SANDY, Utah (Tuesday, May 26, 2015) – Real Salt Lake hits the road for a pair of Western Conference matches this week, facing perennial postseason rival LA Galaxy Wednesday and continuing up the Pacific coast to Vancouver for a Saturday matinee. Local TV coverage Wednesday night kicks off from Carson, Calif., on KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 22+643 Comcast) at 8:00 p.m. MT, with the game also carried on ESPN700 (7:00 p.m. MT pre-game) and La Gran D 102.3 FM / 1600 AM.
The midweek trip to Los Angeles – the club’s first visit to Stubhub Center since last Fall’s Western Conference Semifinal elimination – pits Major League Soccer’s only two club’s with active five-year runs of 15+ wins and 50+ points, RSL and the Galaxy facing off in four of the last six seasons – 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014 – each team eliminating the other twice. All-time, RSL has a 12-14-9 mark against the Galaxy in all competitions, LA outscoring RSL 52-49 (including a 5-0 aggregate in the 2014 West Semis). RSL is 6-9-1 at Stubhub Center on the campus of Cal-State Dominguez Hills, where RSL GK Nick Rimando has stopped a penalty kick in each of the last three reg. season matches against the Galaxy.
Real Salt Lake (4-3-5, 17 points, West t-5) continues a three-games-in-eight-day stretch at LA (4-3-5, 17 points, West t-5) and at Vancouver (6-5-2, 20 points, West t-2) in the first game on the new BC Place turf being installed for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. RSL hopes to replicate the unbeaten success of the club’s lone previous three-match week, May 1-9, when the team posted a 1-0-2 mark in home matches against SJ and LA prior to a road win over Chicago.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake at LA Galaxy
• Coverage Begins: 8:00 p.m. MT
• TV: KMYU – David James & Brian Dunseth
• English Radio: ESPN700 AM (7:00 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley, Jeremy Horton & Brian Kamler
• Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
• Online: The @RealSaltLake Twitter Feed will provide match updates
Game Guide for Wednesday’s RSL @ LA Galaxy Match Now Available Online
Following is the link to the Adobe PDF version of the MLS Game Guide in advance of Wednesday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and LA Galaxy.
Click here to download the PDF version of the MLS Game Guide for Wednesday’s RSL @ LA Galaxy matchup
Busy May Winds Down This Week; Open Cup / CCL Paths Determined
Following Saturday’s 2-0 home victory over NYCFC, RSL improved to 2-1-3 at home, as MF John Stertzer scored his first career goal in 19 MLS appearances in the 25th minute and FW Alvaro Saborio added an insurance tally just after halftime as RSL improved to 43-6-13 in games in which the Costa Rican international finds the back of the net..
Saturday night, before a record Rio Tinto Stadium crowd of 20,801, RSL FW Devon Sandoval notched his second game-winning assist in three weeks to go along with his MLS Goal of the Week from May 16 at Montreal.
Starting on Sunday, June 7 – RSL’s next Rio Tinto Stadium match, a nationally-televised game against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado – the Claret & Cobalt will host six of the club’s next eight MLS regular-season matches at home, through July 24.
Last week, RSL discovered its 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup pathway, as another Rio Tinto Stadium home game will be added to the slate, Jeff Cassar’s team hosting next week’s winner of USL sides Sounders 2 v. Timbers 2 at Rio Tinto Stadium on June 16/17. Saturday’s match v. NYCFC kicked off a run that sees RSL play eight games in 34 days from May 23-June 27 (seven MLS reg. season matches plus one U.S. Open Cup contest; stretch could extend to 10 games in 41 days with a 4th-round USOC win, as July 1 Open Cup window comes into play).
On Monday, June 1, RSL will receive from CONCACAF the group assignments from the draw for the 2015/16 Champions League tourney, with two home games and two away scheduled during six possible matchdates in August/September/October.
RSL Road Form a Mixed Bag So Far
RSL’s road form this year has been schizophrenic, posting a 2-2-2 record with a pair of blowout losses – allowing four goals at Montreal May 16 and at NE on April 25, but securing three road shutouts at Portland/Kansas City/San Jose (RSL only had five road clean sheets all of last season).
GK Nick Rimando – fresh off his league-record 120th career clean sheet - returns to his SoCal home with an active 270-minute shutout streak on the road against Western opponents.
