SANDY, Utah (Tuesday, July 12, 2016) – Real Salt Lake visits the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Wednesday night in a rare midweek road match, with kickoff for the critical Western Conference match set for 8:30 p.m. MT. RSL looks to snap a four-game winless streak across all competitions, the club’s June 25 road loss at Dallas followed by a trio of disappointing 1-1 home results in league and Open Cup play.
Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s team (8-5-5, 29 points, 3rd-best in MLS w/ a 1.61 points-per-game average) trails only West rivals Colorado (1.89 points per game / 10 wins) and Dallas (1.85 points per game / 11 wins) in the 2016 Supporters Shield race.
RSL has won just once at BC Place, back on Sept. 28, 2013, when a largely reserve side captured a 1-0 victory just 72 hours prior to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final. All-time, RSL is 1-5-1 all-time at BC Place and an all-time 8-23-18 in all competitions on fake grass, being outscored 42-85. RSL is 0-8-4 in its last 12 games across all competitions on the fake stuff, posting an 0-4-1 mark in each of the 2014/2015 seasons (including CCL play), prior to an 0-0-2 mark so far in 2016 (RSL conceded 2-0 leads at Orlando and at Portland in March before settling for 2-2 draws).
However, RSL’s greatest glory has come on an artificial surface, winning MLS Cup 2009 in a shootout against LA at what was then known as Qwest Field in Seattle. In 2011, RSL emerged from two home-and-home knockout series with turf results in the second leg: the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League Semifinal series with a 1 : 2 road loss at Saprissa, courtesy of the valued Jamison Olave road goal; and the MLS Cup Playoffs West Semifinal against Seattle with an 0 : 2 loss.
With a victory Wednesday, RSL GK Nick Rimando would move into a tie for the top spot all-time with Kevin Hartman at 180 career MLS regular-season wins. Rimando – already Major League Soccer’s all-time shutout king with 216 – needs just two wins, eight games played, three starts, 294 minutes and 58 saves to surpass Hartman in every single MLS goalkeeping category.
The Vancouver match can be seen locally on KMYU (English, David James and Brian Dunseth) and heard via RSL outlets ESPN700 AM (English, Bill Riley, 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 7:00 p.m. MT.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake @ Vancouver Whitecaps FC
- Coverage Begins: 8:00 p.m. MT
- Local TV: KMYU – David James & Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (7:30 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 @RealSaltLake Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Wednesday’s RSL @ Whitecaps Matchup Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the Game Guide in advance of Wednesday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Vancouver is available by clicking HERE.
This Saturday against the New England Revolution, RSL resumes action at its vaunted Rio Tinto Stadium home, where the club is unbeaten in 11 games all competitions this season (5-0-6 in MLS, CCL and Open Cup), with this weekend’s visit the seventh out of nine home games in 11 overall from mid-June to the end of July following the recent install of a new natural grass surface. Next Tuesday, RSL hosts Italian power FC Internazionale (colloquially known as “Inter Milan”) with an 8:00 p.m. MT kickoff at Rio Tinto Stadium, while next Friday sees RSL celebrate Pioneer Day weekend with a July 22 fireworks match against the San Jose Earthquakes (kickoff at 9:00 p.m. in a nationally-televised “Viernes de Futbol” contest).
Since the beginning of 2008, RSL now boasts a 103-22-44 mark in its last 169 home games (all comps) in that span, during which it has outscored opponents by 173 goals (297-124), with an 82-17-38 reg. season mark (241/100), the 8-2-2 CCL record (22/8), 5-2-2 playoffs (11/4), as well as an 8-2-2 Open Cup mark (24/13).
