HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, August 5, 2022) – Real Salt Lake (9-7-7, 34 pts, 5th West) resumes its 18th Major League Soccer season this weekend with Saturday’s 8:30p MT visit to Utah from 2022 MLS Supporters Shield leaders LAFC (15-4-3, 48 pts, 1st West). With just Standing Room Only tickets remaining for Saturday’s match, extending RSL’s active home sellout streak to a record 12 consecutive games, Saturday’s match has a chance at becoming just the third match in Club history to exceed 21,000+ in Sandy, potentially threatening the record 21,363 set against Zlatan and LA Galaxy back on Sept. 1, 2018.
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.
A very crowded Western Conference playoff race resumes for RSL, the Claret-and-Cobalt one of nine teams in a seven-point glut separating third and 11th places. The final 11 games of the season alternate home/away from now until October 9 “Decision Day” in Sandy, Utah, which will likely be key in determining both MLS Cup Playoff berths as well as hosts and matchups.
RSL snapped its three-game road slide with a dramatic 2-2 draw Saturday night in San Jose, as rookie MF Jasper Löffelsend’s first professional goal (21st minute) and designated player FW Jefferson Savarino’s heroics deep into stoppage-time completed comebacks from one-goal deficits to salvage a point at PayPal Park against the Earthquakes.
The weekend draw enabled RSL to improve its record in “bounceback” games under Head Coach* Pablo Mastroeni* to 9W-1L-4D, earning a result in 13 of 14 matches following a loss and suffering back-to-back losses just once in the former USMNT star’s 37 games at the RSL helm. Under Mastroeni’s leadership, RSL is now 11-3-3 (W-L-T) on Utah soil against MLS opponents.
The Claret-and-Cobalt are now 7-1-3 (W-L-T) in its 11 matches on Utah soil this year, posting one of the League’s top home records. However, LAFC has enjoyed great success away to RSL in its brief history, posting a 5-1-0 mark across all competitions at Rio Tinto Stadium. RSL has dropped four consecutive matches to LAFC since a 3-0 RioT win back in Sept. 2020, with LAFC winning all three contests a year ago, each by a one goal margin.
RSL has won just once in its last seven contests, dropping 7 home points since June 25 with draws against Columbus and Colorado prior to the July 23 0-1 home loss to Dallas, the first serious blemish on RSL’s 7-1-3 home mark in the 2022 campaign. The remainder of the RSL regular season schedule can be found at RSL.com as well as any other information regarding the team’s 18th season in MLS.
Real Salt Lake v. Los Angeles FC
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT
Saturday, August 6 at 8:30 p.m. MT
Game Notes for Saturday’s RSL v LAFC Match Available Online
The Adobe PDF version of the 2022 MLS Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and LAFC 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 (9-7-7, 34 pts, 5th West); LAFC (15-4-3, 48 pts, 1st West)
