PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ SPORTING KANSAS CITY
SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015 – 6:30 pm MT on KMYU / ESPN700 / 102.3 LaGranD
0 – previous RSL/MLS appearances for 22-year old centerback Elias Vasquez, the former captain of the Guatemalan U-20 team and now sitting on 24 appearances for his nation’s full side … Vasquez slots in for veteran DF Chris Schuler, who did not make the trip today after playing a full 90 minutes in each of RSL’s first 4 games …
1 – previous starts for RSL FW Jordan Allen, the 19-year old who provided the late game-winner 2 weeks ago against Toronto FC … Last Sunday in SJ, Allen made his first-ever MLS start a year and two weeks after seeing his 2014 season shut down after a visit to the Quakes, victim of a Shea Salinas tackle that led to microfracture surgery … Today will mark the former RSL-AZ academy player and Univ. of Virginia “one and done” man’s 7th career MLS appearance …
2 – rank all-time in MLS career starts for RSL GK Nick Rimando, as the netminder passed Steve Ralston with his 373rd career MLS start last Sunday … Rimando ranks 3rd behind Ralston (378) in career games played – a milestone the RSL “homeboy” should pass soon – and trails only Kevin Hartman (416 games / 411 starts) in both categories, as well as all-time MLS minutes played (Hartman 37,260, Rimando 33,733 entering today) …
3 – assists this season in four games for Javier Morales, as the RSL maestro continues to be the straw that stirs the RSL drink … Last week’s game-winner at San Jose and his scintillating direct free kick for the opening goal in RSL’s home draw with Philadelphia, Morales has contributed to 5 of the club’s 6 goals this season (only a Saborio PK eludes him) …
4 – with the win last Sunday at SJ, RSL has earned at least a point in its 4th consecutive visit to San Jose … RSL has earned points in 7 of its last 9 Bay Area visits and 16 of the 21 since the Earthquakes re-entered MLS in 2008 … Four also marks the number of losses RSL has in new stadiums for its opponents, with an all-time 2-4-2 mark in its first game against a team moving into a new venue (the lone win, prior to last week’s maiden voyage to Avaya? RSL’s first-ever visit to San Jose’s Buck Shaw Stadium, in Sept. 2008, a come-from-behind 3-2 win led by Yura Movsisyan and Robbie Findley) …
5 – defeats in last 22 road matches for RSL when Captain Kyle Beckerman and GK Nick Rimando are on the field, as the club has earned at least a point in 17 of those 22 away games …
6 – games over .500 all-time for RSL in its 324-game MLS history, with an overall +33 goal differential, both high-water marks for the club … Since winning MLS Cup 2009, RSL is 80-44-46, outscoring opponents by 97 goals in just over 5 seasons, 252-155 …
7 – consecutive playoff berths for RSL from 2008-14 (the longest active run in MLS), during which time the club has amassed a 99-66-62 record (avg. of 1.58 points per game) … RSL also owns a league-record 5 consecutive seasons with 15+ wins and 50+ points, matching LA’s active run from 2010 to present …
9 – consecutive seasons in an RSL uniform for GK Nick Rimando, MF Kyle Beckerman & MF Javier Morales … The longest-tenured RSL men also rank 1-2 amongst Major League Soccer’s active leaders in games/starts/minutes (Rimando: 373/373/33,743; Beckerman: 357/328/29,436) … Morales has either scored or assisted on nearly 25% of the club’s all-time 441 goals scored, with the Argentine “maestro” tallying 39 goals and 68 assists, despite missing most of the 2011 season …
10 – goals scored in opening 15 minutes for RSL last year, a league-leading total …
12 – consecutive games unbeaten against Eastern Conference teams, with RSL posting a 5-0-2 home mark and a 7-0-5 overall record against the other Conference … At Rio Tinto Stadium, RSL has outscored foes 17-7 – with a 28-14 overall goal differential … The club’s last home reg. season loss to an Eastern club was July 20, 2013, a disputed 1-2 loss to Kansas City on an Ike Opara stoppage-time goal, a span of 15 games … RSL visits Kansas City – now in the West – today, but resumes its Eastern series in two weeks at New England on April 25 …
13 – consecutive games unbeaten at Rio Tinto Stadium entering the club’s next home game, Sat., April 18 against Vancouver … Since a 1-3 loss to visiting Portland during the middle of the World Cup on June 7 of last year, RSL has outscored visitors 28-11 …
15 – number of current RSL season-ticket holders (in thousands), marking 75% of Rio Tinto Stadium capacity and joining Seattle, Portland, Toronto, Orlando and NYCFC at this juncture (Sporting KC is on the verge of the milestone)
16– wins needed by RSL GK Nick Rimando in 2015 to become Major League Soccer’s all-time leader in that category, overtaking Kevin Hartman … Rimando has 117 career shutouts, 5 more than Hartman in 44 fewer games all-time …
18 – consecutive sellouts at Rio Tinto Stadium, marking 22 of last 22 and 24 of club’s last 29 games to meet or exceed capacity, as the club returns to Utah for its lone April home match next week against red-hot Vancouver …
19 – returning players in Jeff Cassar’s locker room from last season, despite the departures of Borchers / Wingert / Grabavoy … 7 of tonight’s starting XI are familiar faces, with only Mulholland (26), Garcia (23), Allen (1) and Vasquez (0) with fewer than 50 career starts for RSL …
21 – age for 6-year veteran wunderkind MF Luis Gil, now wearing the #10 shirt this season for RSL … Gil wears the Captain’s armband this year for the U.S. U-23 side as it seeks qualification later this year for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics … Gil – who had 3 assists in last week’s 5-2 U.S. U-23 win over Bosnia – has 10 goals and 8 assists, with 74 starts in 112 RSL games played since 2010 …
29 – number of fouls suffered a year ago by RSL DF Jamison Olave without opponent earning a yellow card, more than any other player
41 – wins when FW Alvaro Saborio scores in all competitions for RSL, the club recording a 41-6-13 mark all time when the Costa Rican international finds the back of the net … RSL is only 22-32-23 when he plays and doesn’t score, but is 25-12-8 when he is unavailable due to suspension, injury or national team duty (Sabo started and played 60’ in CRC’s 0-0 draw last Thursday vs. Paraguay, before scoring just 6’ after entering in a 1-2 loss to Panama on Tuesday)
56 – points earned by boss Jeff Cassar in his first season at the helm, with a 15-8-11 record … Cassar and his RSL club got out of the gates a year ago with a league-record-tying 12 games unbeaten (6-0-6), the best mark since 1996 for a rookie head coach …
104 – Veteran RSL DF Tony Beltran has earned the start in 104 of the club’s last 122 games (entering today) on the right side of the back four ... The RSL “Iron Man” – part of a 3-man outside back rotation with Chris Wingert and Robbie Russell prior to RSL’s trade of Russell to D.C. United prior to the 2012 season – has remained injury-free and playing at a high level, usually seeing days off only in exhibition or Open Cup play, or sometimes succumbing to a rotation during 3-game weeks ...
