Confidence is high in the Rio Tinto Stadium locker room. Although Real Salt Lake has just one win and seven points in the last eight matches, the team has been playing the type of soccer that will find results once the goals start coming and with a matchup against the Chicago Fire at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday.
The once-dominating RSL attack has been limited to just five goals in the last eight matches. So even while the club has been solid defensively, allowing nine goals in the same eight-game stretch, the results have been far from flattering. The approach and mentality remains steely strong though.
There’s no telling what kind of Fire team Head Coach Veljko Paunovic will line up on Saturday with Chicago heading to New England after the match to face the New England Revolution Tuesday night in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal. To RSL midfielder Luke Mulholland, the players on the opposing lineup card don’t make a difference.
“I don’t think it matters who they play against us,” he said on The O’Connell and Swinney Show on Friday. “They know that when they come into our stadium it’s going to be hell for 90 minutes.”
The opportunity to climb the standings is strong in Saturday’s matchup against the Fire. Although Chicago has allowed 27 goals in 20 matches this season, 13 of those have come in the last eight games.
That screams scoring chances for an RSL side that has had trouble converting of late, despite continually creating.
“I think every game that we enter we have that mentality and the expectation that we can score a couple of goals ourselves. If we know we can reduce the opposition to just one goal we’ve got every chance of winning every game,” Mulholland said. “We didn’t get the result in Toronto, but when you look at the football side of things, we’re playing some good football and creating chances. I’m very confident that we’re over that slump of tying games. I’m very optimistic right now. … We’re looking at this as an opportunity to get on these guys from the first minute.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. MT. For more from Mulholland, click here.
