PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE at VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
SAT., AUGUST 8, 2015 – 8:00 pm MT
on KMYU / AMERICAN SPORTS NETWORK, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD
0 – goals conceded by the RSL defense in its last 436 minutes of CCL play, dating back to the club’s first group game of 2012 in the 14th minute at Costa Rican power Herediano … RSL allowed 7 goals in its first two all-time SCCL matches (2010: 5-4 loss v Cruz Azul; 3-2 win v Arabe Unido), but has allowed a total of only 6 goals in its last 7 SCCL road games …
1 – win all-time for RSL at Vancouver in 6 tries, the lone victory coming back on Sept. 28, 2013, just 72 hours prior to the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final … Former RSL boss Jason Kreis rolled out a reserve XI that night, which saw MF Sebastian Velasquez set up rookie FW Devon Sandoval for the game-winner, and GK Jeff Attinella notch his first career clean sheet and victory … DF Abdoulie Mansally, MF Luis Gil and FW Olmes Garcia also started that match, as they will tonight for Jeff Cassar …
2 – career starts at right back, including tonight, for 18-year old RSL-AZ academy product Justen Glad, who also has five starts at centerback in MLS and Open Cup action … Glad made his MLS debut with a solid 90-minute performance here at BC Place back on May 30, in RSL’s 1-2 loss to the Whitecaps …
3 – MLS games played by RSL without a loss this season following its previous midweek wins in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup action, Cassar’s club posting a 2-0-1 mark (wins against KC and Houston, draw against Orlando) in its returns to MLS play … Following Tuesday’s 1-0 win in Guatemala, will RSL keep the streak alive against Vancouver? …
4 – all-time single-season series that have seen RSL suffer three losses to the same team, as 2012 San Jose, 2006 FC Dallas and 2005 Colorado Rapids each handed the Claret-and-Cobalt a trey in the loss column … With a win tonight, Vancouver could become the fifth team to accomplish the feat, joining Earthquakes ’12 and Rapids ’05 to go a perfect 9-for-9 on possible points taken from RSL … Dallas ’06 won 3 out of 4 games played between the squads that year, RSL managing a home win …
5 – games over the first 15 days of August, RSL splitting 2 of the first 4 away, across 3 competitions, 4 time zones and nearly 11,000 air miles as RSL zig-zags across the continent … RSL dropped the first match, 4-6, at D.C. United last Saturday, prior a midday Sunday arrival for Tuesday’s 1-0 win at Guatemala in the CCL Group G opener … Following tonight’s RSL visit to Vancouver, the club gets Sunday and Monday nights at home prior to heading to Kansas City on Wednesday for the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal … Next Saturday, on the heels of the extended road marathon, RSL returns to its Rio Tinto Stadium home for critical matches against Portland and Seattle on August 15/22 …
6 – consecutive road losses for RSL – all in league play – prior to Tuesday night’s gritty 1-0 win at Municipal in Guatemala City, as the Claret/Cobalt 2015 road record in MLS has dropped to 2-7-2 after an auspicious start that saw wins at San Jose and Chicago and clean sheets at Portland, SJ and Kansas City … The six straight away losses matches the run in April/May 2008 for the 2nd-longest in club history, exceeding the 5-game slides in 2009 and 2012 but paling in comparison to the 15 consecutive road losses suffered by RSL in its 2005 expansion season …
7 – consecutive playoff berths for RSL from 2008-14 (the longest active run in MLS), during which time the club has averaged 1.58 points per game) … RSL also owns a league-record 5 consecutive seasons with 15+ wins and 50+ points, matching LA’s active run from 2010 to present …
8 – all-time RSL road wins on artificial surfaces in MLS, Open Cup and CCL action, the Utah club posting a dismal 8-21-15 mark on the fake stuff at Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, New England, Toronto, MetroStars, Saprissa (CRC), Minnesota and Atlanta … RSL did win its lone MLS Cup title via shootout against LA in what is now known as Century Link Field in Seattle, but has posted only an 0-6-2 mark on turf since its last win on the surface, 1-0 at Portland in the 2nd Leg of the 2013 Western Conference Finals … All-time, RSL has been outscored 37-74 on foreign turf …
9 – Canadian losses in 15 games played all-time in the “Great White North” by RSL, which has posted a 2-9-4 mark away to Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto … In addition to the 1-0 win against the Whitecaps on Sept. 28, 2013, RSL also won 1-0 at Toronto on June 29, 2013, via a Yordany Alvarez goal and late Nick Rimando heroics to secure the club’s first-ever win in Canada …
11 – games remaining on RSL’s league schedule this season, including five reg. season home matches and six road games starting tonight – all effectively “six-pointers” against Western foes – to go along with three CCL group games and Wednesday’s Open Cup Semi, with a potential additional USOC Final on Sept. 30 (if RSL emerges at KC on Wednesday) …
+12 – goal differential all-time for RSL in CCL play (30 GF, 18 GA) through three iterations, the club amassing a 9-4-4 mark in group and knockout play … The club’s home mark has been a dominant 6-1-1 overall, but the two blemishes – especially the 0-1 home loss to Monterrey (MEX) in the 2011 Final Second Leg, as well as the 0-0 home draw against Herediano (CRC) in the 2012 group stage, when RSL just needed any scoring draw to advance – will forever leave a mark … Tuesday’s 1-0 win at Municipal improved RSL to 3-3-3 all-time in the continental championship away from home …
20 – career MLS goals as well as the jersey number worn in 2015 by RSL’s newest player, M/F Luis Silva, making his first-ever Claret/Cobalt start tonight against Vancouver … Silva made his RSL debut last Saturday, playing the final 8 minutes against his former D.C. United club after being acquired on July 16 in exchange for Costa Rican international Alvaro Saborio … Silva has 20 goals in 100 career MLS matches for Toronto (2012-13), where he played alongside Joao Plata and Aaron Maund, D.C. United (2013-15, with whom he won the 2013 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final at Rio Tinto Stadium) and now RSL, the former UC-Santa Barbara Gaucho also playing the final 5 minutes in Guatemala Tuesday at Municipal … Silva is ineligible to participate in this season’s Open Cup, as he appeared for DCU earlier in the tournament …
59 – number of players in RSL’s 11-year, 125-player, 343-game league history to have scored at least one MLS goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that FW Sebastian Jaime opened his MLS account June 21 against Kansas City … Several players will have the opportunity to become #60 tonight against the Whitecaps …
94 – home wins since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 94-19-39 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 152 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 164 goals (275-111) … RSL returns home Aug. 15 against Portland with a 75-14-36 record in MLS reg. season games (226-92 goals), and a 6-1-1 CCL mark (17-5), a 5-2-2 playoff resume (11-4), and an 8-2-0 ledger in Open Cup (21-10) …
125 – players to have appeared in an MLS game for RSL in 11 seasons, as Jeff Cassar has given several players in tonight’s 18 – Justen Glad, Phanuel Kavita, Boyd Okwuonu, Elias Vasquez, Demar Phillips, Sebastian Saucedo & Pecka – opportunities this season … 27 players have seen league minutes this year, meaning everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez (MF Fito Ovalle is on a season-long loan to the USL Monarchs) have seen MLS time …
$250,000 – prize money granted by U.S. Soccer to the winning team in the Open Cup, the 17 American-based MLS sides requiring five wins to earn that cash as well as a berth in the 2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League … RSL is just one win away from playing the 2015 Final – either at home against Philadelphia or away at Chicago on Sept. 30 – should it conquer Sporting Kansas City Wednesday in Kansas …
