Real Salt Lake at Sporting Kansas City
April 2, 2016; 6:30 p.m. MT
Children’s Mercy Park
TV: KMYU (2.2 air / 12 satellite / 643 Comcast HD)
English Radio: ESPN 700 (5:30 p.m. MT)
Spanish Radio: 102.3 La Gran D FM / 1600 AM
Stream: MLS Live
Real Salt Lake has a steep mountain to climb on Saturday. The Claret-and-Cobalt is going into a stadium where it has never won a game in six matches across all competitions against a club that is off to a hot start at 3-0-0 and doing it without the club’s captain, and other starters in each position group because of injury and suspension.
And yet, Head Coach Jeff Cassar looks at his team and sees a squad capable of going into Children’s Mercy Park to get a victory, even if he knows it’s a difficult task.
“They’re a very organized, disciplined team that works incredibly hard. You have to be at your best with your mentality, your shape and your organization to beat them,” Cassar said this week. “We’re ready for this challenge and it’s something that we’ve talked about and we want to get … not just a result, but we want to get three points there.”
RSL will be playing without the services of defender Jamison Olave, midfielder Kyle Beckerman and forward Juan Manuel Martinez because of suspension while midfielder Javier Morales also missed the trip while dealing with a fractured rib. On the other side of the field, Sporting Kansas City is expected to play without defender Matt Besler after he suffered a concussion at U.S. National Team camp and will also be missing midfielder Roger Espinoza to suspension. However, midfielder Benny Feilhaber is expected to make his 2016 debut after missing the first three matches because of injury.
If available, he will be a catalyst for Kansas City’s offense and a focus of RSL’s defense.
“He’s a quality player. He was an MVP candidate,” said RSL defender Justen Glad, who could make his first start of 2016 at Children’s Mercy Park. “When you have a player like that on the field you have to always be aware of him.”
Already off to a hot start at 3-0-0, Kansas City should get a big boost from Feilhaber. Last season he had 10 goals and 15 assists, including one goal and one assist in three matches against RSL, in his best seasons since coming to MLS in 2011.
“Benny’s a smart player,” Cassar said. “He knows their system really well and he’s talented in and around the box, so he brings another person who can get on the score sheet for them.”
Feilhaber rejoins a team that is off to a hot start in the 2016 season. Bolstered by a defense that has allowed just one goal thus far this season, SKC is the lone 3-0-0 team in the league. Despite losing forward Krisztian Nemeth when he left for a lucrative contract in Qatar in addition to the absences of Feilhaber and Paolo Nagamura to injury, KC has still managed a dynamic attack around forward Dom Dwyer, who leads the team with two goals and one assist and has 36 goals in 66 matches since the start of the 2014 season.
“They finish their chances. They’re a very dangerous team. Dwyer is starting off hot and when you get him in good spots, he’s going to finish. That’s been huge for them,” RSL defender Tony Beltran said. “Vermes has them organized. They believe in his system and that shows in the results.”
Kickoff for Saturday’s match is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. MT on KMYU and ESPN 700.
