SANDY, Utah (Friday, July 28, 2017) – Real Salt Lake (7-12-3, 24 points, West #8) continues its three-game homestand with a special early Saturday evening start time as Columbus Crew SC arrives for a 6:00 p.m. MT kickoff at Rio Tinto Stadium. Tickets are still available for Saturday’s match – with forecasts predicting a temperate 78* at kickoff – viawww.RSL.comor by calling 844.Real.Tix.
RSL Head Coach Mike Petke and Co. could move above the red line in the tightly-packed Western Conference with the full three points Saturday, pending other results. RSL seeks to extend its active unbeaten streak to four on Saturday, the club exploding for 11 goals and posting a 2-0-1 record against longtime rivals LA Galaxy, Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City this July.
Real Salt Lake is now 7-9-1 since April 8 in its new era under Head Coach Mike Petke, the club boasting an all-time 6-3-2 mark against the visiting Crew on Utah soil – with a 5-1-1 mark at Rio Tinto Stadium – outscoring Columbus 20-9 overall. RSL has eliminated the Crew in a pair of knockout series, winning both the 2009 Eastern Conference semifinal (4-2 aggregate, 1-0 at Rio Tinto Stadium) and the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal (4-1 aggregate, 4-1 at home).
How to Follow Real Salt Lake v. Columbus Crew SC – Sat., July 29, 2017
- Coverage Begins: 5:30 p.m. MT
- Local TV: KMYU – David James and Jay Nolly
- English Radio: ESPN700 AM (5:00 p.m. MT) – Bill Riley and Chad Barrett, w/ Jeremy Horton & Spencer Warne (pre-/post-game)
- Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM – Nelson Moran & Fernando Hortal
- Online: The @RSLmatchday Twitter feed provides updates
Game Notes for Saturday’s RSL v. Columbus Crew SC 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 Columbus Crew is available HERE.
RSL has hosted a trio of three-game homestands in its 13-year history to this juncture, securing seven of a possible nine points in 2016 (Dallas, Colorado, LA Galaxy), five of nine in 2014 (Vancouver, Montreal, Red Bulls) and only four of nine in 2006 (Dallas, Chivas, D.C. United) at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Following Saturday’s match against Columbus, the Houston Dynamo visit next Saturday, August 5 as RSL hosts back-to-back home games on four occasions in the final third of the 2017 season (also August 23/26 v. San Jose & Colorado, and Sept. 16/23 v. Portland & Seattle), after not enjoying that luxury at any time in the first four-and-a-half months of the campaign.
Elsewhere in the RSL pyramid, the scintillating 2017 Real Monarchs / USL season resumes Monday with a highly-anticipated home contest against Tulsa Roughnecks, as Head Coach Mark Briggs’ USL pacesetters – with a 15-2-2 mark and a league-leading 47 points – seek to exact revenge for one of two 2017 losses to this point. Back on July 1, the Monarchs dropped an 0-2 decision at Tulsa, the club’s lone shutout suffered of the year and the only loss since April 15, snapping the Utah side’s 10-game unbeaten run.
The third-year Monarchs claim the league’s top goal differential, +24 with 44 goals scored and 20 allowed in just 19 games, occupying first place overall in the USL with an incredible 15-2-2 start and 47 points, nine clear of Swope Park Rangers and 10 ahead of San Antonio FC.
Four of the next six games for the Monarchs come at Rio Tinto Stadium, where the club extended its home win streak to 10 straight games earlier this month, downing OKC and Seattle by a combined 7-2 scoreline. The Monarchs return to Rio Tinto Stadium on Monday, July 31 against Tulsa (7:00 p.m. MT kickoff) with sights set on an 11th consecutive home victory, dating back to last season:
USL Home Winning Streaks (incl. playoffs)
13 games: Orlando City SC (2014)
11 games: Rochester Rhinos (2015-16)
10 games: Real Monarchs (2016-present)
8 games: Swope Park Rangers (2016-17)
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.
Wednesday night at Rio Grande Valley, the Monarchs rode yet another strike from leading scorer and USL MVP Candidate Chandler Hoffman – his sixth game-winner out of 13 overall goals this season, now ranking second overall in the league, one off the leader – to win 2-1 at RGV and secure four points from a two-game Texas road swing.
GK Connor Sparrow stopped a penalty kick for the third time this season and made six saves on the night to secure the victory, while FW Daniel Haber struck for his fourth goal of the season, trailing just Hoffman and playmaker Sebastian Velasquez. Wednesday night, the Monarchs welcomed Velasquez back for the final 28 minutes, his first action since June 24 at Phoenix, where he suffered a hamstring injury. Velasquez earned four USL Team of the Week nods in a seven-week midsummer span (and five overall), while moving near the top of the USL attacking charts with six goals and six assists on his campaign.
Opening on August 22 of this year, the Zions Bank Real Academy training campus arrives in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium. The $72 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 facility will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school opening in Fall, 2017, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls.
Late last year 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.