PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
SAT., MAY 30, 2015 – 3:30 pm MT on KMYU & ESPN700 / 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
1 – goals scored in opening 15 minutes for RSL this year, after accumulating a league-leading total of 10 in 2014 … The club’s first of 2015 came when Jordan Allen found Alvaro Saborio in the 13th minute of the club’s 2-1 W at Chicago …
2 – road games in June/July after today, as RSL comes home to its Rio Tinto Stadium fortress for 7 home games in 9 total matches (8 MLS games, 1 US Open Cup) from June 7 to July 24 … Should RSL win its Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match on June 16, another game would be added with the USOC Fifth Round on June 30 …
3 – streak of consecutive games on the scoresheet for RSL FW Devon Sandoval, snapped Wednesday in LA, as “Big Dev” notched game-winning assists on May 9 at Chicago and May 23 v NYCFC, to go along with his MLS Goal of the Week in the 1-4 loss at Montreal on May 16 … RSL is averaging 1.3 goals per 90 minutes with the third-year man out of New Mexico on the field (10 games played, 5 starts), compared to a 0.5 average when he is on the bench …
7 – consecutive playoff berths for RSL from 2008-14 (the longest active run in MLS), during which time the club has amassed a 99-66-62 record (avg. of 1.58 points per game) … RSL also owns a league-record 5 consecutive seasons with 15+ wins and 50+ points, matching LA’s active run from 2010 to present …
8 – number of RSL games likely missed by RSL #SwissArmyKnife Jordan Allen, who has spent the last 2 weeks in Auckland, New Zealand, representing the USA in the FIFA Under-20 Youth World Championship … Expecting a deep run from the U.S., RSL will play 7 league games and at least 1 Open Cup match between now and June 28, Allen’s anticipated return date …
9 – consecutive seasons in an RSL uniform for GK Nick Rimando, MF Kyle Beckerman & MF Javier Morales … The longest-tenured RSL men also rank 1-2 amongst Major League Soccer’s active leaders in games/starts/minutes (Rimando: 381/381/34,453; Beckerman: 366/337/30,262) … Morales has either scored or assisted on nearly 25% of the club’s all-time 447 goals scored, with the Argentine “maestro” tallying 39 goals and 68 assists, despite missing most of the 2011 season …
11 – the number of current RSL players potentially involved in national team call-ups this summer, as MF Jordan Allen (U.S. U-20 at FIFA Youth World Championship), DF Boyd Okwuonu (U.S. U-23s at Toulon tournament), MF Luis Gil (U.S. U-23s + full U.S. national team), GK Nick Rimando & MF Kyle Beckerman (full U.S. national team), FW Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica), DF Abdoulie Mansally (The Gambia), DF Demar Phillips (Jamaica), DF Elias Vasquez (Guatemala), DF Justen Glad (U.S. U-18s) and FW Sebastian Saucedo (U.S. U-18s) all could disappear for one or more games at a time …
13 – club-high goal total a year ago by RSL FW Joao Plata, who made his 2015 debut in the final minute Saturday before playing 38 minutes in LA on Wednesday … Plata broke the fifth metatarsal on his left foot in an indoor turf non-contact incident on January 29, in the club’s first preseason session … During the offseason, RSL purchased outright the contract for the 22-year old diminutive forward, making him one of the club’s three designated players …
14 – wins needed by RSL GK Nick Rimando in 2015 to become Major League Soccer’s all-time leader in that category, overtaking Kevin Hartman … Rimando now has 120 career shutouts, 8 more than Hartman in 36 fewer games all-time …
19 – number of different starters Jeff Cassar has used in the current stretch of three matches in eight days with DF Justen Glad making his MLS debut in a starting role and the trio of FW Joao Plata, FW Sebastian Jaime and MF Javier Morales all making their first starts after returning from injury. It is Plata’s first start of the season, Jaime’s first start since March 29 and the first start since May 1 for Morales.
20 – players to have started a game for RSL this year in the club’s first 13 games this season, as MF Wellington “Pecka” Paeckart made his first XI debut Wednesday in LA … RSL boss Jeff Cassar has given 25 players minutes this year, meaning everyone on the roster except GK Lalo Fernandez, DF Justen Glad & DF Boyd Okwuonu have seen MLS time … Glad is with the team in Vancouver, and could make his MLS debut this afternoon …
25 – all-time PK denials by RSL GK Nick Rimando, who went 2-for-4 against opponents in his last five games – denying LA MF Juninho in stoppage-time at home on May 6, prior to Jeff Larentowicz’s consolation late at Chicago … Rimando denied Piatti May 16 in Montreal before conceding to Juninho Wednesday at Stubhub … Opposing PK takers have seen their conversion rates now drop to 43-for-69 against Rimando all-time, including 22-for-39 with Nick in an RSL uniform … Amazingly, Rimando has stopped 8 of the last 12 PKs faced and 10 of the last 16 … #WalloftheWasatch indeed …
- 36 – minus-36 goal differential for RSL all-time on artificial surfaces, with an 8-20-15 mark over the last 11 years on the fake stuff … RSL is 1-3-1 at BC Place, and 0-1-1 this season (scoreless draw at Portland, 0-4 shellacking at NE) … Last year, RSL was 0-4-1 on turf, but went 3-1-3 in 2013, including a 1-0 win on a Devon Sandoval game-winner 3 days prior to the Open Cup Final … RSL did win MLS Cup 2009 in Seattle on the “marbles-in-a-bathtub” surface, however …
43 – wins when FW Alvaro Saborio scores in all competitions for RSL, the club recording a 43-6-13 mark all-time when the Costa Rican international finds the back of the net … RSL is only 22-36-26 when he plays and doesn’t score, but is 25-12-8 when he is unavailable due to suspension, injury or national team duty …
58 – number of players in RSL’s 11-year, 123-player history to have scored at least one goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt, now that third-year MF John Stertzer found the back of the net with Saturday night’s game-winner at home vs. NYCFC …
101 – wins in his 8-year RSL career for GK Nick Rimando, with nearly 80% of the club’s all-time 124 victories …
111 – Veteran RSL DF Tony Beltran has earned the start in 111 of the club’s last 130 games on the right side of the back four ... The RSL “Iron Man” – part of a 3-man outside back rotation with Chris Wingert and Robbie Russell prior to RSL’s trade of Russell to D.C. United before the 2012 season – has remained injury-free and playing at a high level, usually seeing days off only in exhibition or Open Cup play, or sometimes succumbing to a rotation during 3-game weeks ... Today is the first match he has missed since a back injury held him out of two matches in September and October last season.
124 – players to have taken the field in MLS play for Real Salt Lake in last 11 seasons, once 18-year old Homegrown DF Justen Glad makes his debut today …
366 – career MLS appearances for RSL MF Kyle Beckerman after Wednesday, allowing him to surpass former teammate Jeff Cunningham into sole possession of 4th place all-time, only 13 games away from becoming Major League Soccer’s all-time games played leader amongst field players … Beckerman trails Steve Ralston, Nick Rimando and Kevin Hartman in that category, while placing fifth in starts (337, four behind GK Joe Cannon and 35 behind Ralston) and minutes played at 30,238 (493 behind GK Joe Cannon, and 2,904 behind Ralston) …
