Real Salt Lake 0 vs New England Revolution 0
July 16, 2016; Sandy, Utah; Rio Tinto Stadium
Real Salt Lake (8-6-6, 30 points); New England Revolution (5-7-8, 23 points)
Man of the Match: In his tenth start of the season, Demar Phillips put in a very strong performance on both sides of the ball in front of 19,246 at Rio Tinto. The second-year Jamaican defender patrolled RSL’s left flank for 90 plus minutes, keeping the likes of attacking threats Kei Kamara, Teal Bunbury and Lee Nguyen in check defensively. Phillips also had several bursting runs forward, overlapping the outside midfielders of RSL while taking a single shot, albeit off target. All-in-all a solid and productive night for RSL’s left back.
Telling Stat: 0. RSL’s first shutout since April 16 against Vancouver bodes well for a team looking to hold strong defensively. With RSL not conceding a goal for only the third time this year they will look to this to spur them forward through a long stretch of games. Head Coach Jeff Cassar has preached for weeks that his team needs to keep opponents off the board and against the Revs they earned the shutout from front to back.
What You Missed: RSL is now 9-2-3 all-time against New England in Salt Lake with their biggest win coming in 2008, a 6-0 drubbing of the Revs. RSL sits 5-0-4 on home soil in 2016 and remains one of five teams left unbeaten at home this year.
So What: RSL still sits firmly in fourth place in the Western Conference, well above the red line. Before RSL heads back into league play they will entertain Italian powerhouse Inter Milan in an international friendly on Tuesday, with kickoff slated for 8 p.m. at Rio Tinto Stadium. Looking ahead in MLS play, RSL has yet another home league game on Friday against Western Conference foe San Jose Earthquakes. The last meeting between the Claret-and-Cobalt and the Quakes was September of last year with the Quakes walking away 1-0 victors at Avaya Stadium. RSL will be looking for all three points this time around when the game kicks off at 9 p.m. at Rio Tinto.
