHOUT midfield maestro Javier Morales in the starting lineup, as RSL earned the full 3 points on March 12 v. Seattle (2-1, Morales did not dress), April 2 at Kansas City (2-1, Morales did not dress) and by 1-0 scores each of the last two weeks against Colorado (Morales came off bench and helped create game-winning goal) and Vancouver (Morales did not dress) … This year’s total of 4 wins without the #maestro quadruples the number of wins (1) secured by RSL in 8 games played last season (out of 42) without Morales appearing as a starter or off the bench … The four wins this season without Morales equals the number of games won without the Argentine playmaker in the previous 42 played without him …
4 – CONSECUTIVE WINS FOR RSL OVER HOUSTON, a streak that began back in August, 2013 … Prior to the current stretch, RSL was just 3-9-5 in the previous 17 meetings against the Dynamo … RSL is 5-1-4 all-time against Houston on Utah soil, losing 0-1 back at Rice-Eccles Stadium in October, 2007 – FW Yura Movsisyan’s first-career red card for RSL …
5 – WINS NEEDED by RSL icon Nick Rimando this season to surpass all-time MLS leader Kevin Hartman for all-time victories … Rimando – already the all-time MLS leader in shutouts (125) by 13 over Hartman, despite playing 17 fewer games – could eclipse the longtime LA/DAL/KC/NY ‘keeper in several categories, including wins (needs 5 to surpass), starts (12), games (17) and minutes (1,108) … “The Wall of the Wasatch” is roughly ½ a season away from securing G.O.A.T. (“Greatest of All Time) status …
7 – TIMES THAT RSL HAS CONCEDED 5+ GOALS in club history, including last week’s 2-5 loss at LA … That debacle marked just the 4th time RSL had allowed 5 or more goals since the beginning of 2007 …
16 – CAREER GOALS SCORED by returning RSL FW Yura Movsisyan in MLS action, the Armenian international needing just 2 to surpass former boss Jason Kreis and move into 8th all-time in the RSL golden boot race … Yura has scored 16 league goals for RSL (15 from 2007-09, prior to a six-year career in Denmark and Russia that saw him score another 77 across all competitions, including the Armenian National Team; and one last match at Portland) … Amongst active RSL players, Yura ranks fourth overall, behind Javier Morales (45), Kyle Beckerman (25) and Joao Plata (25) …
18 – DENIALS IN 45 PK ATTEMPTS for RSL GK Nick Rimando, as the “Wall of the Wasatch” extended his stellar run of success by stoning Galaxy MF Stephen Gerrard from the spot last week … Rimando’s denial on a total of 18 of 45 attempts during his 10 MLS seasons with RSL is about 30% higher than average, and his 8 PK saves in the 2013-16 seasons double the total of any other GK … For his MLS career, Rimando has now saved 27 of 75 attempts from the spot, in addition to his scintillating efforts in shootout tiebreakers to enable RSL to advance to and win MLS Cup 2009 (also engaged in playoff PK shootouts in 2004 with D.C. United and 2013 for RSL) …
64 – GOALSCORERS in RSL’s 12-year, 127-player, 361-game league history to have scored at least one MLS goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that DF Justen Glad found the back of the net April 2 at Kansas City … Like Sunny before him back on March 12 at home, the 19-year old centerback nodded home a Joao Plata set piece offering for his first-ever MLS goal …
101 – HOME WINS since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 101-22-40 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 163 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 171 goals (288-117) … The 1-0 win over Vancouver back on April 16 marked RSL’s most recent match at Rio Tinto Stadium, the club amassing an all-time home 80-17-36 record in MLS reg. season games (235-96 goals), and an 8-1-2 CCL mark (21-7), a 5-2-2 playoff resume (11-4), and an 8-2-0 ledger in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (21-10) …
127 – players to have represented the Claret-and-Cobalt in MLS ACTION in the club’s first 12 seasons, as MF Stephen Sunday Obayan – nicknamed “Sunny” – became #127 on March 6 as he started the 2016 opener in Orlando, prior to being sacrificed after the Phillips red card … Last year saw HC Jeff Cassar give several players – Justen Glad, Phanuel Kavita, Boyd Okwuonu, Elias Vasquez, Demar Phillips, Sebastian Saucedo & Pecka – their MLS debuts … 28 players saw league minutes last year, meaning everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez participated in league action …
202 – DF Tony Beltran will make his 202nd career MLS reg. season appearance tonight, extending his status as the fifth active man in a select group to have reached 200+ games played for the Claret-and-Cobalt … Beltran joins a group of six overall with the honor, including Nick Rimando (255), Kyle Beckerman (237), Javier Morales (214) Chris Wingert (210) and Nat Borchers (205)...
300 – GK Nick Rimando makes career RSL start #300 tonight across all competitions v HOU, one week after becoming only the 2nd man in league history to reach the 400 MLS regular season games threshold (GK Kevin Hartman, 416) … MF Kyle Beckerman is second on RSL’s all-time, all-competitions appearance list, making his 290th appearance tonight.
