PREGAME FACT & INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ SPORTING KANSAS CITY
SAT., APRIL 2, 2016 – 6:30 p.m. MT – CHILDREN’S MERCY PARK
on KMYU, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
1 – WIN THIS ALREADY SEASON WITHOUT midfield maestro Javier Morales, as RSL earned the full 3 points March 12 in a 2-1 home win over Seattle with #SwissArmyKnife Jordan Allen manning the #10 position … That total equaled the number of wins secured by RSL in 8 games played last season (out of 42) without Morales appearing as a starter or off the bench … in the last 2 seasons, RSL has won just 4 out of 16 games played without the 10th-year Argentine … Allen, now in his 3rd year with RSL, had started 11 of his previous 25 MLS appearances at outside back or up top on the wing …
1 – HOME GAME in the first month of the MLS season for RSL, which travels for 3 of its first 4 (including this week in Kansas City) and 9 of its first 13 league matches this year … The glut of early-season road matches is due to a resurfacing of Rio Tinto Stadium in the month of May, with the venue re-opening to MLS and USL play on June 18 with an exact replica of the original field installed back in September, 2008 … RSL is back at Rio Tinto Stadium on April 9 for the first of 3 home games in April, first against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado and then against Vancouver (4/16) and Houston (4/30) …
2 – GOALS NEEDED by returning RSL FW Yura Movsisyan to surpass former boss Jason Kreis and move into 8th all-time in the RSL golden boot race … Yura has now scored 16 league goals for RSL (15 from 2007-09, prior to a six-year career in Denmark and Russia that saw him score another 77 across all competitions, including the Armenian National Team; and one last match at Portland) … Amongst active RSL players, Yura ranks fourth overall, behind Javier Morales (45), Kyle Beckerman (25) and Joao Plata (24) …
3 – POINTS FROM A LOSING POSITION claimed by RSL already in 2016, equaling the total after just two MLS games as it amassed in the entirety of 2015, not securing a come-from-behind win until MLS game #30 on Oct. 4, 2015 (at Colorado on the Luke Mulholland bomb from distance) …
4 – CAREER STARTS AGAINST KANSAS CITY (including tonight) for RSL GK Jeff Attinella, filling in for Nick Rimando (ankle) … Attinella is 1-1-1 in his career against Sporting, including a spectacular 8-save shutout in 2014 to earn a point for RSL in a 0-0 draw and 5 saves in last year’s 2-1 home win over Benny Feilhaber and Co. … Attinella has amassed a 6-12-6 career MLS mark the last three seasons, starting 10 games in each of 2014 and 2015, with a total of 5 shutouts … The South Florida product has excelled in Open Cup and CONCACAF play for RSL since 2013, and earned a shutout for the Monarchs in their USL opener last week …
5 – ALL-TIME GAMES (out of the 424 played across all competitions) THAT HAVE SEEN RSL DOWN TO NINE MEN, with both Captain Kyle Beckerman and DF Jamison Olave seeing red on March 19 at Portland … RSL has suffered 12 red card ejections in MLS play in each of the last two seasons, including 3 in as many games already this year … Of the five occasions that RSL has been down to just nine players, three have been in the last 32 MLS games going back to April, 2015 …
6 – COMBINED GOALS AND ASSISTS this season for RSL FW Joao Plata, who has scored (3x) or assisted (2x) on five of the club’s six MLS goals in 2016, as well as hitting on the lone RSL goal in CCL play against Tigres earlier this year … For his efforts, the diminutive Ecuadoran was named the March 2016 Etihad MLS Player of the Month, RSL’s first winner of the monthly honor since June, 2010 (Nick Rimando) … Plata is just the fourth RSL player to have earned the award, as Rimando (2x), Jeff Cunningham and Alvaro Saborio join him …
7 – WINS NEEDED by RSL icon Nick Rimando this season to match all-time MLS leader Kevin Hartman for all-time victories … Rimando – already the all-time MLS leader in shutouts (123) by 11 over Hartman, despite playing 19 fewer games – could eclipse the longtime LA/DAL/KC/NY ‘keeper in several categories, including wins (needs 8 to surpass), starts (15), games (20) and minutes (1,378) … “The Wall of the Wasatch” is roughly ½ a season away from securing G.O.A.T. (“Greatest of All Time) status …
10 – MEMBERS OF THE RSL ROSTER UNAVAILABLE today at Kansas City, as Kyle Beckerman (red card 3/19 at POR), Jamison Olave (red card 3/19 at POR), Juan Manuel Martinez (MLS Disciplinary Committee suspension for late tackle on 3/19 at POR), Javier Morales (broken ribs), Emery Welshman (hip flexor), Omar Holness (shoulder), Boyd Okwuonu (concussion), Phanuel Kavita (knee), Fito Ovalle (personal) and Nick Rimando (ankle) did not travel to KC … Due to the glut of absences, RSL has signed Real Monarchs DF Emilio Orozco and MF Andrew Brody to Short Term Agreements due to Extreme Hardship …
11 – RSL-AZ ACADEMY PRODUCTS dot the RSL and Monarchs rosters tonight, as both the MLS and USL sides are affected by the aforementioned absences … For RSL, DF Justen Glad, M/F Jordan Allen, MF Danilo Acosta and GK Lalo Fernandez once called Casa Grande, AZ home, while the Monarchs have 7 current/former Academy players dressing tonight: MF Ricardo Velazco, MF Mikey Orellana, MF Eti Tavares and active AZ kids Juan Ruiz, Miles Stray, Alec Felix & Elijah Rice …
61 – GOALSCORERS in RSL’s 12-year, 127-player, 356-game league history to have scored at least one MLS goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that MF Stephen Sunday “Sunny” Obayan found the back of the net March 12 against Seattle … Sunny nodded home a Joao Plata corner kick on for his first-ever MLS shot … Sunny follows in the footsteps of FW Juan Manuel Martinez, who opened his MLS account last Sept. 12 in Houston … Martinez, nicknamed “Burrito,” joined a group that includes Brian Dunseth, Robbie Findley, Matias Mantilla, Kenny Deuchar, Pablo Campos, and Luke Mulholland to have scored in their first-ever MLS start for RSL … Also, three RSL players – Luis Tejada, Kyle Brown and Paulo Junior – each scored in debut starts outside of league play …
99 – HOME WINS at #RioT since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 99-22-40 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 161 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 169 goals (286-117) … Last week marked RSL’s first home MLS match of 2016 at Rio Tinto Stadium, the club amassing a 78-17-36 record in MLS reg. season games (233-96 goals), and an 8-1-2 CCL mark (21-7), a 5-2-2 playoff resume (11-4), and an 8-2-0 ledger in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (21-10) …
127 – players to have represented the Claret-and-Cobalt in MLS ACTION in the club’s first 12 seasons, as MF Stephen Sunday Obayan – nicknamed “Sunny” – became #127 on March 6 as he started the 2016 opener in Orlando, prior to being sacrificed after the Phillips red card … Last year saw HC Jeff Cassar give several players – Justen Glad, Phanuel Kavita, Boyd Okwuonu, Elias Vasquez, Demar Phillips, Sebastian Saucedo & Pecka – their MLS debuts … 28 players saw league minutes last year, meaning everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez (MF Fito Ovalle was on a season-long loan to the USL Monarchs) participated in league action …
213 – MF Javier Morales made his 213th MLS reg. season appearance last time out at Portland, extending his lone possession of 3rd place all-time, joining a 200+ reg. season games played-group that includes Nick Rimando (252), Kyle Beckerman (234), Chris Wingert (207) and Nat Borchers (205)... Morales now has a franchise-high 18 game-winning assists (1 ahead of Captain Kyle Beckerman) and 76 assists overall to go with his 45 career goals, the Argentine MF responsible for nearly 25% of the club’s all-time 479 MLS goals, despite missing all of the 2005/06 seasons and most of both 2007 & 2011 …
