SANDY, Utah (Friday, April 22, 2016) – Real Salt Lake – Major League Soccer’s lone remaining unbeaten squad and points-per-game leader at 2.33 – travels to Southern California this weekend to face the LA Galaxy, with kickoff at the StubHub Center at 8:30 p.m. MT.
Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s team ranks second overall with a 4-0-2 (14 points, West 2nd) mark, three points behind FC Dallas, which has played two additional games. This weekend’s RSL trip to the campus of Cal State – Dominguez Hills kicks off a run of six games out of the next seven to be played on the road, as Rio Tinto Stadium undergoes a new field installation after the Saturday, April 30 home match against Houston, then re-opening on June 18 against Portland.
RSL GK Nick Rimando extended his all-time MLS record with his 125th career shutout (89 in an RSL uniform) last week against Vancouver, with the Montclair, Calif., native and former UCLA ‘keeper returning to his Southern California home expected to make his 400th career MLS regular-season appearance (all starts), just the second-ever player to attain the threshold (GK Kevin Hartman, 416).
RSL has won more road games at StubHub in its previous 11 seasons than at any other MLS venue, posting identical 6-9-1 regular-season road marks at LA Galaxy (outscored 22-24) and at Chivas USA (outscored 18-23). RSL and the Galaxy have met in the MLS playoffs on four occasions, including three times in the last five years. RSL emerged victorious in both MLS Cup 2009 and the 2013 West Semis, while LA eliminated the Claret-and-Cobalt in 2011 and 2014.
Saturday’s game will be televised in Utah via KMYU (English, David James & Brian Dunseth) or heard via RSL outlets ESPN700 AM (English, Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton) & 102.3 FM / 1600 AM (Spanish, Fernando Hortal & Nelson Moran). Pre-game coverage airs live locally on ESPN700 AM at 7:30 p.m. MT, while KMYU’s three-hour window kicks off at 8:00 p.m. MT live from Carson, and will be followed by the USL Real Monarchs’ match against Rio Grande Valley.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake at LA Galaxy
- Coverage Begins: 8:00 p.m. MT
- TV: KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) – David James & Brian Dunseth
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (7:00 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
- Online: The @RealSaltLake Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Saturday’s RSL at LA Galaxy Matchup Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the MLS Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles is available by clicking HERE.
2016 REAL SALT LAKE NOTES –
RSL at LA GALAXY – Sat., April 23, 2016 – 8:30 p.m. MT
PLATA REMAINS ON FIRE: RSL FW Joao Plata – out this weekend after suffering a hip flexor strain in straining on Wednesday – continued his assault on the league statistic leaderboards, having scored or assisted in a six consecutive games, one off the club record (MF Javier Morales, Aug.-Sept. 2014) … Plata – now on Ecuador’s “watch list” for this summer’s Copa America tourney, after not appearing for La Tri since October 2014, when he scored twice at MetLife – added another game-winning assist last week against Vancouver, just one week after scoring the game-winner in the 1-0 home win over Colorado to bring his 2016 total to 4 goals / 4 assists on the young season … The diminutive Ecuadoran was also robbed of another assist as FW Yura Movsisyan’s legitimate goal against Colorado that would have given RSL a 2-0 scoreline was disallowed … Plata – now in his fourth season with RSL – has now scored or assisted on nine of RSL’s 11 goals in CONCACAF and MLS play this season, with only FW Yura Movsisyan’s “strip-streak” past Nat Borchers 3/19 at Portland and the long-range Luke Mulholland seeing-eye blast in Kansas City outside Plata’s influence …
REAL RECOGNIZE REAL IN RSL v. LA RIVALRY: From 2009’s MLS Cup Final through the playoffs in 2014, there may not have been a more hotly-contested series between successful clubs battling a respectful duel for league supremacy than Real Salt Lake and the LA Galaxy …
The two teams met in the 2009 final in Seattle, with RSL lifting the trophy in a shootout and the clubs going on to square off in the playoffs in three of the next five years, with LA posting a 3-1-2 mark in the six postseason matches … Head-to-head, RSL and LA went 6-6-1 against each other in the regular season, while the Galaxy held an overall MLS mark of 85-42-39 (294 points) while RSL was 78-44-44 (278 points) … Only the Seattle Sounders FC separated the two teams in the regular-season standings (Seattle went 82-47-37 for 283 points), but RSL enjoyed more playoff success than Seattle in that same stretch …
While RSL missed the playoffs in 2015, ending a streak of five straight seasons with 15 wins and 50 points (a feat equaled only by LA to that point), the bitterness of that rivalry from ‘09-’14 still holds strong between the two clubs …
RSL went 1-1-1 in the regular season against the Galaxy last year despite the gap in the standings and also eliminated the Galaxy in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
BELTRAN THE IRON MAN ROLLS ON: RSL DF Tony Beltran made his 201st career MLS regular-season appearance last Saturday vs. Vancouver, continuing an amazing run of selection for the fifth active player and sixth man overall in a select group to have reached 200+ games played for the Claret-and-Cobalt … Beltran joined Nick Rimando (254), Kyle Beckerman (236), Javier Morales (214) and Chris Wingert (209) amongst active players, with former DF Nat Borchers (205) also logging 200+ MLS games for the Utah side ... DF Jamison Olave is next on the active list, with 145 career appearances in MLS reg. season contests … Beltran – who has started all but 21 of the club’s last 179 games across all competitions since the start of 2012 – is one of only three (4) all-time MLS players to have made his first 200 appearances with just one team, joining Chicago Fire legends CJ Brown (a former RSL assistant coach) and Logan Pause, as well as former San Jose/Houston DF Wade Barrett …
SOCAL CONNECTIONS FOR RSL TRIO:
RSL GK Nick Rimando, DF Tony Beltran and FW Yura Movsisyan all have deep roots in Southern California, raised there during their formative years … Rimando and Beltran call the Inland Empire home, with Movsisyan and his family emigrating to Pasadena early in his life … Rimando and Beltran each played college soccer for UCLA, while Movsisyan was drafted in 2007 by Kansas City out of Pasadena City College …
RIMANDO #125 COMES AGAINST VANCOUVER:
While RSL GK Nick Rimando’s career MLS shutout #124 nearly came in Orlando on opening day – the final 65 seconds obviously changed that – it was finally added to the record books two Saturdays ago against Colorado, against whom the Wall of the Wasatch has amassed 17 of his 125 career shutouts, his highest total vs. one team ... Last week against Vancouver, Rimando extended his MLS-record total for clean sheets …
Victims over the last 18 cumulative seasons, in descending order: Colorado (17), Chicago/Chivas/San Jose (10 each), Red Bulls (9), LA Galaxy/New England (8 each), Columbus & D.C. (7 each), Kansas City (6), KC/Dallas/Houston/Portland/Toronto (5 each), Vancouver (3), Philadelphia (2), Montreal, NYCFC and Tampa Bay (1 each) ...
RSL’s RECENT RED CARD EPIDEMIC STARTED A YEAR AGO: In the March 19 2-2 draw at Portland, RSL saw MF Kyle Beckerman and DF Jamison Olave each ejected, RSL’s second and third red cards in the young MLS season … Following DF Demar Phillips’ ejection 22 minutes into the March 6 opener at Orlando, the ejections continue a disturbing trend, as 2015 saw the club set a dubious new mark for RSL with 9 red cards in 34 games, surpassing the club’s season-record 7 set in 2013, 2011 and 2009 ...
Outside MLS competition last year, FW Olmes Garcia was shown a straight red for a late tackle behind play Aug. 12 at Kansas City in the 1-3 elimination from the Open Cup, while on Sept. 15 in the CCL, MF John Stertzer was ejected in the 81st after receiving his second yellow card just 6 minutes after his first, causing RSL to play with 10 men the final 10’ and forcing Stertzer out of the home Santa Tecla tilt ... Additionally, RSL head coach Jeff Cassar was dismissed in two games last year (Aug. 4 at VAN and July 11 at COL, post-game) ...
RSL has now played 426 games across all competitions in its 12-year history – 360 MLS reg. season, 21 MLS Cup Playoff, 23 Open Cup and 22 CONCACAF Champions League – and has been reduced to nine men in a game just 5 times, but only once at home – last April’s 0-1 loss to Vancouver (45 games overall, 35 in MLS play) ...
The list:
Feb. 22, 2011 (CCL) @ Columbus - 0:0 T (Beltran/Borchers)
April 21, 2012 (MLS) @ San Jose - 1:3 L (Olave/Espindola)
April 18, 2015 (MLS) v Vancouver - 0:1 L (Olave/Saucedo)
June 24, 2015 (MLS) @ Red Bulls - 0:1 L (Morales/Phillips)
March 19, 2016 (MLS) @ Portland – 2:2 T (Beckerman/Olave)
