Return of the Internationals
Last week, Jeff Cassar found success in the club’s depth with Luke Mulholland scoring the first goal, Jordan Allen scoring the game-winner and Jeff Attinella backstopping RSL to a solid defensive performance while RSL had five players miss the match against Toronto FC while away on international duty. All five were back in training on Friday and ready for the trip to San Jose. That likely means that the club’s all-time leading scorer (Alvaro Saborio), the league’s all-time shutout king (Nick Rimando) and one of the top young American stars (Luis Gil) return to the starting lineup while depth returns to the defensive corps (Elias Vasquez and Boyd Okwuonu) as well.
As the team gets closer to full strength, it is able to flex its offensive muscles. Even without forwards Joao Plata and Sebastian Jaime due to injury, there are still plenty of options in the attack for Cassar.
New Digs in San Jose
RSL saw mixed results at Buck Shaw Stadium since the ‘Quakes started using the Santa Clara University soccer stadium in 2008. While the Claret-and-Cobalt held a 4-3-2 record at Buck Shaw, it had also seen a forgettable 5-0 defeat in 2012 and a match in which RSL conceded two goals in the final 15 minutes to San Jose defender Victor Bernardez to leave with just one point in a 3-3 draw last March.
RSL’s first match at Buck Shaw was a 3-2 win back in 2008 and they are hoping for the same result this weekend at Avaya Stadium, which touts the world’s largest outdoor bar on the stadium concourse. The 18,000-seat stadium opened with a 2-1 Earthquakes win over the Chicago Fire on March 22.
The Maestro
Nobody has been more lethal in the series between Salt Lake and San Jose than Javier Morales. With eight goals and six assists in 14 career matches, he has been quite prolific against the ‘Quakes. Now the Argentine playmaker has one goal and three assists as the catalyst to RSL’s attack in the last two matches and he is poised to continue that success in the month of April.
In addition to Morales, Saborio has also been a threat against San Jose with four goals in nine matches. On the other side, Chris Wondolowski has six goals and two assists to lead all Earthquakes against RSL.
National Spotlight
This will be RSL’s second consecutive match that will be featured on national television, this time on ESPN2. Last week, Salt Lake hosted Toronto FC in the club’s first match on Fox Sports 1, netting an 89th-minute game-winner from Allen in front of a standing room only crowd of 20,794 at Rio Tinto Stadium. RSL will play eight matches on national television this season, including two Friday night contests on Univision Deportes and Unimas.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. MT.
