Real Salt Lake will host Seattle Sounders on Wednesday night in their first of three consecutive home matches, all against Western Conference opponents, here’s what you need to know ahead of the match:
1. Real Salt Lake is coming off an eventful weekend, which included a 1-2 win over rivals Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. Johnny Russell put SKC ahead in the 31st minute when he smashed a free-kick beyond Nick Rimando but just seven minutes later Corey Baird found himself in the right position at the right time when Albert Rusnak’s free-kick rebounded off the post and he evened the score at 1-1. In the 70th minute, Baird bagged his second of the night and put RSL ahead 1-2.
Baird’s brace, which put him at three goals and two assists this season, earned him MLS Team of the Week honors. Albert Rusnak leads the team with eight goals and four assists, Sam Johnson has eight goals, Jefferson Savarino has six goals and five assists, and Damir Kreilach has four goals and three assists.
With all three points in Kansas City, RSL is undefeated in their last five matches and now sits in 6th place in the Western Conference with a record of 11-9-4 and 37 points but could hop Wednesday’s opponent Seattle, who sit in 2nd place, with a win. Real Salt Lake has an all-time record of 11-10-4 against Seattle Sounders and a home record of 8-1-2. Seattle’s lone win came in 2011.
2. Sunday night Real Salt lake announced that Mike Petke’s contract had been terminated following an investigation into the comments he made toward the referees after RSL’s loss to Tigres on July 24. Saturday’s match would have the last of his suspension, Petke was due to report back to work on Monday. With Petke out, Freddy Juarez will finish out the season as Interim Head Coach.
Sam Johnson and Nedum Onuoha, who have been injured since the June 29th home match against SKC, both saw time against Sporting on Saturday.
3. Seattle Sounders is coming off a 3-3 home draw against New England Revolution where Harry Shipp scored two goals and Jordan Morris had two assists. As stated above, Seattle sits in 2nd place in the Western Conference with a record of 11-7-6 and 39 points. Raul Ruidiaz leads Seattle with eight goals and one assist, Morris has seven goals and four assists, Nicolas Lodeiro has five goals and eleven assists, Kelvin Leerdam has five goals and two assists, and Shipp has five goals and two assists. Seattle is 2-6-3 on the road in 2019 and has a goal differential of -5.
Following the 2018 MLS season Real Salt Lake forward Luis Silva joined Finnish club FC Honka, where he had thirteen appearances and three goals. Last week, on August 7th, it was announced that Seattle Sounders had signed Silva.
Our coverage of Real Salt Lake vs Seattle Sounders begins on Wednesday, August 14 at 7 PM, kick-off at 8.
