SANDY, Utah (Friday, April 1, 2016) – Real Salt Lake continues its 12th MLS campaign tomorrow against Western Conference rival Sporting Kansas City in a battle pitting two of Major League Soccer’s three unbeaten sides, returning to the site of MLS Cup 2013 heartbreak Saturday at 6:30 p.m. MT. Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s team seeks to improve upon the club’s unbeaten 1-0-2 (5 points) mark without Captain Kyle Beckerman and DF Jamison Olave (both receiving red cards in the March 19th 2-2 draw at Portland), as well as the Argentine duo of Juan Manuel Martinez (MLS Disciplinary Committee suspension) and MF Javier Morales (broken ribs).
While RSL is unbeaten in its last two regular-season games played at what is now known as Children’s Mercy Park – posting clean sheets in a pair of 0-0 road draws – RSL was eliminated from the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup last year with a Semifinal loss at Kansas City, conceding twice in the final 10 minutes and suffering a red card for FW Olmes Garcia in the 1-3 decision. In MLS Cup 2013, RSL suffered an epic shootout loss at Kansas City in frigid conditions, the 20-round tiebreaker ultimately decided when Lovel Palmer’s blast hit squarely off the crossbar to give the home side exhilaration.
Saturday’s game will be televised in Utah via KMYU (English, David James & Brian Dunseth) or heard via RSL outlets ESPN700 AM (English, Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Trey Fitz-Gerald) & 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 Kansas City, Kansas.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake @ Sporting Kansas City
- 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) – Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Trey Fitz-Gerald
- 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 @ Kansas City 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 Kansas City is available by clicking HERE.
2016 REAL SALT LAKE NOTES –
RSL @ SPORTING KC – Sat., April 2, 2016 – 6:30 p.m. MT
PLATITA FLYING HIGH TO PACE RSL ATTACK: RSL FW Joao Plata on Thursday was named the Etihad MLS Player of the Month for March, scoring 3 goals and 2 assists in MLS play to pace the RSL attack. The diminutive Ecuadoran had scored or assisted on all six of RSL’s goals in CONCACAF and MLS play this season prior to FW Yura Movsisyan’s “strip-streak” past Nat Borchers last match at Portland … Plata – who found the back of the net earlier against the Timbers on a breathtaking free kick – earned two assists on March 12 in the 2-1 win over Seattle, his first multi-assist game since Aug. 30, 2013 … Plata’s helpers on the Sunny and Jamison Olave goals came just a week after scoring both goals in the club’s 2-2 season-opening draw at Orlando on March 6 in his second-ever multi-goal game for RSL in 77 MLS appearances with the Claret-and-Cobalt, and the team’s first road brace since Plata found the back of the net twice in May, 2014, at Dallas … Plata also scored in RSL’s 1-1 home draw with Tigres on March 2 …
HARDSHIP RULE INVOKED: With suspensions affecting this weekend’s availability for RSL Captain Kyle Beckerman and DF Jamison Olave (both receiving red cards in the March 19th 2-2 draw at Portland), as well as Argentine FW Juan Manuel Martinez (MLS Disciplinary Committee suspension for late tackle on March 19 at Portland), Head Coach Jeff Cassar must also deal with injuries to MF Javier Morales (broken ribs), FW Emery Welshman (hip flexor), FW Olmes Garcia (ankle), MF Omar Holness (shoulder), DF Boyd Okwuonu (concussion), DF Phanuel Kavita (knee) and MF Fito Ovalle (personal).
These absences allow the invocation of Major League Soccer’s “Extreme Hardship” rule, allowing clubs to sign players 25-years-old or younger from their USL affiliate on loan for MLS season games. The “hardship” exists when an MLS club has fewer than 15 total players available or when an MLS club with three goalkeepers on its roster has fewer than two goalkeepers available. Based on last week’s performances with the USL Real Monarchs and RSL’s positional depth needs, DF Emilio Orozco and MF Andrew Brody will join the team on the weekend jaunt to Kansas City …
RSL’s RECENT RED CARD EPIDEMIC: In the March 19 2-2 draw at Portland, RSL saw MF Kyle Beckerman and DF Jamison Olave each ejected, RSL’s second and third red cards in the young MLS season … Following DF Demar Phillips’ ejection 22 minutes into the March 6 opener at Orlando, the ejections continue a disturbing trend, as 2015 saw the club set a dubious new mark for RSL with 9 red cards in 34 games, surpassing the club’s season-record 7 set in 2013, 2011 and 2009 ...
Outside MLS competition last year, FW Olmes Garcia was shown a straight red for a late tackle behind play Aug. 12 at Kansas City in the 1-3 elimination from the Open Cup, while on Sept. 15 in the CCL, MF John Stertzer was ejected in the 81st after receiving his second yellow card just 6 minutes after his first, causing RSL to play with 10 men the final 10’ and forcing Stertzer out of the home Santa Tecla tilt ... Additionally, RSL head coach Jeff Cassar was dismissed in two games last year (Aug. 4 at VAN and July 11 at COL, post-game) ...
RSL has now played 423 games across all competitions in its 12-year history – 357 MLS reg. season, 21 MLS Cup Playoff, 23 Open Cup and 22 CONCACAF Champions League – and has been reduced to nine men in a game just 5 times, but 3 times since last April (42 games overall, 32 in MLS play) ...
The list:
Feb. 22, 2011 (CCL) @ Columbus - 0:0 T (Beltran/Borchers)
April 21, 2012 (MLS) @ San Jose - 1:3 L (Olave/Espindola)
April 18, 2015 (MLS) v Vancouver - 0:1 L (Olave/Saucedo)
June 24, 2015 (MLS) @ Red Bulls - 0:1 L (Morales/Phillips)
March 19, 2016 (MLS) @ Portland – 2:2 T (Beckerman/Olave)
EARLY-SEASON ROAD WARRIORS: RSL is back on the road for Saturday’s match, the latest in a stretch that sees Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s club kick off the MLS season with three of its first four games, and nine of first 13, away from home for the deepest glut of road games in RSL’s 12 seasons … The 2-1 win over Seattle back on March 12 was just one of four home MLS matches for RSL prior to June 18 of this year, as the club’s run of five straight away games from May 7 to June 2 is the longest in RSL history … Next week’s Rocky Mountain Cup contest kicks off an April stretch that sees RSL host Colorado, Vancouver and Houston in Sandy this month, surrounding an April 23 trip to LA to face the Keane-less Galaxy …
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 …
SUNNY #127 … AND NOW #62 – WHO’S NEXT?: RSL MF Sunny on March 12 headed home a Plata corner kick in the 44th minute against Seattle to knot the game at 1-1, becoming the 62nd player in RSL history to find the back of the net for the Claret-and-Cobalt … A week earlier on March 6 in Orlando, Sunny became the club’s 127th player to have appeared in an MLS match in the team’s first 12 seasons … With several new faces expected to play major roles Saturday in Kansas City, who could be next to expand either list? …
