SANDY, Utah (Friday, June 23, 2017) – Real Salt Lake travels Saturday to visit the San Jose Earthquakes at Avaya Stadium (8:30 p.m. MT kickoff, LIVE on KMYU – 2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) with an opportunity to gain a valuable three points and vault itself back into the Major League Soccer playoff race.
RSL is 5-6-4 all-time across MLS and Open Cup competition on the road against the Earthquakes, last winning in Avaya Stadium in 2015. The club will be without Captain Kyle Beckerman, who will be forced to serve a one-game suspension Saturday due to yellow card accumulation. RSL’s Slovakian MF Albert Rusnák also will miss Saturday due to his participation in the UEFA European U-21 group stage.
However, Real Salt Lake (5-10-2, 17 points, 10th West) will look to continue momentum gained with last week’s 1-0 win over Minnesota, the club’s third-consecutive home win. Legendary GK Nick Rimando notched career clean sheet No. 133 (incl. 97 in an RSL uniform) in the victory, clinched when substitute FW Yura Movsisyan tapped home a spilled save in the 87th minute of a game that saw RSL outshoot the visitors 29-6, including a 9-1 margin on goal.
Last week’s match welcomed the return of Rimando and several others from international duty, including FW Jefferson Savarino (Venezuela) and the club’s U.S. Under-20 quartet of DF Justen Glad, DF Danilo Acosta, MF Sebastian Saucedo and FW Brooks Lennon.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake @ San Jose Earthquakes – Sat., June 24, 2017
- Coverage Begins: 8:00 p.m. MT
- Local TV: KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) – David James & Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (7:30 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley & Jay Nolly, w/ Jeremy Horton & Spencer Warne (pre-/post-game shows)
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
- Online: The @RSLmatchday Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Saturday’s RSL @ San Jose game Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and San Jose is available HERE.
Real Salt Lake is now 5-7-0 since April 8 in its new era under Head Coach Mike Petke, a total which includes three consecutive home wins in recent weeks by one-goal margins over NYCFC (2-1), Philadelphia Union (1-0) and Minnesota United (1-0). RSL returns home on Friday, June 30 for its Independence Day Weekend contest against Orlando (7:30 p.m. MT kick / post-game fireworks) following Saturday’s San Jose game.
The 2017 Real Monarchs / USL season is ongoing, the third-year club still the highest-scoring team in the league with 32 goals scored in just 13 games, claiming first place overall in the USL with an incredible 12-1-0 start and 36 points after last Monday’s 2-1 home win over Reno. The Monarchs rode a pair of assists from MF Sebastian Velasquez on goals from RSL academy product Andrew Brody and SLC native Taylor Peay, who became the club’s seventh and eighth players – out of 13 goalscorers – with multiple goals. Leading scorer Chandler Hoffman ranks 3rd in USL with eight goals, while GKs Lalo Fernandez, Connor Sparrow and the defense have allowed just 4 goals in the last 674 minutes.
Head Coach Mark Briggs’ team heads to Phoenix this Saturday (9:00 p.m. MT kickoff) with sights set on a 10th consecutive victory. This week’s win against Reno set a new USL record with a nine-game win streak, breaking Orlando City’s 2014 mark:
USL Winning Streaks (regular season)
9 games: Real Monarchs (active; April 22 – present)
8 games: Orlando City SC (2014)
7 games: Swope Park Rangers (2016-17)
7 games: Orlando City SC (2011-12)
7 games: New York Red Bulls II (2016)
The Monarchs enter its next home game on July 5 on an active eight-game HOME win streak at Rio Tinto Stadium, dating back to last season, an active run which currently ranks fourth-best in the USL’s all-time record book:
USL Home Winning Streaks (incl. playoffs)
13 games: Orlando City SC (2014)
11 games: Rochester Rhinos (2015-16)
8 games: Real Monarchs (2016-present)
8 games: Swope Park Rangers (2016-17)
Coming in late Summer, 2017, the Zions Bank Real Academy 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. Including the 5,000-seat Zions Bank Stadium as well as the Zions Bank Training Center, the Herriman campus will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school opening this Fall, with STEM disciplines (Science / Technology / Engineering / Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls. View recent video of the Zions Bank Real Academy project HERE.
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.
