Real Salt Lake at New York City FC
June 2, 2016; 5 p.m. MT
Yankee Stadium
TV: KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD)
English Radio: ESPN 700 (6:30 p.m. MT)
Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM
Stream: MLS Live
At the beginning of the season, Real Salt Lake’s match on Thursday against New York City FC has been one that has been circled on the calendar for many reasons. As the season has progressed, playing for the first time at Yankee Stadium has moved far from the forefront of RSL’s collective minds.
The match finishes off a stretch of five consecutive road matches and leads into a brief break for Copa America Centenario. And with RSL posting a 1-3-0 record through the first four matches of that stretch, getting a positive result on Thursday becomes important to closing out the series of matches, especially after a 4-3 defeat to Columbus Crew SC on Saturday.
“We’d like to end on a good note and carry that momentum through the break and feel like we earned a break,” RSL defender Chris Wingert said. “We’re looking to get back after it and bounce back after Saturday.”
It is unlikely that anyone in the RSL locker room has more to play for on Thursday than Wingert. The MLS veteran played eight seasons with Real Salt Lake before a one-year stint with NYCFC, where he paired with former Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis and a slew of former Claret-and-Cobalt teammates to launch the expansion club in his hometown last year. The severing of that relationship in the offseason led to his Utah return and now he has his first chance to play against his former club.
“It’s exciting. I want to win pretty bad, for sure,” Wingert smiled from the NYCFC training ground on Tuesday. “Maybe there’s just a little something extra and it’s a chance for us to get a good result. But we’re going to have our work cut out for us and I’m looking forward to the challenge for sure.”
NYCFC poses many challenges for RSL. For one, David Villa leads MLS with nine goals and has proven to be a lethal finisher, particularly in the small confines of Yankee Stadium, where he has five of his nine goals while averaging nearly six shots per game on the home field.
The field is listed at 100 yards by 70 yards, though many contend that it is actually smaller than that. By comparison, Rio Tinto Stadium’s listed dimensions are 120 yards by 75 yards. The smaller dimensions provide for a different brand of soccer to be played and it has been reflected in some of the scorelines in NYCFC home matches.
Less than two weeks ago, the New York Red Bulls came into Yankee Stadium and posted a 7-0 victory in the derby match. This weekend, NYCFC took a 2-0 home lead over Orlando City SC before allowing two late goals to concede a draw, all in the blink of an eye.
“Your response has got to be good and sharp. You’ve got to always be thinking something good or bad is going to be happening on every play,” RSL Head Coach Jeff Cassar said. “You can see that in the game we saw on Sunday and it’s just who reacts better.”
Despite two disappointing recent results, New York is 3-1-3 in its last seven matches and currently fourth in the Eastern Conference at 4-4-6. With the likes of Villa and Andrea Pirlo, along with the possibility of Frank Lampard taking on a greater role, NYCFC is not to be taken lightly regardless of results.
“They’ve had one game where things didn’t go well for them and it happens to everybody. We have to make sure we’re on or we’re going to pay the price,” Cassar said. “There’s a lot of fight in this group. There’s a lot of quality and we need to make sure that we put in a good performance on both sides of the ball and we’ll get the result we desire.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT.
