PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE v SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC
SAT., AUGUST 22, 2015 – 8:00 pm MT
on KMYU / AMERICAN SPORTS NETWORK, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD
0 – goals conceded by the RSL defense in its last 436 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 7 SCCL road games …
1 – home regular-season loss all-time for RSL against Seattle in 7 tries, coming back in May of 2011, when Seattle snapped RSL’s home MLS streak at 29 games across reg. season and playoffs … Seattle won here again in the 2012 playoffs, eliminating RSL after 177 minutes of scoreless soccer when MF Mario Martinez – an RSL discovery player whose rights were traded to Seattle – slammed home a sharp-angled laser from distance …
2 – appearances in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinals by Utah teams in now 102 iterations of the tourney, previously accomplished by Real Salt Lake back in 2013 during the club’s run to the Final, as well as this season … RSL has advanced to the QuarterFinal stage in 2006, 2011, 2013 and now 2015 …
3 – RSL is currently three games under .500 in a season for the first time since June 2009, months before the club became the last team to qualify for that year’s postseason and ultimately win MLS Cup … In the unfortunate event of a home loss tonight to Seattle, RSL would drop to four games below even for the first time since June, 2007, Jason Kreis’ second month as head coach …
5 – games over the first 15 days of August, RSL posting a 1-4-0 mark to undo the club’s 4-1-1 mark in July … Across 3 competitions, 4 time zones and nearly 11,000 air miles, RSL zig-zagged across the continent … RSL dropped the first match, 4-6, at D.C. United Aug. 1, prior to a 1-0 win at Guatemala in the CCL Group G opener on Aug. 4 … Following the 0-4 loss at Vancouver on Aug. 8, the club dropped the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal 1-3 at Kansas City, conceding twice in the final 10 minutes back on Aug. 12 … Last Saturday, RSL dominated the first half against Portland but couldn’t finish numerous chances created, ultimately succumbing to the dagger from former RSL DF Nat Borchers in the 95+’ on a late corner kick …
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 …
9 – Should he appear off the bench tonight, newly-arrived RSL FW Juan Manuel Martinez – nicknamed “El Burrito” – would become the 9th Argentine player to don the Claret-and-Cobalt in the club’s 11 seasons, joining active men Javier Morales and Sebastian Jaime, along with Fabian Espindola and Matias Mantilla (each of whom arrived in 2007 with Morales), as well as Nelson Gonzalez … Three men – Emilano Bonfigli, Luis Miguel Escalada and Matias Cordoba – appeared 10 or fewer times for RSL during the Kreis era …
10 – combined total of red cards (8) and ejections (2) for RSL players and coaches this season, setting a new club single-season record for both in RSL’s 11-year, 405-game history … DF Abdoulie Mansally was ineligible last week, as was Head Coach Jeff Cassar, who will return to the sideline tonight … Cassar also received a post-game ejection back on July 11 at Colorado, RSL winning at home 2-0 against Houston the following week …
+12 – goal differential all-time for RSL in CCL play (30 GF, 18 GA) through three iterations, the club amassing a 9-4-4 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 …
19 – total goals scored by RSL against Seattle in 20 games across all competitions, contrasting with 25 allowed entering tonight … RSL is 5-2-2 all-time at home against the Sounders, but only 2-6-3 away … The teams split the 2011 and 2012 Western Conference Semifinals, RSL posting a 1-2-1 mark in those four games, the teams even with a 3/3 postseason goal differential … In Open Cup qualifying play, the expansion Sounders ousted RSL 4-1 in 2009 at Starfire …
20 – career MLS goals as well as the jersey number worn in 2015 by RSL’s newest player, M/F Luis Silva, making his second-consecutive home Claret/Cobalt start tonight (and 3rd overall), after his first XI debut against Vancouver two weeks ago … Silva made his RSL debut August 1 in D.C., playing the final 8 minutes against his former D.C. United club after being acquired on July 16 in exchange for Costa Rican international Alvaro Saborio … Silva – RSL’s best player last week against Portland – has 20 goals in 102 career MLS matches for Toronto (2012-13), where he played alongside Joao Plata and Aaron Maund, D.C. United (2013-15, with whom he won the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final at Rio Tinto Stadium) and now RSL, the former UC-Santa Barbara Gaucho also playing the final 5 minutes in Guatemala Tuesday at Municipal … Silva was ineligible to participate in this season’s Open Cup, appearing for DCU earlier in the tournament …
26 – all-time PK denials by RSL GK Nick Rimando, who went 3-for-5 against opponents in his last eight games – denying Rapids MF Dillon Powers on June 7 to preserve a home point … Opposing PK takers have seen their conversion rates now drop to 43-for-70 against Rimando all-time, including 22-for-40 with Nick in an RSL uniform … Amazingly, Rimando has stopped 9 of the last 13 PKs faced and 11 of the last 17 … #WalloftheWasatch indeed …
42 – with 42 minutes played tonight, RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman will surpass former MLS GK Joe Cannon for fourth-place all-time in league annals, leaving KB5 nearly 2400 minutes shy of Steve Ralston as the league’s all-time field-player minutes leader (only GKs Hartman and Rimando ahead of Ralston’s 33,143) … Beckerman has appeared in 372 games, with 343 starts, in his 16-year MLS career (including tonight), as he looks to add to his 30,691 entering kickoff …
59 – number of players in RSL’s 11-year, 125-player, 345-game league history to have scored at least one MLS goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that FW Sebastian Jaime opened his MLS account June 21 against Kansas City … Several players will have the opportunity to become #60 tonight against the Sounders …
94 – home wins since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 94-20-39 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 153 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 163 goals (275-112) … RSL returns home tonight against Seattle with a 75-15-36 record in MLS reg. season games (226-93 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) …
125 – 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 season … 27 players have seen league minutes this year, everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez (MF Fito Ovalle is on season-long loan to the USL Monarchs) … Could “El Burrito” make it 126 / 28 tonight?
35,000 – threshold passed in tonight’s 7th minute for all-time minutes played by GK Nick Rimando in his 16-year MLS career, joining fellow GK Kevin Hartman in becoming just the second-ever player to reach that mark … Rimando will have played 28 fewer games and made 23 fewer starts than Hartman after tonight’s match, and 2,187 fewer minutes with a full 90’ played this evening … Rimando enters tonight with 12 fewer wins, 15 fewer losses, 135 fewer saves but 9 more shutouts in his career than Hartman …
