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Real Salt Lake vs Sporting Kansas City Preview

Real Salt Lake is back at home to face rivals Sporting Kansas City, here’s what you need to know ahead of the match:

1.  Real Salt Lake fell 2-1 on the road in Columbus after conceding two goals in the first twenty-five minutes.  Albert Rusnak pulled one back in the 74th minute, but RSL was unable to find an equalizer.  The loss in Ohio took RSL to 7-8-2 on the season and fifth place in the west.

Kyle Beckerman got his 300th start for RSL against Columbus, the most with one franchise for any non-goalkeeper in MLS history.

Rusnak’s goal made him RSL’s top goalscorer at 4 goals and 4 assists.  Corey Baird has 4 goals and 2 assists, Damir Kreilach has 3 goals and 4 assists, Joao Plata has 3 goals and 1 assist, Luis Silva has 3 goals, Jefferson Savarino has 2 goals and 2 assists, and Sebastian Saucedo has 1 goal and 3 assists.

2.  For a short while, it seemed RSL’s injury list was getting shorter with only long-term injuries remaining, but recent injuries to Ricky Lopez-Espin and David Horst take the “out” list to seven players:

QUESTIONABLE: Luke Mulholland (back 5/2/18).

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), David Horst (achilles 6/26/18), and Ricky Lopez-Espin (knee 6/18).

3.  The last time these two teams met at Rio Tinto in league play, Real took all three points in a 2-1 victory on the last day of the regular season.  RSL is 5-1-3 in the last nine MLS matches against SKC, who hasn’t won at Rio Tinto in league play since July 2013, and 10-9-7 all-time.  Head coach Mike Petke says they know what to expect from SKC, but that doesn’t make it any easier to beat them:

4.  SKC is 9-5-3 on the season and sit in first place in the western conference, where they have sat for 15 weeks.  But they are coming off a surprising 2-0 loss in Montreal on Saturday, which ended their 9-match unbeaten streak:

Sporting is now 3-2-3 on the road, where they’ve conceded eight goals and scored eleven.

SKC defender Amer Didic is listed as questionable with a hamstring injury while Cristian Lobato (knee), Felipe Gutierrez (sports hernia), Gianluca Busio (hamstring), and Jimmy Medranda (knee) are out for Wednesday’s match.

5.  SKC has seen goals from twelve different players so far this season and has three players with five goals: 21-year old Daniel Salloi leads the team with 5 goals and 6 assists, Johnny Russell has 5 goals and 5 assists, and Felipe Gutierrez has 5 goals.

While now-former SKC players Benny Feilhaber, Aurélien Collin, and Dom Dwyer were a big part of the intense rivalry between these clubs, Nick Rimando says their absence doesn’t change anything:

 

Our pre-game coverage of Real Salt Lake vs Sporting Kansas City begins on Wednesday, July 4th at 7 P.M. with Tom Hackett and Spencer Warne, kick-off is at 8 P.M. with Bill Riley and Jay Nolly.

 

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