Rio Tinto Stadium holds one of the best home-field advantages in Major League Soccer. Real Salt Lake boasts a 72-14-34 all-time regular season record at its home park since opening the stadium in 2008. However, with just a 2-1-4 record at home thus far this season, RSL is looking to pile more into the win column on Sunday when it hosts Sporting Kansas City in an 8 p.m. kickoff in the nationally televised match on Fox Sports 1.
“That’s the biggest way to build your points in this league is to win your home games. With the travel schedule and the amount of games played and especially the heat in the summer, it can be very difficult to go away from home and collect points. If you want to get into the playoffs and you want to be in action in the postseason, you have to be good at home,” RSL defender Tony Beltran said in an interview on The Bill & OC Show on ESPN 700 on Friday. “In year’s past, Rio Tinto has been a fortress and I think it needs to get back to that way. And I think it could be. Hopefully Sunday is the start.”
Although RSL has just the one loss at home, a 1-0 defeat to Vancouver Whitecaps FC on April 18, and is unbeaten at 1-0-3 in the last four home matches, the feeling in RSL’s locker room is that it needs more wins.
That won’t be an easy task against Sporting Kansas City. The newcomers to the Western Conference are 6-2-6 this season and third in the West. On the strength of six goals from Krisztian Nemeth and seven assists from Benny Feilhaber and typically solid outputs from Dom Dwyer and Graham Zusi, SKC is getting things done on the offensive side this year. However, it has been the strength of the defense that has triggered a 4-0-2 run in the last six matches with former RSL goalkeeper Tim Melia in net.
There is no love lost between the two sides in a rivalry that dates back well before the controversial win for Kansas City in the 2013 MLS Cup final. But to Beltran, Sunday’s match is more about RSL finding its own path in the 2015 season than it is about the opposition.
“KC’s a good team. It’s a big Western Conference opponent. I’m less concerned about what the other team is saying or, to be honest, who we’re playing. At this point of the season, with a home game at Rio Tinto, I'm worried about how RSL comes out. I’m worried about us preparing the right way so we can perform on Sunday,” Beltran said. “We need to start winning at home. Whether that’s against Sporting Kansas City or the LA Galaxy or whatever they’re saying, it doesn’t change the fact that I want three points on Sunday.”
Tickets are still available for Sunday’s match on RealSaltLake.com. To hear the full interview, click here.
