PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015 – 5:00 pm MT on KMYU / ESPN700 / 102.3 LaGranD
1 – including tonight’s game, the number of times in RSL’s 383-game MLS reg. season/playoff, CONCACAF Champions League and U.S. Open Cup history that only 16 players will dress and be available, due to injury, suspension or international duty depleting bench options …
2 – players making 2015 debuts in the starting XI tonight for RSL, as DF Aaron Maund and MF John Stertzer become the 18th and 19th players for Jeff Cassar’s team to start one of the club’s first 7 games … DF Elias Vasquez and DF Demar Phillips – also in tonight’s XI – only have 2 previous starts for RSL, Vasquez in each of the last 2 games, when the RSL defense has only allowed 2 shots on goal @KC and v VAN …
3 – occasions in RSL’s 382-game history that the club was reduced to just 9 men on the field, including last week’s dual red-card decisions at home against Vancouver for FW Sebastian Saucedo and DF Jamison Olave … RSL saw Olave and FW Fabian Espindola each ejected in 2012 in a 1-3 loss at San Jose, and DF Nat Borchers and Tony Beltran sent to the showers early in a 0-0 CCL quarterfinal at Columbus in Feb. 2011 …
5 – home losses, including last week, in last 3 seasons … Three of the 5 Rio Tinto Stadium losses since 2013 have involved a red card for the home team, as last week against Vancouver also marked the club’s first home reg. season shutout loss since March, 2012, against Chivas (RSL did drop 0-1 home decisions in the 2012 West Semis to Seattle and the 2013 U.S. Open Cup Final in October of that year to D.C. United) …
6 – wins over New England in the current 7-game unbeaten run against the Revolution, including 3 straight at Gillette Stadium … In the club’s last visit, rookie forwards Olmes Garcia and Devon Sandoval scored in 2nd half to overcome an 0-1 deficit, with GK Nick Rimando saving a stoppage-time PK after DF Carlos Salcedo was ejected … In April, 2011, RSL ventured straight to Foxboro from San Jose, Costa Rica after eliminating Saprissa in the CCL semis, and saw DF Chris Schuler and FW Paulo Junior score to lead a reserve-laden side to a 2-0 win over the Revs, complete with a Kyle Reynish clean sheet …
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: 375/375/33,913; Beckerman: 359/330/29,616) … 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 … club still awaiting first of 2015
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 …
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 43 fewer games all-time …
17 – career appearances (including tonight) for RSL GK Jeff Attinella, who has 4 wins and 4 shutouts in his RSL career … This will be Attinella’s 9th road start for RSL, the former NASL Championship-game MVP who made his RSL debut on July 13, 2013, when Josh Saunders’ knee blew out at Dallas … In Attinella’s 8 previous road games, he has faced 6 PKs (saving 2), seen 5 red cards in front of him, benefited from stoppage-time goals at Philadelphia and at Portland, and tallied key clean sheets at Vancouver and at Kansas City …
18 – road results in last 23 away matches for RSL when Captain Kyle Beckerman is on the field, as the club has suffered just five road defeats those 23 away games …
19 – consecutive sellouts at Rio Tinto Stadium, marking 21 of last 23 and 25 of club’s last 30 games to meet or exceed capacity, as the club returns to Utah with home games next Friday v San Jose and May 6 v Los Angeles …
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 this month’s 5-2 U.S. U-23 win over Bosnia – has 10 goals and 8 assists, with 76 starts in 114 RSL games played since 2010 …
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 22-33-24 when he plays and doesn’t score, but is 25-12-8 when he is unavailable due to suspension, injury or national team duty …
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 …
106 – Veteran RSL DF Tony Beltran has earned the start in 106 of the club’s last 124 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 ...
122 – players to have taken the field in MLS play for Real Salt Lake in last 11 seasons, now that 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, made his RSL/MLS debut April 11 at Kansas City, going a full 90 and helping RSL post a shutout …
270 – consecutive shutout minutes on the road so far this season, in the first 3 games away at Portland/San Jose/Kansas City, all with GK Nick Rimando between the pipes … RSL had just 5 away clean sheets in 17 road matches last year …
