RSL Heads to Southern California to Face West Leaders LAFC
September 2, 2022 – MLS NEXT Pro (MLS NEXT Pro) – Real Monarchs News Release
HERRIMAN, Utah – Real Salt Lake (11-8-9, 42 pts, 6th West) returns to action Sunday with a critical 8:30 p.m. MT kickoff in Los Angeles against West leaders LAFC (18-7-3, 57 pts, 1st West), the Claret-and-Cobalt looking to extend a season-high four-game unbeaten run and an active three-game road result streak. With four points from two games earlier this week at Dallas (1-1 road draw) and against Minnesota (3-0 home win), RSL owns the fourth-best points-per-game average amidst a very crowded Western table in the race for the MLS Cup Playoffs. Six teams occupy 3rd – 8th places in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference, separated by just six points, with anywhere from five-to-seven games remaining, many of which against each other.
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.
RSL heads to Los Angeles buoyed by a complete performance Wednesday night in Utah, winning 3-0 over visiting Minnesota. Venezuelan FW Sergio Cordova extended his Club Golden Boot goalscoring total with his eighth goal of the season – what proved to be a sixth-minute game-winner – igniting an amazing and dramatic “Teddy Bear Toss” as part of the team’s “Kick Childhood Cancer” fundraising and awareness initiatives. Just 17 minutes later, Cordova’s countryman – DP playmaker Jefferson Savarino – knocked home a dangerous Aaron Herrera cross for RSL’s first pair of first half goals since a 3-0 home win over Colorado on July 24, 2021 – a span of 50 games. RSL last scored two goals in a game’s first 23 minutes in a 4-1 home win over New England back on Oct. 18, 2018 – a span of 129 contests.
RSL’s dominance continued in the second half, as GK Zac MacMath was rarely tested en route to his ninth clean sheet of the 27-game season to date. With nearly 10 minutes left in the match, substitute FW Anderson Julio found the back of the net for a second consecutive game, running onto an exquisite Andrew Brody pass that split the MNUFC defense, Julio scoring his third goal of the year since his late May arrival on the Wasatch Front. Julio’s nine goals off the bench since the start of the 2021 season are the most in MLS during this period.
Back on August 6, LAFC won 4-1 in Utah in the teams’ only previous meeting this year, extending its win streak over the Utah side to five games, RSL’s longest losing streak against a single opponent in the Club’s 18-year history. RSL has never won in four prior regular-season visits to Banc of California Stadium; however, Salt Lake shocked the MLS world with a 3-2 first-round playoff win there in 2018, a game most remember for Damir Kreilach’s heroic “Karate Kid” volley.
Under Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s leadership, RSL is now 12-4-4 (W-L-T) on Utah soil against MLS opponents following the July 30 / August 6 losses to FC Dallas and LAFC prior to a 1-1 draw two weeks ago against Vancouver. RSL returns to its Sandy home on Saturday, Sept. 10 with a 7:30p MT kickoff against visiting D.C. United. Tickets available for what should be RSL’s 15th-consecutive sellout on State Street can be purchased at www.RSL.com/tickets.
Real Salt Lake @ Los Angeles Football Club
Banc of California Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
Sunday, Sept. 4 at 8:30 p.m. MT
2022 Records: Real Salt Lake (11-8-9, 42 pts, 6th West); LAFC (18-7-3, 57 pts, 1st West)
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