SANDY, Utah (Friday, April 7, 2017) – Real Salt Lake (0-3-2, 11th West) kicks off a new era under new Head Coach Mike Petke Saturday at home against Vancouver Whitecaps FC with a 7:30 p.m. MT kickoff at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Petke, the club’s fourth head coach in the last 13 Major League Soccer seasons, seeks to help RSL snap a 12-game winless streak in MLS regular-season play and capture its first win since last August 26, when a 2-1 home win over rival Colorado Rapids pushed the club to No. 2 overall in the Supporters Shield race with seven games remaining.
Saturday’s game will be televised locally via KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD) with David James and Brian Dunseth on the call, and can also heard live via RSL outlets ESPN700 AM (English, Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton) & 102.3 FM / 1600 AM (Spanish, Fernando Hortal & Nelson Moran). Saturday’s game will also be televised in Utah on UniMás, with Francisco Vasquez & Benyi Monroy calling the match.
RSL boasts an overall 4-1-3 mark at Rio Tinto Stadium against Vancouver, outscoring the Whitecaps 10-5 overall. RSL won the last meeting in Sandy, a 1-0 win last April that saw a Nick Rimando shutout supported by a Juan Manuel Martinez goal. In the previous eight hotly-contested games on Utah soil, none were more controversial than RSL’s lone home loss to the Whitecaps in 2015, when both DF Jamison Olave and FW Sebastian Saucedo – in his club debut – each saw second-half red cards in an eventual 0-1 loss.
How to Follow Real Salt Lake v. Vancouver Whitecaps FC – Sat., April 8, 2017
- Coverage Begins: 7:00 p.m. MT
- Local TV: KMYU – David James and Brian Dunseth
UniMás – Francisco Vasquez and Benji Monroy
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (6:30 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley, Jay Nolly, Spencer Warne & Jeremy Horton
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
- Online: The @RSLmatchday Twitter feed provides updates
Game Guide for Saturday’s RSL v. Vancouver game Available Online
The link to the Adobe PDF version of the Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Vancouver Whitecaps is available by clicking HERE.
While last week 2-4 loss at Minnesota saw the expected return of three key RSL players from suspension (Kyle Beckerman) and international duty (Nick Rimando, Albert Rusnák), RSL also celebrated the first appearance since March 11 due to a hamstring injury for FW Joao Plata, who played the final 30 minutes against the Loons on the TCF Bank Stadium turf.
Back on March 21, it was announced that world power Manchester United would visit Utah for the first time ever, facing RSL at Rio Tinto Stadium on Monday, July 17. RSL “Royalty” Season Ticket Members have exclusive access to this game, with the ability to secure their seats until this Monday, April 10. MT. Pro-rated 15-game Season Ticket packages for Real Salt Lake's 2017 campaign at Rio Tinto Stadium remain on sale; please visit www.RSL.com/tickets/royalty or call 844.Real.Tix for more information.
The Rio Tinto Stadium box office is open Mon.-Fri., 10a-6p; more information can be found online at www.RSL.com/Tickets. Current or interested RSL Royalty Season Ticket Members can purchase extra tickets at preferred pricing or gain assistance via the Fan Relations Hotline at 801-727-2702.
The 2017 Real Monarchs / USL season is ongoing, the third-year club becoming the first in USL to get off to a perfect 3-0-0 start. The Monarchs kicked off the year on the road with a 2-1 win March 25 in Portland, giving then-Monarchs and now new RSL Head Coach Mike Petke his first three points for the club. This week saw newly-promoted Head Coach Mark Briggs’ debut in a 2-0 win over Phoenix on Saturday and a 5-3 win last night at home against Reno. Season Tickets for the Real Monarchs third season in 2017 are now on sale; please call 844.Real.Tix for more information.
Coming in late Summer, 2017, Real Salt Lake's regional training center opens in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium. The $60 million facility will serve as the daily training home beginning in 2018 for both of the club's professional teams – RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) – while centralizing the club's U-18, U-16 and future U-14 development academy youth selections. The Herriman campus will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school opening this Fall, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls. View a recent photo gallery of the Herriman progress HERE: http://www.rsl.com/gallery/2017-herriman-progress-report.
In mid-November in North Logan, Utah, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen broke ground on the first of a half-dozen regional training centers across Utah and Arizona to be built in the next 2-3 years. Each $5 million RTC houses a classroom, as well as an indoor and outdoor field, dedicated to fulfilling a curriculum consistent with the club's vision and mission for youth soccer training and education, and the continued development of both recreational and competitive pre-Academy (ages 7-12) initiatives across Utah and Arizona.
