PREGAME FACT & INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ COLORADO RAPIDS
SAT., MAY 7, 2016 – 7:00 p.m. MT – DICK’S SPORTING GOODS PARK
on KMYU, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
1 – LOSS THIS SEASON IN THE CLUB’S FIRST 8 GAMES, as the 5-1-2 mark (17 points) gives Jeff Cassar and his club a league-high points-per-game average (2.13) going into tonight’s Rocky Mountain Cup match at Colorado …
2 – COMEBACK WINS ALREADY THIS YEAR, both coming at home in 2-1 victories over Seattle and Houston, doubling the total deficits erased during the entire 2015 season … That lone come-from-behind win to capture the full 3 points from a losing position happened last October at Colorado, RSL winning 2-1 with late first-half goals by FW Joao Plata and MF Luke Mulholland …
2 – GAMES MISSED BY RSL FW JOAO PLATA due to a hip flexor injury suffered 17 days ago, RSL losing 2-5 at LA on April 23 without the early-season MLS MVP candidate … Plata has scored (5x) or assisted (4x) on nine of the club’s 15 MLS goals in 2016, as well as hitting on the lone RSL goal in CCL play against Tigres earlier this year … For his efforts, the diminutive Ecuadoran was named the March 2016 Etihad MLS Player of the Month, RSL’s first winner of the monthly honor since June, 2010 (Nick Rimando) … Plata is just the fourth RSL player to have earned the award, as Rimando (2x), Jeff Cunningham and Alvaro Saborio join him …
2.13 – RSL’S MLS-BEST POINTS-PER-GAME AVERAGE, as last week’s 2-1 home win over the Dynamo improved RSL to 5-1-2 overall with a league-leading 17 points (tied with 5-2-2 Colorado and 5-3-2 Dallas) … RSL’s MLS-best 2.13 points-per-game average through eight games – 4 home / 4 away – puts the club on a record pace for 72 points this season, a pacing which will surely be tested on the upcoming 5-game road trip …
3 – CONSECUTIVE YEARS THAT RSL KNOCKED COLORADO OUT OF PLAYOFF CONTENTION, as the final game of the season in 2007, 2008 and 2009 saw the Claret-and-Cobalt simultaneously capture the Rocky Mountain Cup and eliminate the Rapids from postseason contention … The 2008 and 2009 RSL victories also enabled RSL to clinch a playoff spot …
4 – TEAMS to have progressed this far into the MLS season without being SHUT OUT (RSL, ORL, POR, SJ) … Orlando drew 1-1 last night against New York Red Bulls, while Portland travels to Vancouver and San Jose heads to Seattle today …
4 – WINS THIS SEASON WITHOUT midfield maestro Javier Morales in the starting lineup, as RSL earned the full 3 points on March 12 v. Seattle (2-1, Morales did not dress), April 2 at Kansas City (2-1, Morales did not dress) and by 1-0 scores in each of two mid-April weeks against Colorado (Morales came off bench and helped create game-winning goal) and Vancouver (Morales did not dress) … This year’s total of 4 wins without the #maestro quadruples the number of wins (1) secured by RSL in 8 games played last season (out of 42) without Morales appearing as a starter or off the bench … The four wins this season without Morales equals the number of games won without the Argentine playmaker in the previous 42 played without him … RSL did manage to come back from an 0-1 deficit against Houston last week to win 2-1 with “the Maestro” in the starting XI and playing the full 90 …
4 – WINS NEEDED by RSL icon Nick Rimando this season to surpass all-time MLS leader Kevin Hartman for all-time victories … Rimando – already the all-time MLS leader in shutouts (125) by 13 over Hartman, despite playing 16 fewer games – could eclipse the longtime LA/DAL/KC/NY ‘keeper in several categories, including wins (needs 4 to surpass), starts (11), games (16) and minutes (1,018) … “The Wall of the Wasatch” is roughly ½ a season away from securing G.O.A.T. (“Greatest of All Time) status …
5 – CONSECUTIVE WINS FOR RSL OVER HOUSTON, a streak that began back in August, 2013 … Prior to the current stretch, RSL was just 3-9-5 in the previous 17 meetings against the Dynamo … RSL is now 6-1-4 all-time against Houston on Utah soil, losing 0-1 back at Rice-Eccles Stadium in October, 2007 – FW Yura Movsisyan’s first-career red card for RSL … RSL visits BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston next weekend to seek extension to the active streak …
6 – TIMES IN JUST EIGHT GAMES THIS YEAR that RSL has scored multiple goals, with 2 goals in every match except the pair of 1-0 home wins in mid-April against Colorado and Vancouver …
7 – TIMES THAT RSL HAS CONCEDED 5+ GOALS in club history, including the recent 2-5 loss at LA … That debacle marked just the 4th time RSL had allowed 5 or more goals since the beginning of 2007 …
8 – ROCKY MOUNTAIN CUP WINS IN THE LAST 10 YEARS for RSL, should the Claret-and-Cobalt win tonight in Colorado … By virtue of RSL’s 1-0 win back on April 9, a victory at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park tonight would render the August 26 rubber match at Rio Tinto Stadium meaningless (at least in terms of Rocky Mountain Cup supremacy) … RSL won six consecutive editions of the fan-created series from 2007-12, as well as the 2014 RMCup … Colorado won the first two, in 2005 and 2006, before capturing the 2013 and 2015 Cups …
9 – ROAD GAMES IN FIRST 13 OVERALL for RSL, as the Claret-and-Cobalt travel for five consecutive matches starting tonight, with the May 7 – June 2 trip to Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Columbus and New York City the longest in club history … The glut of early-season road matches is due to a resurfacing of Rio Tinto Stadium in the month of May, with the venue re-opening to MLS and USL play on June 18 with an exact replica of the original field installed back in September, 2008 …
12 – POINTS IN FOUR HOME GAMES SO FAR THIS YEAR, as RSL owns a perfect 4-0-0 league mark with 1-goal wins over Seattle and Houston (2-1), as well as Colorado and Vancouver (1-0) … RSL returns to its Rio Tinto Stadium home on Sat., June 18 against Portland, following the current five-game road trip …
17 – CAREER GOALS SCORED by returning RSL FW Yura Movsisyan in MLS action, the Armenian international needing just 1 to surpass former boss Jason Kreis and move into 8th all-time in the RSL golden boot race … Yura has scored 17 league goals for RSL (15 from 2007-09, prior to a six-year career in Denmark and Russia that saw him score another 77 across all competitions, including the Armenian National Team; and one last match at Portland) … Amongst active RSL players, Yura ranks fourth overall, behind Javier Morales (45), Kyle Beckerman (25) and Joao Plata (25) …
18 – DENIALS IN 45 PK ATTEMPTS for RSL GK Nick Rimando, as the “Wall of the Wasatch” extended his stellar run of success by stoning Galaxy MF Stephen Gerrard from the spot on April 23 … Rimando’s denial on a total of 18 of 45 attempts during his 10 MLS seasons with RSL is about 30% higher than average, and his 8 PK saves in the 2013-16 seasons double the total of any other GK … For his MLS career, Rimando has now saved 27 of 75 attempts from the spot, in addition to his scintillating efforts in shootout tiebreakers to enable RSL to advance to and win MLS Cup 2009 (also engaged in playoff PK shootouts in 2004 with D.C. United and 2013 for RSL) …
64 – GOALSCORERS in RSL’s 12-year, 127-player, 362-game league history to have scored at least one MLS goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that DF Justen Glad found the back of the net April 2 at Kansas City … Like Sunny before him back on March 12 at home, the 19-year old centerback nodded home a Joao Plata set piece offering for his first-ever MLS goal … Can Tony Beltran or Demar Phillips add their names to the list tonight?
102 – HOME WINS since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 102-22-40 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 164 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 172 goals (289-117) … The 2-1 win over Houston last week marked RSL’s most recent match at Rio Tinto Stadium, the club amassing an all-time home 81-17-36 record in MLS reg. season games (236-96 goals), and an 8-1-2 CCL mark (21-7), a 5-2-2 playoff resume (11-4), and an 8-2-0 ledger in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (21-10) …
127 – players to have represented the Claret-and-Cobalt in MLS ACTION in the club’s first 12 seasons, as MF SundayStephen – nicknamed “Sunny” – became #127 on March 6 as he started the 2016 opener in Orlando, prior to being sacrificed after the Phillips red card … Last year saw HC Jeff Cassar give several players – Justen Glad, Phanuel Kavita, Boyd Okwuonu, Elias Vasquez, Demar Phillips, Sebastian Saucedo & Pecka – their MLS debuts … 28 players saw league minutes last year, meaning everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez participated in league action …
203 – DF Tony Beltran will make his 203rd career MLS reg. season appearance tonight, extending his status as the fifth active man in a select group to have reached 200+ games played for the Claret-and-Cobalt … Beltran joins a group of six overall with the honor, including Nick Rimando (256), Kyle Beckerman (238), Javier Morales (215), Chris Wingert (210) and Nat Borchers (205)...
301 – GK Nick Rimando makes his 301st appearance in an RSL uniform tonight, just 2 weeks after making career MLS reg. season start #400 on April 23, becoming only the 2nd man in league history to reach the threshold (GK Kevin Hartman, 416) … Tony Meola is 2nd in MLS annals with all starts (no appearances off bench) at 250, a number Rimando reached back in the 2009 MLS Cup-winning season …
500 – With last week’s 2-1 win over Houston, RSL surpassed the 500-point threshold in its 12-season MLS history, now at 502 total in 362 MLS regular-season contests … RSL’s all-time PPG average is just 1.39, but receives a significant boost from 2010-present, once the team embarked as defending MLS Cup Champions in its second season at Rio Tinto Stadium, with an average PPG of 1.62 …
34,486 – TOTAL COMBINED MINUTES PLAYED FOR RSL by defenders Chris Wingert and Tony Beltran, with only one goal scored in MLS regular-season play between the two (Wingert, at Chivas USA, 5/22/10) … However, both did manage to score once in the same game for the Claret-and-Cobalt, a 2-0 U.S. Open Cup win over Wilmington Hammerheads in late June, 2011 – incidentally the smallest crowd (7,620) in Rio Tinto Stadium’s RSL history …
