Real Salt Lake got the Western Conference Championship series off to a good start on Sunday night, toppling the Portland Timbers 4-2 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Here are a few interesting numbers from Sunday’s win:
1
Sunday’s game was the first Sunday home game in Real Salt Lake’s nine-year history. Despite the unique nature of a Sunday home game in Utah and the short turnaround following last Thursday’s Western Conference Semifinal second leg win over LA, RSL fans came out in full force on Sunday night, with 17,333 raucous supporters filling Rio Tinto Stadium to near capacity.
10
With Sunday’s victory, RSL broke Portland’s 10-game unbeaten streak in all competitions. The Timbers’ last loss prior to Sunday also came against the Claret-and-Cobalt, with RSL topping the Cascadia side by an identical 4-2 score line on Aug. 30 at Rio Tinto Stadium.
9
Sunday’s win extended RSL’s unbeaten streak over Portland to nine games in all competitions. The Claret-and-Cobalt is 6-1-3 all-time against the Timbers, posting a 3-0-2 record against the Oregon side in MLS and Open Cup play in 2013. Of the Timbers seven defeats in all competitions in 2013, three of them have been against RSL.
2
Real Salt Lake defender Chris Schuler scored in the 35th minute of Sunday’s win, heading home a Javier Morales corner kick to tie the game 1-1. It was the second goal in as many games for Schuler, who volleyed home a Morales set piece in extra time of Thursday’s Western Conference Semifinal second leg win over LA. Prior to Thursday’s match, the 26-year-old Schuler had two goals in his entire career.
13
RSL’s four goal output on Sunday night gave the Claret-and-Cobalt 13 goals in five meetings against Portland in all competitions this year. That’s good for 2.6 goals per game – or 1.62 goals per game higher than Portland’s 0.97 regular season goals against average.
3
RSL maestro Javier Morales had a goal and two assists last night, giving him three goals and three assists in four games against the Timbers this season. Morales has one goal and three assist for RSL this postseason. He is one of nine different RSL players to score against Portland this year and one of seven different RSL players to notch an assist over the Timbers this season.
1
Portland has been fantastic at home this season, posting a 14-1-5 mark at JELD-WEN Field in regular season, playoff and Open Cup action. The Timbers’ lone home loss came all the way back on March 9, when they fell to Montreal in just their second home game of the season. While Portland has been dominant at home, RSL has acquitted itself nicely at JELD-WEN Field. The Claret-and-Cobalt went 0-0-2 in Portland this season and were the only team to take two positive results out of Oregon this season. RSL is 1-1-2 all-time at Portland.
