Real Salt Lake at Sporting Kansas City
May 21, 2016; 6:30 p.m. MT
Children’s Mercy Park
TV: KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD)
English Radio: ESPN 700 (5:30 p.m. MT)
Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM
Stream: MLS Live
It’s Heineken Rivalry Week in Major League Soccer and while it may not be one of the featured matches, Real Salt Lake’s meeting with Sporting Kansas City on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park certainly equals the on-field animosity that exists between New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls, Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the Portland Timbers, Columbus Crew SC and Toronto FC or the LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes.
What previously had been a fiery affair that was sparked by a preseason scuffle in Arizona was heightened by an MLS Cup final for the ages in 2013 in Kansas (not to mention the off-field shenanigans that led to many Real Salt Lake fans with canceled ticket orders due to an error in the Kansas City offices).
Since then, RSL has gone unbeaten in the five meetings between the two teams, including a victory on April 2 at Children’s Mercy Park. A short-handed RSL already came into Kansas City and dominated to the tune of a 2-1 win that was made to appear closer by a miscalled penalty in second-half stoppage time. With five starters out of the lineup due to injury or suspension and many more players unavailable because of injury, RSL made emergency call-ups of two Monarchs players – Andrew Brody and Emilio Orozco. With that patchwork lineup, RSL was still able to execute the game plan set forth by Head Coach Jeff Cassar with precision to earn the victory and end Kansas City’s 3-0-0 start to the season.
“It was 11 players on the same page. The exact same page. Doing all their responsibilities. And we created a ton of chances,” Cassar said. “It’s not rocket science. What we want is a good team effort. Everyone buying in to what’s being sold. And then we have the quality to finish. We do need to put them in positions to finish more and I think that comes from having the ball. But we’ve got to play defense to have the ball.”
Now, RSL is in the midst of a stretch of five straight road matches, suffering two consecutive 1-0 defeats against the Colorado Rapids and Houston Dynamo to start the road swing. The focus shifts to getting back on track for the Claret-and-Cobalt and that pair of defeats coupled with the heat that comes with the rivalry with Kansas City has RSL ready to play on Saturday.
However, despite SKC’s 5-6-2 record and recent seven-match winless streak that was snapped with two late goals in a comeback win over Orlando City last week, Salt Lake knows the match Saturday will be a tough test.
“They’re a really strong team at home so it will be another tough challenge for us,” RSL midfielder and captain Kyle Beckerman said. “It doesn’t get any easier with these road games. It’s going to take everything we’ve got to get a result.”
RSL is no stranger to adversity, but now with a nearly full-strength roster and motivation to earn some results during the difficult road stretch, Cassar and his team are eager to get back on the field.
“This road trip is adversity and it’s how we handle it. We’ve got to stick together. It’s not going to be easy. If we do things that we were doing before, the results will happen,” Cassar said. “We aren’t going to be playing our best soccer every single game. But what we can do is defend great. And that’s what we need to do.”
