Real Salt Lake Back In Action Saturday At San Jose

HERRIMAN, Utah (Thursday, September 14, 2023) – Real Salt Lake (11-9-7, 40 pts., t-3^rd West) welcomes its international quartet back into the training mix this week ahead of its resumption of the 2023 season, RSL’s 19^th in Major League Soccer. RSL will travel to face the San Jose Earthquakes (9-9-10, 37 pts., 8^th West) on Saturday, Sept. 16, with kickoff at 8:30p MT (Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass / KSL Radio).

RSL Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s side enters the final seven games of the season one point shy of second-place Seattle (11-9-8, 41 pts., 2^nd West), although RSL has played one fewer game than the Sounders. The Utah side’s 40 points is even with reigning MLS Cup Champion and Supporters Shield holders LAFC (11-9-7, 40 pts., t-3^rd West), which have played an equal number of games as RSL. 

With 40 points accumulated through 27 games of the 2023 MLS campaign, Real Salt Lake is part of a seven-team glut from 2^nd to 8^th place in the Western Conference separated by just four points in the race for the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs (nine teams), RSL seeking its first home postseason match since 2019. 

SAN JOSE HISTORY: RSL’s recent trips in San Jose – consecutive road results in 2021 and 2022, with late-game heroics from Savarino (2022 stoppage-time equalizer) and Rubin (81^st-minute game-winner in 4-3 thriller) earning points for the Claret-and-Cobalt – contribute to a run that has seen RSL unbeaten in four of its last six overall against the Earthquakes the last three seasons, including a dominant 3-1 home win back in April. With a win Saturday, RSL would set a new single-season franchise-high mark with its seventh road win of the campaign.

LAST TIME OUT: Following four consecutive losses and dropping five out of six games played in Leagues Cup, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and Major League Soccer action from July 22 to August 30, RSL defeated the visiting Colorado Rapids, 2-0, on Sept. 2, riding goals from Colombians Brayan Vera and Chicho Arango on either side of halftime to support a Zac MacMath clean sheet to capture the Club’s 12^th Rocky Mountain Cup in the last 15 seasons, the fan-created rivalry staying on the Wasatch Front for a fourth consecutive year, including the disputed 2020 season. 

SNAPPING THE SLIDE: Since the Pablo Ruiz injury on August 8, RSL had suffered four losses in as many matches across a trio of competitions, RSL dropping four in a row for the second time this season, each slide bracketing a run that saw Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team lose just three games in a 23-game run from April 8 to August 4. The recent slide marked just the sixth, seventh and eighth times in Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s 90 matches at the helm that the team has dropped consecutive matches, and the first time since March 25/April 1 of this season. 

Saturday’s kickoff at San Jose starts at 8:30p MT on Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass w/ Christian Miles and Danielle Slaton (ENG), and Mariano Trujillo & Rodolfo Landeros (SPN). For local coverage, tune in at 7:30p MT for KSL Radio pre-game w/ David James & Jay Nolly via www.KSLSports.com / 1280 AM / 97.5 FM and www.KSLNewsRadio.com / 1160 AM).