HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, June 3, 2022) – Real Salt Lake (7-3-4, 25 pts, t-2nd West) travels this weekend to Vancouver, B.C., Canada, in Major League Soccer’s lone fixture during this international hiatus (5:00 p.m. MT kickoff). RSL is seeking its first four-game MLS reg. season win streak since June, 2013, while also looking to extend the most prosperous run of road success in Club history, as Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s side has earned nine results in its last 13 away games (5-4-4, W-L-T) dating back to late last season.
A victory Saturday would pull Real Salt Lake to within one point of Major League Soccer’s Supporters Shield race, the pace currently set by West leaders LAFC (9-3-2, 29 pts, 1st West). Also, newly-acquired MF Diego Luna, the highly-regarded 18-year-old USA U-20 playmaker just added from El Paso Locomotive (USL Championship), could make his RSL/MLS debut on Saturday, becoming the 28th player used by Mastroeni and staff in the first 15 games this season.
Saturday’s match will be broadcast locally via KMYU (12 over the air, 22 satellite and 643 HD on cable), with streaming on the KSL Sports App, as well as ESPN700 AM radio. Spanish-speaking fans can tune in on KBMG Latino 106.3 FM, La Gran D 102.3 FM and KTUB 1600 AM for the local radio broadcast
All-time, on the artificial surface of B.C. Place, RSL is just 2-10-1 (W-L-T) against the Whitecaps (4-7-2, 14 pts, 12th West), who actually called Rio Tinto Stadium home for half of the 2021 pandemic-affected season. RSL last won in Vancouver on its final day of the 2019 season, riding a Damir Kreilach goal for a 1-0 victory.
Last Saturday’s dominant 3-0 RioT win over visiting Houston marked RSL’s third-consecutive victory, one which extended RSL’s 2022 home record to 5-0-1 (W-L-T) – matching the best-ever home start in the Club’s 18-year history (2010, 2016). Saturday’s win also marked Real Salt Lake’s quickest-ever accumulation of 25 points (14 games), matching the 2014 standard. Finally, last Saturday’s match saw RSL extend its season-opening record of six consecutive sellout crowds at Rio Tinto Stadium, as 20,489 witnessed goals from FW Bobby Wood, FW Sergio Cordova and DF Justen Glad in a match which will be remembered as FW Jefferson Savarino’s return to Utah.
Real Salt Lake @ Vancouver Whitecaps FC
B.C. Place, Vancouver, Canada
Saturday, June 4 at 5:00 p.m. MT
Game Notes for Saturday’s RSL @ VAN Match Available Online
The Adobe PDF version of the 2022 MLS Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Vancouver can be found here. Media members looking to receive the document as an attachment or have further questions are asked to please contact Meg Van Dyk in RSL Communications via email at meg.vandyk@rsl.com
2022 Records: Real Salt Lake (7-3-4, 25 pts, t-2nd West); Vancouver Whitecaps (4-7-2, 14 pts, 12th West)
OTHER 2022 RSL NOTES:
BACK TO THE GREAT WHITE NORTH WE GO
Back on May 22 in Montreal, RSL rode goals from DF Justen Glad and FW Sergio Cordova early in the second half to erase an 0-1 deficit suffered in the first 43 seconds on Quebec soil. MF Maikel Chang supplied the game-winning assist for a second consecutive week, while MF Pablo Ruiz should have received credit for assists on both goals in return to the lineup after serving a caution accumulation suspension May 14 v. Austin. The victory in Canada was only RSL’s fourth-ever road win north of the border in 26 MLS attempts (4-19-3) since 2007, while the three points captured in Quebec represent RSL’s first spoils in five games played (1-4-0) against the former Impact, now known as CF Montreal. (NOTE: RSL technically owns a 4-0 “road” win against Vancouver in 2021, when the Whitecaps called Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah home during the first half of the pandemic-affected season).
TERRIBLE TIMES ON TURF
RSL owns an all-time MLS regular-season and playoff mark of just 15-39-19 (W-L-T) on artificial surfaces across the league since its 2005 inaugural campaign. Back on Saturday, April 23 at Portland, with a 0-0 draw to bounce back from the worst road loss in Club history the week before at Yankee Stadium, RSL snapped an overall five-game winless streak at Providence Park. In those 73 all-time games on the fake stuff, the Utah side has been outscored 127-74. RSL is now 5-4-3 all-time at Foxborough against the Revolution, the March 12 win at Gillette Stadium snapping a three-game winless streak. In both 2015 and 2017, RSL lost 0-4 in turf drubbings, prior to a 0-0 draw in its last visit to Gillette, in 2019. From 2010-13, RSL did win three consecutive road matches against the Revs by an aggregate score of 6-2. Next time out on the fake stuff? Saturday at Vancouver.
ROAD PROSPERITY AT ALL-TIME HIGH
With nine road results achieved in the last 13 road trips dating back to last Oct. 27 at Dallas, RSL boasts a 5-4-4 (W-L-T) record, the 19-point haul setting an all-time RSL mark for road success across any 13-game period over the Club’s 18-year existence.
Prior to the early May 0-2 loss at Nashville, RSL had earned points in eight of its previous 11 road matches (4-3-4, 16 pts), matching the Club’s record 2010 stretch (3-1-7, 16 pts) as the MOST successful away spell in Club history. RSL was unable to set a new travel standard, however, as Nashville suffocated the game, went up 1-0 in the 65th minute, and iced the affair in the final 10 minutes by punishing an RSL turnover.
However, a few historical indicators were stacked up against Real Salt Lake on May 8 at GEODIS Park. In the Club’s initial visits to new stadiums since 2007, RSL’s record is now just 2-10-3, with wins at Cincinnati last year and at NYCFC in 2016. RSL drew at Orlando in 2016, at Philadelphia in 2010 and at Toronto in 2007 in Claret-Cobalt debuts at those cities. Overall, in first-ever visits to an opponent, RSL is now 2-20-4, which includes the 2005 expansion season when the Claret-and-Cobalt posted an 0-10-1 mark against the other 11 opponents in debut games . RSL drew at the Meadowlands against the MetroStars in its first-ever match, then lost 10 straight.
LUNA ‘OVER THE MOON’ ON RSL ARRIVAL
Thursday, RSL announced it had acquired 18-year-old playmaker Diego Luna from the El Paso Locomotive (USL Championship), obtaining the MLS Homegrown Priority for the right to sign the U.S. U-20 No. 10 from the San Jose Earthquakes, Luna – who scored 13 goals and added seven assists in 41 USL Championship matches in 2021/22 – joins RSL teammates Jaziel Orozco and Gavin Beavers on the U.S. U-20 side for CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying tourney in Honduras on Tuesday, June 7.
“I believe Real Salt Lake is an historic club with an amazing and vibrant fan base; I am grateful for the faith RSL has in me and my abilities, and I look forward to contributing to the team,” said Luna during his first 24 hours in Utah on Wednesday. “After speaking with the front office about their strong interest and plan for me, I am convinced this was the right move for my career. I will forever be grateful to El Paso for giving me my first professional contract, and the opportunity to showcase myself as I face new challenges.”
HOME SWEET HOME FOR MOST OF THE SUMMER
The Saturday, June 18 match against San Jose Earthquakes kicks off a run of home opportunity for RSL, as three of the next five matches and five of the next seven following this weekend’s Vancouver trip occur at Rio Tinto Stadium, where the Claret-and-Cobalt has posted a 5-0-1 (W-L-T) mark at home this season, capturing 16 of a possible 18 points throughout the first one-third of the year. All six of the “RioT” contests have witnessed crowds of 20,000-plus, RSL opening a season with six consecutive sellouts for the first time ever. The June 18 contest is expected to match the Club record of seven consecutive sellout crowds at any point in a season, set July-Sept. of the 2015 season.
FACES MAY CHANGE, BUT SONG REMAINS THE SAME
Despite innumerable injuries suffered and squad rotations that have forced Mastroeni and staff to utilize 27 players in MLS action already this year (FW Jefferson Savarino made his 2022 debut Saturday, while DF Chris Kablan made his RSL/MLS debut two weeks ago at Montreal), the Claret-and-Cobalt have demonstrated wit, guile and resiliency, continuing its 2021 trends of scoring goals after the 80th minute and rescuing points from a losing position, setting the MLS standard each of the last two years.
