SANDY, Utah (Friday, April 28, 2017) – Real Salt Lake (2-4-2, t-7th West) continues its 2017 campaign with a trip this weekend to face West rival Sporting Kansas City (3-1-3, 4th West) Saturday night at Children’s Mercy Park at 6:30 p.m. MT, as the club looks to rebound from its first loss last week with new Head Coach Mike Petke at the helm.
RSL travels to Kansas City, Kansas with an active seven-game unbeaten run against Sporting in MLS regular-season and playoff competition, dating back to 2013. RSL won twice last year at SKC, notching 2-1 and 3-1 wins in enemy territory. DF Justen Glad scored his first-ever MLS goal last April in the first meeting, with MF Luke Mulholland sniping the game-winner from long distance. Six weeks later, FW Yura Movsisyan returned to haunt the MLS club which drafted him in 2007, scoring a goal and slamming the game-winner off the chest of a KC defender just before halftime for the decisive own goal.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake @ Sporting Kansas City – Sat., April 29, 2017
- Coverage Begins: 6:00 p.m. MT
- Local TV: KMYU – David James and Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (5:30 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton
- 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 @ SKC 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 Sporting Kansas City is available by clicking HERE.
Saturday’s game will be televised locally via KMYU (coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. MT on 2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) with David James and Brian Dunseth on the call, and can also heard live via RSL outlets ESPN700 AM (English radio coverage starts at 5:30 p.m. MT w/ Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton) & 102.3 FM / 1600 AM (Spanish, Fernando Hortal & Nelson Moran).
Petke, the club's fourth head coach in the last 13 Major League Soccer seasons, suffered his first loss last week at home against Atlanta after guiding the Claret-and-Cobalt to a pair of wins in his first two weeks at the helm, including a dramatic comeback victory April 15 at Colorado (the club's 11th come-from-behind road win in 13 years). Movsisyan converted an 85th-minute penalty kick for his third consecutive game with a goal, while Academy product and Liverpool loanee Brooks Lennon blasted a shot from 25 yards out just three minutes later for what proved to be the game-winner.
Three weeks ago, in Petke's debut, RSL endured the elements to notch a 3-0 home win over Vancouver at a snowy Rio Tinto Stadium. Slovakian MF Albert Rusnák scored his first MLS goal with what proved to be the game-winner early in a snowy second half, then assisted on goals by Movsisyan - who has now scored in four of his last six games - and Mulholland to help RSL snap a 12-game winless streak in MLS regular-season play.
Back on March 21, it was announced that world power Manchester United would visit Utah for the first time ever, facing RSL at Rio Tinto Stadium on Monday, July 17. RSL “Royalty” Season Ticket Members have exclusive access to this game, with the ability to secure their seats and/or extra tickets (limit of four) until next Monday, May 8. MT. Pro-rated 13-game Season Ticket packages 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 is ongoing, the third-year club now the highest-scoring side in the USL and ranking second overall with a 4-1-0 start. Last week saw newly-promoted Head Coach Mark Briggs' improve to 3-1-0 with a dominant 3-1 road win at Seattle prior to this week's home game against Swope Park Rangers at 4:00 p.m. MT at Rio Tinto Stadium (the RSL at KC match will be shown in the AFCU Pavilion following the Monarchs game at 6:00). Season Tickets for the Real Monarchs third season 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 this Fall, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls. View a recent photo gallery of the Herriman progress 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.
