Real Salt Lake returned to the training field this week after a brief hiatus as MLS took a break for the start of Copa America Centenario. With it, RSL has amassed 23 points with a 7-4-2 record through the first 13 matches after a 3-2 win over New York City FC at Yankee Stadium last week. The break came at a great time for the Claret-and-Cobalt after five straight road matches. With a steady stream of matches on the slate over the next two months, getting some time away was welcomed.
“That’s important for them physically and it’s important for them mentally,” Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jeff Cassar said on The Bill Riley Show on ESPN 700 this week. “It’s going to really start to get congested and it’s important that the players take a mental break and a physical break and hopefully now they come back and they’re hungry and they’re focused for this really busy schedule.”
Over the first 13 matches, RSL has gotten a balanced scoring attack while also showing signs of unexpected strength on the defensive side of the ball. While a perfect home record has buoyed Salt Lake’s early success, it has been the success on the road, where RSL has played nine of the first 13 matches while the grass at Rio Tinto Stadium was replaced, that has propelled the club to the third position in the West.
“We’re showing signs that we can go and not just get ties and results, but also pick up three points on the road and that’s a big step for this group of guys,” Cassar said.
With that five-game stretch behind the team now, RSL can shift its focus to the upcoming stretch of eight of the next 10 matches at the newly resurfaced Rio Tinto Stadium. While RSL has been historically great at home, including a 4-0-0 record at home this season, Cassar and his team know the task doesn’t get any easier.
It starts Tuesday against the Wilmington Hammerheads in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and continues with a slew of crucial MLS matches. On January 18, RSL hosts the defending MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers. The Claret-and-Cobalt will follow that up with matches against the top two finishers in the Supporters’ Shield chase in 2015, home against the New York Red Bulls, then on the road against FC Dallas.
“Those are all great things but now it’s ‘what are we going to do with them?’” Cassar said. “We can really start to put some pressure and make some distance with games against Portland, Dallas, Vancouver … These are some really important games coming up and I’m really looking forward to them.”
For information on tickets for Tuesday’s Open Cup clash, click here. And for the full interview with Cassar, click here.
