PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE v LA GALAXY
SAT., SEPTEMBER 19, 2015 – 7:30 pm MT
on KMYU, 100.7 FM & 102.3 LaGranD
0 – goals conceded by the RSL defense in its last 526 minutes of CCL play, dating back to the club’s first group game of 2012 in the 14th minute at Costa Rican power Herediano … RSL allowed 7 goals in its first two all-time SCCL matches (2010: 5-4 loss v Cruz Azul; 3-2 win v Arabe Unido), but has allowed a total of only 6 goals in its last 8 SCCL road games …
1 – all-time goals scored by RSL DF Aaron Maund (who turns 25 years old today), coming in the 87th minute back on July 16 against LA in a U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal here at Rio Tinto Stadium, incidentally Steven Gerrard’s second game with the Galaxy … GK Jeff Attinella earned the clean sheet in the dramatic 1-0 win, which improved RSL’s all-time home mark against LA to 6-3-6 across all competitions, outscoring the Galaxy 24-19 …
3 – all-time road wins in CCL play by RSL in its 10 away games in the 2010/11, 2012/13 and 2015/16 tournaments, the August win in Guatemala 5 weeks ago the first coming outside of Panama (2010 at Arabe Unido, 2-1; 2012 at Tauro FC, 1-0) … RSL’s all-time road mark in the tourney is now 3-3-4 after Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at Santa Tecla in El Salvador, with the losses coming in 2010 at Cruz Azul (4-5 at group stage), 2011 at Saprissa (gaining critical away goal to advance with a 1-2 loss in Semifinal stage) and in 2012 at Herediano (0-1 loss in group stage after 55’ Nat Borchers red card) … RSL drew in trips to Toronto FC (1-1 in 2010 group), Columbus Crew (0-0 in 2011 Quarterfinal) and at Monterrey (2-2 in 2011 Final) …
4 – goals in CCL play by RSL’s maestro, MF Javier Morales, the club’s active leader in the tournament … Morales, a 35-year old Argentine, hit on a deadly free kick in Toronto in the 2010 group stage to secure passage to the knockouts, and also provided the critical road equalizer in the first leg at Monterrey of the 2011 final … Current RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman owns 3 career CCL goals, as does DF Jamison Olave … Former RSL man Alvaro Saborio scored 10 goals in 14 CCL games for the Claret-and-Cobalt …
7 – consecutive playoff berths for RSL from 2008-14 (the longest active run in MLS), during which time the club has averaged 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 – consecutive road losses for RSL – all in league play – prior to last week’s comprehensive 3-1 win at Houston, as the Claret/Cobalt 2015 road record in MLS has dropped to 3-9-2 after an auspicious start that saw wins at San Jose and Chicago in April and May, as well as clean sheets at Portland, SJ and Kansas City in March and April … The eight straight away losses marks the 2nd-longest slide in club history, exceeding the 5-game skids in 2009 and 2012 but paling in comparison to the 15 consecutive road losses (all competitions) suffered by RSL in its 2005 expansion season …
8 – games remaining on RSL’s league/CCL schedule this season, including three reg. season home matches (tonight vs. LA, Oct. 14 v PDX and Oct. 17 v DAL) and three road games (9/27 at SJ, 10/4 at COL and 10/25 at SEA) – all effectively “six-pointers” against Western foes – to go along with two CCL group games (Thursday v. Santa Tecla and 10/20 v. Municipal) …
9 – all-time CCL wins for RSL in its three iterations, the club amassing a 9-4-5 mark in group and knockout play … The club’s home mark has been a dominant 6-1-1 overall, but the two blemishes – especially the 0-1 home loss to Monterrey (MEX) in the 2011 Final Second Leg, as well as the 0-0 home draw against Herediano (CRC) in the 2012 group stage, when RSL just needed any scoring draw to advance – will forever leave a mark …
11 – tonight’s Rio Tinto Stadium record crowd of 20,956+ is the 11th sellout in the last 15 games, the 7th consecutive capacity crowd (dating back to Sunday, 6/21 v. KC, which fell 1,000 shy) and the club’s 29th out of the last 37 home matches in MLS play during 2014/15 seasons … Six of the
+12 – goal differential all-time for RSL in CCL play (30 GF, 18 GA) through three iterations, the club amassing a 9-4-5 mark in group and knockout play … The club’s home mark has been a dominant 6-1-1 overall, but the two blemishes – especially the 0-1 home loss to Monterrey (MEX) in the 2011 Final Second Leg, as well as the 0-0 home draw against Herediano (CRC) in the 2012 group stage, when RSL just needed any scoring draw to advance – will forever leave a mark … Tuesday’s 1-0 win at Municipal improved RSL to 3-3-3 all-time in the continental championship away from home …
56 – number of combined goals (24) and assists (32) for RSL maestro Javier Morales the last three seasons, amongst the best in MLS … LA’s Robbie Keane has over twice as many goals (50) and has matched the 32 assists contributed by Morales … Nobody has surpassed him in both categories over the last two seasons, as Morales’ 16 goals and 22 assists are approximated by Keane’s 34 goals / 21 assists, while the Crew’s Ethan Finlay has 19 goals / 20 assists … This year, Javi’s 7 goals / 10 assists is surpassed by Sebastian Giovinco’s 19 goals (including today) and 14 assists, Benny Feilhaber now has 10 goals and 14 assists after last night’s performance …
60 – number of players in RSL’s 11-year, 126-player, 348-game league history to have scored at least one MLS goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that FW Juan Manuel Martinez opened his MLS account last Saturday in Houston … Martinez, nicknamed “El Burrito,” joins a group that includes Brian Dunseth, Robbie Findley, Matias Mantilla, Kenny Deuchar, Pablo Campos, and Luke Mulholland to have scored in their first-ever MLS start for RSL, while three players – Luis Tejada, Kyle Brown and Paulo Junior each scored in debut starts outside of league play …
75 – RSL #maestro Javier Morales’ assist on the Juan Manuel Martinez goal was the 75th of his illustrious MLS career, surpassing Jason Kreis on the all-time list for the No. 14 rank in MLS history … This season, Morales has now has a team-high 7 goals and 10 assists in 21 league games, just 2 goals and 5 assists shy of the 35-year old’s career highs in each category ... Morales made his 206th MLS reg. season appearance at Houston, moving into lone possession of 3rd place all-time, joining a 200+ reg. season games played-group that includes Nick Rimando (243), Kyle Beckerman (223), Nat Borchers (205) and Chris Wingert (204) ... Morales now has a franchise-high 17 game-winning assists (tied with Captain Beckerman) and 75 assists overall to go with his 44 career goals, the Argentine MF responsible for nearly 25% of the club’s all-time 467 MLS goals, despite missing all of the 2005/06 seasons and most of both 2007 & 2011 …
95 – home wins since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 95-20-39 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 154 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 165 goals (277-112) … RSL returns home tonight against LA Galaxy with a 76-15-36 record in MLS reg. season games (228-93 goals), and a 6-1-1 CCL mark (17-5), a 5-2-2 playoff resume (11-4), and an 8-2-0 ledger in Open Cup (21-10) …
126 – players to have appeared in an MLS game for RSL in 11 seasons, as Jeff Cassar has given several players – Justen Glad, Phanuel Kavita, Boyd Okwuonu, Elias Vasquez, Demar Phillips, Sebastian Saucedo & Pecka – opportunities this year … 28 players have seen league minutes this year, meaning everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez (MF Fito Ovalle’s season-long loan to the USL Monarchs) have seen MLS time …
This season, only three players have more goals and more assists than Morales. Although he ranks 25th in the league with seven goals, only three players higher than him on the goal charts have more assists as well – Sebastian Giovinco in Toronto, Kansas City’s Benny Feilhaber and Ethan Finlay with Columbus.
