Saturday brings another eastern conference opponent to Rio Tinto Stadium and another historic day for RSL, as the Royals and Real Salt Lake will play at RioT on the same day. Here’s what you need to know ahead of Real Salt Lake versus Montreal Impact:
1. Real Salt Lake is coming off a 2-1 win against the Chicago Fire. Damir Kreilach’s brace lifted RSL to victory and brought Kreilach to a team-leading 6 goals and 6 assists.
Joao Plata has 6 goals and 4 assists, Albert Rusnak has 5 goals and 6 assists, Corey Baird has 5 goals and 2 assists, and Luis Silva has 5 goals. Real Salt Lake now leads the league in players with 5 or more goals.
RSL’s injury list remains the same:
OUT: Tony Beltran (knee 10/15/17), Jordan Allen (knee 6/16/17), Shawn Barry (knee 3/10/18), Demar Phillips (ankle 4/7/18), Alex Horwath (achilles 4/18/18), Luke Mulholland (back 5/2/18), David Horst (achilles 6/26/18), Ricky Lopez-Espin (knee 6/13/18), Connor Sparrow (knee 7/2/18), Luis Silva (groin 7/18).
2. Real Salt Lake is 9-1-2 at Rio Tinto Stadium this season and has gone 11 matches unbeaten at home since their loss to LAFC on March 10th. With the win against Chicago, Real Salt Lake improved their record to 10-9-4 with 33 points. RSL sits in 6th place in the western conference, maintaining the last playoff spot with eleven matches to go. RSL has a record of 2-3-1 all-time and 2-0-1 at home against the Impact.
3. The Montreal Impact enter Saturday on a 3-match winless streak in the league, their last win on July 14th against San Jose. Montreal sits in 5th place in the eastern conference with a record of 9-13-2 and 29 points, but are just 2-9-1 on the road this season where they have been outscored 22-10. Ignacio Piatti leads the Impact with 11 goals and 9 assists, while Saphir Taïder has 5 goals and 3 assists, Jeisson Vargas has 4 goals, and Matteo Mancosu has 3 goals and 1 assist. Montreal goalkeeper Evan Bush leads the league in saves, but the Claret & Cobalt have outscored their opponents 24-10 in their 11 matches unbeaten at RioT.
Montreal’s injury report is minimal with just two players out: David Choiniere (ankle), Chris Duvall (calf).
Our coverage of Real Salt Lake vs Montreal Impact begins on Saturday, August 11 at 7 PM with Tom Hackett and Spencer Warne, kick-off is at 8 PM with Bill Riley and Jay Nolly.
