SANDY, Utah (Friday, May 5, 2023) – Real Salt Lake (3-5-1, 10 pts., 10th West) kicks off another upcoming three-game week with a trip to South Texas this weekend for MLS Matchday 11, traveling to face the Houston Dynamo (4-3-1, 13 pts., 6th West) on Saturday (6:30p MT kickoff on the Apple MLS Season Pass w/ Adrian Healey and Cobi Jones (ENG) / Juan Arango and Carlos Suarez (SPN); 7:00p MT radio pre-game w/ David James & Jay Nolly via www.KSLSports.com / 1280 AM / 97.5 FM and www.KSLNewsRadio.com / 1160 AM).
Saturday’s contest is the fourth of what could be a 13-game, 45-day stretch that sees Real Salt Lake manage multiple competitions, with several potential Open Cup and MLS three-game weeks on the horizon. Real Salt Lake arrives in Houston unbeaten in four of its last five overall, and on the heels of its first clean sheet of 2023, as GK Zac MacMath and the RSL rearguard denied Seattle last week in another home sellout marred by numerous yellow cards. All-time / all competitions on Utah soil, RSL still boasts a dominant 13-2-4 (W-L-T) mark against the Sounders, which includes a 1-0-1 Open Cup record and a 1-1-0 playoff mark. With last week’s scoreless draw, RSL owns a 12-game unbeaten run in MLS reg. season play against the Sounders, who last won in Sandy in 2011 (although a 2012 playoff stunner at RioT still stings).
RSL has not lost at what is now Shell Energy Stadium since 2017, posting one win and three draws in its last four visits, while also earning points in 7 of its last 9 overall in Houston (3W-2L-4T) … A year ago, RSL managed a scoreless draw in the 2022 opener at Houston in its last road contest against the Dynamo. The teams last met in Utah last May, RSL winning 3-0 on the strength of goals by Justen Glad, Bobby Wood and Sergio Cordova, in a match which also marked DP FW Jefferson Savarino’s return to RSL/MLS.
RSL boss Pablo Mastroeni called Houston home during the 2020 pandemic-affected season, serving as an assistant coach on Tab Ramos’ staff that year, prior to coming to RSL as an assistant for the 2021 year under Freddy Juarez, assuming the interim HC role in late August and taking RSL to the West Final before losing to Portland.
As a result of last Wednesday night’s 3-1, 120-minute win away at Las Vegas in its 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup opener, RSL will play at Portland Timbers (MLS) in the USOC Fourth Round on Wed., May 10, with an 8:00p MT kickoff streaming live on the B/R app and the Bleacher Report/U.S. Soccer YouTube pages. RSL Captain Damir Kreilach’s extra-time brace, with an insurance goal from FW Danny Musovski, enabled RSL to snap a seven-game overall winless streak in the U.S. Open Cup dating back to 2015, and earn its first-ever road win in 11 attempts on the road in Open Cup play.Â
RSL is back at home next Saturday, May 13, hosting defending MLS Cup Champion LAFC at America First Field. Tickets for the expected sellout – which would be the Club’s 21st in its last 25 matches – are available at www.RSL.com/tickets. LAFC has advanced as the MLS representative in this year’s CONCACAF Champions League Final, facing Liga MX contender Leon in early June.
