HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, July 1, 2022) – Real Salt Lake (8-4-5, 29 pts, 3rdWest) travels to Minnesota for this weekend’s Major League Soccer contest, facing Minnesota United FC (6-8-3, 18 pts, 10th West) for a 6:00p MT kickoff as part of Sunday’s Independence Weekend celebration. RSL is unbeaten in its last two visits to Minnesota, including a 2-1 season-opening win a year ago that saw an Anderson Julio brace assisted by a pair of Rubio Rubin helpers at the incredible Allianz Field.
***Sunday’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***
Despite the disappointment of the Club’s last road trip, a June 4 loss at Vancouver, RSL’s recent run of road competitiveness coincides squarely with Pablo Mastroeni’s appointment as the Club’s boss late last season. Prior to the Vancouver loss, RSL’s nine road results achieved in its previous 13 road trips dating back to last Oct. 27 at Dallas, RSL boasted 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.
RSL returns home on Sat., July 9 to decide the 2022 Rocky Mountain Cup against Colorado, seeking to extend its unbeaten 6-0-2 mark at home this season, capturing 20 of a possible 24 RioT points to vault the Utah side near the top of the MLS table, firmly ensconcing the Claret-and-Cobalt in the thick of the MLS Supporters Shield race. Since former U.S. World Cup star Mastroeni assumed the RSL helm, the Club is 10-2-2 at Rio Tinto Stadium, suffering back-to-back losses just once. Visit www.RSL.com/tickets to secure entry to any of the Club’s three July home games.
Not only was the June 18 win Mastroeni’s 10th win at home as RSL’s head coach, the comprehensive 2-0 victory over San Jose marked the Utah side’s 150th all-time Major League Soccer home regular-season win (150-55-75 W-L-T) during its 18 MLS seasons. The win also put RSL’s all-time reg. season record one game above .500, at 213-212-138 (W-L-T), the first time RSL has achieved that milestone since midway through its 2020 campaign.
Real Salt Lake @ Minnesota United
Allianz Field, Minneapolis, MN
Sunday, July 3 at 6:00 p.m. MT
Game Notes for Sunday’s RSL @ MIN Match Available Online
The Adobe PDF version of the 2022 MLS Game Guide in advance of Sunday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Minnesota 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 (8-4-5, 29 pts, 2nd West); Minnesota United FC (5-8-3, 18 pts, 12th West)
OTHER 2022 RSL NOTES:
DROPPED POINTS AT HOME NECESSITATE ROAD RESPONSE
Saturday’s scoreless home draw against visiting Columbus was just the fourth time in 14 home games during the Pablo Mastroeni era that Real Salt Lake dropped points at home, the Utah side posting a 10-2-2 (W-L-T) mark dating back to last Fall. RSL’s trip to Minnesota Sunday will be the third such road travel after a home setback: RSL won 1-0 at Kansas City on last year’s Decision Day Damiracle following a 3-1 home loss to Portland, and lost 6-0 at NYCFC earlier this year following a 2-2 April draw at home to Toronto FC.
DOUBLING DOWN ON DEFENSE
Critical to RSL’s recent run of form – unbeaten in five of its last six overall matches – is the staunch defense and near-flawless Zac MacMath goalkeeping which has seen RSL concede just six goals in its last nine games, post five clean sheets and recording a 5-2-2 (W-L-T) mark over that span. Since the 0-6 loss on April 17 at NYCFC, the current run also sees RSL with a near-perfect 4-0-1 record at home, allowing just one goal at Rio Tinto Stadium, outscoring visitors 8-1, with seven unanswered goals being scored since an early 0-1 deficit to Austin back on May 14.
ROAD PROSPERITY AT ALL-TIME HIGH
Despite the disappointment of the June 4 loss at Vancouver, RSL’s recent run of road competitiveness coincides squarely with Pablo Mastroeni’s appointment as the Club’s boss late last season. Following a 1-5-0 start away from home under the former USMNT World Cup star, the Claret-and-Cobalt mentality changed with the comeback win at Dallas to spark the RSL postseason chase.
Prior to the Vancouver loss, RSL’s nine road results achieved in its previous 13 road trips dating back to last Oct. 27 at Dallas, RSL boasted 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, 16pts), 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.
