Through the 11 seasons played by Real Salt Lake, the Claret-and-Cobalt has managed to play the role of the spoiler in home openers five of the last six years, posting a 5-0-1 record in that span. Altogether, RSL is 5-2-2 when opening the season away from Rio Tinto Stadium (and Rice Eccles Stadium in the early years) after posting five straight road wins from 2010-2014.
With the announcement on Tuesday that RSL will open the 2016 regular season with the club’s first ever MLS regular season match in the state of Florida against Orlando City SC, we thought we’d take a look back at RSL’s opening matches.
Here is a look at how RSL has fared in road openers since the club last lost its first regular season tilt in 2009.
2015: 0-0 D at Portland Timbers – Nick Rimando has five saves in the shutout at Providence Park.
2014: 1-0 W at LA Galaxy – Joao Plata scored in the 80th minute and Rimando save a stoppage-time penalty from Robbie Keane to earn the shutout victory.
2013: 2-0 W at San Jose Earthquakes – Rimando with another shutout as Alvaro Saborio scored two goals in the final 20 minutes for the win.
2012: 3-1 W at LA Galaxy – Javier Morales scored the game-winning goal late in the match and Fabian Espindola added an exclamation point as RSL knocked off the Galaxy in comeback fashion.
2011: 1-0 W at San Jose Earthquakes – Kyle Beckerman was the hero on this day as his second-half goal was the difference in another shutout win for Rimando and RSL.
2010: 3-0 W at San Jose Earthquakes – Morales scored twice and Espindola added another as RSL opened its title defense with a win.
Last year, RSL played to a 1-1 draw with Orlando City SC at Rio Tinto Stadium on July 4, with icon Kaka earning a red-card ejection in the first half for a foul on Javier Morales. We will see on March 6 if the two teams will produce similar fireworks in 2016.
