SANDY, Utah (Thursday, March 9, 2017) – Real Salt Lake (0-0-1, t-6 West) continues its 13th Major League Soccer season Saturday with a 12 noon MT kickoff against the Chicago Fire, at Toyota Park in suburban Bridgeview, Ill. RSL heads east seeking its first win of the season, following last Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home against Toronto FC.
The game will be televised via KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) with David James and Brian Dunseth on the call, and can also heard via RSL outlets ESPN700 AM (English, Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton) & 102.3 FM / 1600 AM (Spanish, Fernando Hortal, Nelson Moran & Jamison Olave).
Saturday’s trip to Chicago will mark RSL’s first visit to Toyota Park since 2015, as Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s team looks to extend its five-game active unbeaten run against the Fire and improve on its 3-0-2 mark at Toyota since RSL’s shootout win in the Eastern Conference Final there in 2009.
All-time, RSL is 6-6-8 against Chicago in MLS regular-season and MLS Cup Playoff competition, with a 3-3-5 road mark in the Windy City. In the clubs’ meeting last year, RSL won 3-1 in Utah, as FW Joao Plata provided a pair of assists. Two years ago in Chicago, MF Luke Mulholland tallied the game-winner in a 2-1 victory, with assists on both RSL goals coming from FW Jordan Allen.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake @ Chicago Fire – Sat., March 11, 2017
- Coverage Begins: 11:30 a.m. MT
- Local TV: KMYU – David James and Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (11:00 a.m. MT) – Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran, Jamison Olave & Fernando Hortal
- Online: The @RSLMatchday Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Saturday’s RSL @ Chicago Fire Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Chicago Fire is available by clicking HERE.
Last week’s 0-0 home draw against reigning Eastern Conference champions Toronto FC provided RSL GK Nick Rimando with his 130th career clean sheet (94th in Claret-and-Cobalt) before 19,516 at Rio Tinto Stadium. Rimando’s heroics were highlighted by his denial of TFC FW Sebastian Giovinco’s penalty kick attempt in the 30th minute, the 29th failed attempt (21st save) for opposing PK takers in Rimando’s storied MLS career.
Saturday’s draw marked the MLS debut of Slovakian playmaker Albert Rusnák, RSL’s new playmaking midfielder who arrived in January from FC Groningen (Holland), as well as the first-ever RSL appearance for FW Chad Barrett – the former Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, Seattle, New England and San Jose striker, currently the 7th-leading active scorer in MLS with 58 career goals. One of RSL’s eight homegrown players on the 2017 roster also made his MLS debut last week, as FW Ricardo Velazco, the RSL academy product who spent nearly two seasons with the USL Real Monarchs before earning a first-team contract late last year, entered in the final five minutes.
Season Tickets for Real Salt Lake's 2017 campaign at Rio Tinto Stadium remain on sale; please visit www.RSL.com/tickets/royalty or call 844.Real.Tix for more information. The Rio Tinto Stadium box office is open Mon.-Fri., 10a-6p; more information can be found online at www.RSL.com/Tickets. Current or interested RSL Royalty Season Ticket Members can purchase extra tickets at preferred pricing or gain assistance via the Fan Relations Hotline at 801-727-2702.
The 2017 Real Monarchs / USL season kicks off on the road on March 26, with the first game at Rio Tinto Stadium under Head Coach Mike Petke and company on April 1. Season Tickets for the Real Monarchs third season in 2017 are now on sale; please call 844.Real.Tix for more information.
Coming in late Summer, 2017, Real Salt Lake's regional training center opens in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium. The $60 million facility will serve as the daily training home beginning in 2018 for both of the club's professional teams – RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) – while centralizing the club's U-18, U-16 and future U-14 development academy youth selections. The Herriman campus will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school opening in Fall, 2017, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls.
In mid-November in North Logan, Utah, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen broke ground on the first of a half-dozen regional training centers across Utah and Arizona to be built in the next 2-3 years. Each $5 million RTC houses a classroom, as well as an indoor and outdoor field, dedicated to fulfilling a curriculum consistent with the club's vision and mission for youth soccer training and education, and the continued development of both recreational and competitive pre-Academy (ages 7-12) initiatives across Utah and Arizona.
