SANDY, Utah (Friday, May 13, 2016) – Real Salt Lake hits the road again Saturday at Houston against the Dynamo at 6:30 p.m. MT in the second of five consecutive road matches while Rio Tinto Stadium undergoes installation of a new surface. Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s team (5-2-2, 17 points, West/MLS #3, w/ 1.89 points-per-game) resides near the top of Major League Soccer’s early-season Supporters Shield race, one point behind Los Angeles (5-1-4, 19 points) and Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado (7-2-2, 23 points).
Back on April 30, RSL extended its 2016 home unbeaten run to a perfect 4-0-0 mark, coming from behind to vanquish the Dynamo with a 2-1 win at Rio Tinto Stadium. That victory – paced by a Jordan Allen equalizer just eight minutes after Houston took a 1-0 lead, and Yura Movsisyan’s eventual game-winner just another eight minutes later – extended RSL’s active win streak over the Dynamo to five, a total which includes back-to-back wins at BBVA Compass Stadium in downtown Houston in 2014 and 2015.
Last week’s 0-1 loss at Colorado – pulling the clubs even in the 2016 Rocky Mountain Cup race – snapped RSL’s early-season run of scoring multiple goals in four consecutive road contests. That league-high total of four road games of multiple goal coming to an end was doubly painful, as RSL was shut out for the first and only time in nine total games in 2016.
This weekend’s match will be televised in Utah via KMYU (English, David James & Brian Dunseth) or heard via RSL outlets ESPN700 AM (English, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton) & 102.3 FM / 1600 AM (Spanish, Fernando Hortal & Nelson Moran). Pre-game coverage airs live locally on ESPN700 AM at 5:30 p.m. MT, while KMYU’s three-hour window kicks off at 6:00 p.m. MT live from Houston.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake at Houston Dynamo
- Coverage Begins: 6:00 p.m. MT
- TV: KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) – David James & Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (5:30 p.m. MT) – Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton
- 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 Houston Matchup Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the MLS Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Houston is available by clicking HERE.
2016 REAL SALT LAKE NOTES –
RSL @ HOUSTON DYNAMO – Sat., May 14, 2016 – 6:30 p.m. MT
EARLY PACING STILL BODES WELL FOR RSL: While last week’s 0-1 loss at Colorado dropped RSL to 5-2-2 and 17 points from nine games, removing the Claret-and-Cobalt from the top spot in the MLS points-per-game average race (now 1.89, trailing both Colorado – 2.09 – and Los Angeles – 1.90, the two teams that have defeated RSL away), RSL remains on a record pace for 64 points in 2016, a pacing which will surely be tested on the current 5-game road trip, the longest stretch away from Utah in RSL history …
HARDWARE DENIED BY FIRST SHUTOUT SUFFERED OF 2016: RSL failed last week to capture its first piece of hardware this season, as the Claret-and-Cobalt suffered its first shutout of the season at the hands of Rapids GK Zac MacMath, who was excellent in Colorado’s 1-0 win at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in suburban Denver … Now, RSL will have to wait until a home game on August 26 against Tim Howard and Jermaine Jones to capture the coveted Rocky Mountain Cup for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons …
A month ago, RSL won 1-0 over the Rapids, extending the Claret-and-Cobalt unbeaten streak at home to 13 consecutive regular-season games played against Colorado without a loss, dating back to Sept. 22, 2007 – winning 9 of the 13 with four draws … RSL has captured seven of the 11 all-time regional cups in the rivalry, outscoring the Rapids 22-5 in the last 13 meetings on Utah soil (Colorado has never won at Rio Tinto Stadium, and last won at Rice-Eccles in April, 2007) … Colorado’s USMNT stars Tim Howard and Jermaine Jones should arrive in SLC when the teams meet again that Friday, August 26, nationally on Univision Deportes Network and KMYU in Utah …
EARLY-SEASON ROAD WARRIORS: RSL has fared well away from home early on in 2016, as Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s club kicked off the MLS season with a 1-2-2 mark in the five road matches … RSL still must play at total of nine of first 13 away from home overall to kick off 2016 for the deepest glut of road games in RSL’s 12 seasons …
After coming from behind two weeks ago at Rio Tinto Stadium to win 2-1 over Houston, RSL has now defeated the Dynamo in five straight games, with a trip Saturday to BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston up next … RSL owns an all-time 2-8-1 mark in South Texas, with both wins coming in each of the last two seasons …
HISTORY AGAINST HOUSTON HIGHLY HYPED (OF LATE): Two seasons ago at Houston, RSL MF Javier Morales scored RSL’s fastest-goal ever, chipping Talley Hall just 15 seconds in, en route to the maestro’s only professional hat trick and a 5-2 RSL win …
Last year, BBVA Compass was the site of Juan Manuel Martinez’ coming-out party, as the newly-arrived Argentine scored his first MLS goal and set up two others – one by Morales, another by FW Devon Sandoval – as RSL emerged 3-1 in a game that had been tied at halftime …
Thus far this season when MF Javier Morales and FW Juan Manuel Martinez are on the field together (346 minutes), RSL outscores its opponents by a 6-2 margin … On the offensive side, the Argentine duo bring a creative flair unlike many in MLS, with the combination of metronomic tempo and unpredictable flash providing a constant threat …
POINTS FROM A LOSING POSITION: RSL’s early-season pair of comeback wins at home – on both March 12 and April 30, both recovering from an 0-1 deficit to capture the full three points against Seattle and Houston – replicates a feat that occurred just once in the club’s disappointing 2015 season … Last October 4, RSL ventured on the road in Colorado to rebound from an early deficit to win, 2-1, on a Luke Mulholland blast, in MLS game #30 a year ago …
RIO TINTO STADIUM FIELD RENOVATION IN MAY: The main impetus on RSL’s early-season / road-heavy slate is due to a May 1 – June 15 field replacement at the world-class Sandy venue … An exact replication of the base and field surface is planned, as RSL has played 161 games at home since the Oct. 9, 2008 opener …
RIOT AT THE RIOT IN BACK HALF OF SEASON: However, following the field renovation and the league-wide Copa America break in early June, RSL will play four of its next five and six of its next eight at home, leading into the annual MLS All-Star Break in late July … RSL also sees another late-season stretch of six out of eight at home from late August to late October, prior to the season finale at Seattle on Oct. 23 …
MOVING ON WITHOUT MAUND IN MIDDLE: Midway through the first half April 30 against Houston, RSL DF Aaron Maund suffered a hamstring strain after getting tangled up in a tackle from behind by Dynamo FW Giles Barnes, forcing the former Notre Dame man out in the 36th minute …
To that point of the year, Maund had been the lone RSL player to have played every minute of the season (666 in MLS play, 180 in CCL action), emerging from deep on the 2015 preseason depth chart to have now started 37 of RSL’s last 40 games across all competitions …
Only DF Tony Beltran and FW Yura Movsisyan join Maund in having appeared in all 11 RSL matches across all competitions this season … Maund is expected to miss 2 weeks after receiving PRP therapy on his right hamstring last Monday …
