SANDY, Utah (Friday, April 29, 2016) – Real Salt Lake returns to its Rio Tinto Stadium home Saturday evening to host the Houston Dynamo, seeking to extend the club’s four-game win streak against the “Orange” and rebound from last week’s loss at LA by remaining perfect at home (3-0-0). Kickoff in Sandy is at 7:30 p.m. MT.
Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s team will then embark on a club-record five-game road trip from May 7 – June 2, as Rio Tinto Stadium undergoes a new field installation after Saturday, re-opening on June 18 against Portland. RSL kicks off its epic travel with leg two of the 2016 Rocky Mountain Cup series in Colorado on May 7, then visiting Houston, Kansas City, Columbus and NYCFC prior to the brief MLS hiatus for Copa America Centenario in early June.
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 6:30 p.m. MT, while KMYU’s three-hour window kicks off at 7:00 p.m. MT.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake v. Houston Dynamo
- Coverage Begins: 7:00 p.m. MT
- TV: KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) – David James & Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (6:30 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 v. 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 v. HOUSTON DYNAMO – Sat., April 30, 2016 – 7:30 p.m. MT
RIMANDO 400 FINALLY OFFICIAL: RSL GK Nick Rimando made his 400th career MLS regular-season appearance Saturday in LA, just one week after extending the all-time MLS clean sheet record with his 125th career shutout (89 in an RSL uniform) April 16 against Vancouver … Rimando – now in his 10th year with RSL and his 18th in MLS – is a Montclair, Calif., native and former UCLA ‘keeper who returned to his Southern California home to make his 400th career MLS regular-season appearance (all starts), just the second-ever player to attain the threshold (GK Kevin Hartman, 416) … Legendary USA, MetroStars and Kansas City GK Tony Meola ranks #2 in all-time starts without an appearance off the bench, with (only) 250 …
FEAST OR FAMINE AWAY FROM RIOT: With RSL conceding five goals away at LA last weekend, the club has allowed 49 goals in its last 22 road games dating back to last season, an astonishing 2.30 goals per game (by comparison, RSL has allowed just 15 goals at home in its last 22 games at Rio Tinto Stadium) … On 11 occasions – fully half of the last 22 road games – RSL has allowed 3 or more goals, posting a 5-14-3 mark away dating back to last Easter … RSL has conceded just one or fewer goals in 7 of the last 22 road games …
BURRITO FINDING BACK OF THE NET: RSL FW Juan Manuel Martinez has scored in each of his last two games – the game-winner two weeks ago at home against Vancouver and last week’s game-opener at LA – after scoring just once last year, hitting for his first-ever MLS score in a 3-1 win at Houston … Despite coming out of the game last week due to a quad strain in the 22nd minute, the former Boca Juniors man is expected to be ready and available Saturday against Houston, shouldering the scoring / playmaking load for FW Joao Plata, who missed the LA trip due to a hip flexor suffered in training last week …
PLATA ON FIRE BEFORE INJURY: RSL FW Joao Plata – out last weekend after suffering a hip flexor strain in training the previous Wednesday – continued his assault on the league statistic leaderboards, having scored or assisted in a six consecutive games, one off the club record (MF Javier Morales, Aug.-Sept. 2014) … Plata – now on Ecuador’s “watch list” for this summer’s Copa America tourney, after not appearing for La Tri since October 2014, when he scored twice at MetLife – added another game-winning assist last week against Vancouver, just one week after scoring the game-winner in the 1-0 home win over Colorado to bring his 2016 total to 4 goals / 4 assists on the young season … The diminutive Ecuadoran was also robbed of another assist as FW Yura Movsisyan’s legitimate goal against Colorado that would have given RSL a 2-0 scoreline was disallowed … Plata – now in his fourth season with RSL – has now scored or assisted on nine of RSL’s 11 goals in CONCACAF and MLS play this season, with only FW Yura Movsisyan’s “strip-streak” past Nat Borchers 3/19 at Portland and the long-range Luke Mulholland seeing-eye blast in Kansas City outside Plata’s influence …
THE MAESTRO IS BACK: RSL MF Javier Morales came off the bench to dictate the pace and tempo for RSL in the second half at LA, scoring his first goal of the season on a 72’ penalty kick to cut the deficit to 2-4 … Morales – who has not started any of RSL’s four wins this season due to broken ribs and/or flu bug – did come off the bench two weeks ago against Colorado to set up Plata’s game-winner …
