Real Salt Lake vs. Sporting Kansas City
July 4, 2018; Rio Tinto Stadium
8 p.m. MT; KMYU, KSL.com, KSL app
RSL (7-8-2, 23 points); SKC (9-3-5, 32 points)
Player to Watch – Former RSL goalkeeper Tim Melia has carved out quite a position for himself with Sporting Kansas City. He was MLS Comeback Player of the Year in 2015 and MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2017 and he has hardly wavered from that success in 2018. He has a 9-2-5 record thus far with a 1.00 goals against average, second only to Columbus Crew SC’s Zack Steffen. If RSL has its way, he will be tested often but with a stout defense in front of him, it won’t be an easy task.
Matchup to Watch – You’d be hard-pressed to find two more driven midfielders than Kyle Beckerman and Roger Espinoza. Their duels have been historic in their competitiveness. And with two of the top four Western Conference teams over the last 34 matches – SKC is second at 14-8-12 with 54 points while RSL is fourth at 15-13-6 with 51 points – the teams are playing at a high level thanks in large part to their emotional centers.
All-Time Record – Real Salt Lake is 10-9-7 in 26 regular season matches, including a 7-3-3 mark at home. They have also met in the 2013 MLS Cup final and three times in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, posting a 1-2-1 record in outside competitions.
Last 5 Head-to-Head – RSL is 2-1-2 in the last five matches and has just one loss in the last 10 matches (5-1-4) dating back to 2014.
Last 5 Overall – Kansas City is 2-1-2 in the last five matches with a 2-0 loss on Saturday in Montreal ending a seven-match unbeaten streak. SKC is 3-2-3 on the road this season.
