SANDY, Utah (Friday, August 28, 2015) – Real Salt Lake hits the road Saturday at Dallas, the first of two back-to-back league matches in Texas as Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s club seeks to snap an active seven-game road losing streak in MLS play and close the gap with FC Dallas, one of the teams
RSL is currently chasing in pursuit of a Western Conference playoff berth. Saturday’s match will be streamed live on KUTV.com beginning at 6:30 p.m MT, with kickoff at 7:00 p.m. MT. Fans can congregate in downtown Salt Lake City at the Gallivan Center for a free watch party.
English radio pregame airs live on ESPN700 AM at 6:00 p.m. MT, with regional TV coverage via American Sports Network outside of Utah kicking off at 6:30 p.m. MT in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona, with David James and Brian Dunseth on the call. KMYU will air the broadcast locally on a tape-delayed basis beginning at 10:00 p.m. MT.
Following a full week of training, RSL seeks to build upon its most comprehensive performance of the season, winning 2-0 at home last week over Seattle Sounders FC. Argentine MF Javier Morales and fellow countryman FW Sebastian Jaime each found the back of the net in the first 20 minutes, while GK Nick Rimando tallied his all-time MLS-leading 122nd career clean sheet in a game that also saw him become just the second player in league history to surpass 35,000 career minutes.
At Rio Tinto Stadium this season, RSL is now 9-2-6 across all competitions, including a trio of home wins in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Since the beginning of 2008, RSL boasts a 95-20-39 mark in its last 154 home games (all comps) in that span, during which it has outscored opponents by 165 goals (277/112), with a 76-15-36 regular-season mark (227/92), 6-1-1 CCL record (17/5), 5-2-2 in playoffs (11/4) and an 8-2-0 ledger in the Open Cup (21/10).
How to Follow Real Salt Lake at FC Dallas
• Coverage Begins: 6:30 p.m. MT
• Web Stream: KUTV.com / MLS LIVE
• Watch Party: Gallivan Center in Downtown SLC (opens at 6, kickoff at 7)
• TV: KMYU – David James & Brian Dunseth (10:00 p.m. MT)
• English Radio: ESPN700 AM (6:00 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley & Brian Kamler
• Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
• Online: The @RealSaltLake Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Saturday’s RSL at Dallas Matchup Now Available Online
Following is the link to the Adobe PDF version of the MLS Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas.
Click here to download the PDF version of the MLS Game Guide for Saturday’s RSL at FC Dallas matchup
RSL could see the debut of new FW Juan Manuel Martinez, nicknamed “El Burrito,” who arrived last Friday from Argentina after three seasons with legendary club Boca Juniors. RSL last won in Dallas back on July 13, 2013, as Morales led the club to a 3-0 victory, the lone bright spot in the Claret-and-Cobalt’s all-time 1-12-2 mark in the Metroplex, including MLS regular season, playoff and Open Cup play.
RSL could lose as many as 10 players to the FIFA international window next week, before resuming league action on Saturday, September 12 in Houston against the Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium. Following that completion of the “Texas Two-Step,” RSL travels directly to San Salvador, facing Santa Tecla FC in RSL’s second group-stage match of the 2015/16 CONCACAF Champions League tourney. RSL won 1-0 in Guatemala City back on Aug. 4 against Municipal, the current group leaders with four points from three games. RSL returns home for CCL contests on Thurs., Sept. 24 against Santa Tecla and Tues., Oct. 20 versus Municipal in bids to win the group and advance to next February’s Quarterfinal knockout stage.
RSL MF Javier Morales would tie former defender Nat Borchers with 205 all-time MLS regular-season games started for RSL with an appearance in the XI on Saturday, while his next assist would be the 75th of his illustrious career, as the “Maestro” has accounted for nearly 25% of the club’s all-time goals despite missing all of 2005/06 and most of the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
Captain Kyle Beckerman last week moved into sole possession of fourth place all-time in MLS minutes played, surpassing former league GK Joe Cannon. The icon known as “KB5” is just under 2,400 minutes shy of Steve Ralston in becoming the MLS all-time field-player minutes leader (only GKs Keving Hartman and Nick Rimando ahead of Ralston’s 33,143). Beckerman has now appeared in 372 games with 343 starts in his 16-year MLS career, with a total of 30,781 minutes played.
As noted above, Rimando – the “Wall of the Wasatch” – joined Hartman in becoming just the second-ever MLS player to reach 35,000+ minutes played. Rimando has played 28 fewer games and made 23 fewer starts than Hartman in his career, and 2,187 fewer minutes played as the 16-year veteran closes the gap. Rimando enters Saturday with 11 fewer wins, 15 fewer losses, 133 fewer saves but 10 more shutouts in his illustrious career than Hartman.
RSL hopes to snap a seven-game road losing streak in MLS action, the club’s second-longest drought away from home since its 2005 expansion season (14 consecutive losses). RSL started this season with three straight road shutouts, but only boasts one road clean sheet in its last nine away trips since April 11, winning 1-0 at Municipal in Guatemala earlier this month.
