PREGAME FACTS AND INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE @ CHICAGO FIRE
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2015 – 12:30 pm MT on KMYU & ESPN700 / 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
0 – wins by Chicago in RSL’s last five visits to Toyota Park, including the clubs’ 0-0 draw decided by shootout back in November, 2009, to decide the Eastern Conference title … RSL has posted a 2-0-3 mark – including that shootout (recorded as a draw) – since its last road loss to the Fire, back in August, 2009, when Chicago won 1-0 …
1 – first time this season that RSL boss Jeff Cassar has gone with the same starting XI in back-to-back games, with today’s lineup and bench exactly the same setup as seen in Wednesday’s 0-0 home draw v. LA …
2 – starts together, prior to today, by RSL’s “twin tower” FW tandem of Alvaro Saborio & Devon Sandoval … The duo have appeared together at various junctures the last three seasons when RSL has chased the game, but only have started together on one previous occasion prior to Wednesday – April 6, 2013, at Colorado in Sandoval’s second-ever start as a rookie … RSL lost that game, 0-1, at the Rapids …
3 – goals scored by RSL in the final 20 minutes plus stoppage last year at Toyota Park, a Joao Plata double and an Alvaro Saborio strike allowing RSL to reverse an early 0-2 deficit against the Fire … Saborio’s stoppage-time equalizer and Plata’s 93+ game-winner allowed RSL to claim a full three road points for the first time ever after trailing by multiple goals …
4 – road games after tonight in the next five remaining May games, as RSL kicks off its first of a pair of two-game road trips today in Chicago … The next two weekends, May 9 and 16, see RSL travel to the Fire and then to Montreal for a pair of Eastern Conference road trips, while Wednesday, May 27 involves a return trip to LA – the club’s first since last Fall’s 0-5 playoff elimination at the Stubhub Center – and a continuation up the West Coast to Vancouver on Saturday, May 30, the first game on the new BC Place turf being installed for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup … The pair of road forays this month are sandwiched around the much-anticipated Rio Tinto Stadium visit on Saturday, May 23, from former captain/head coach Jason Kreis and expansion NYCFC, the new home for such RSL luminaries as Ned Grabavoy, Chris Wingert, Mehdi Ballouchy, Josh Saunders, Kwame Watson-Siriboe and Sebastian Velazquez.
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: 377/377/34,093; Beckerman: 362/333/29,886) … 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
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 now has 119 career shutouts, 7 more than Hartman in 40 fewer games all-time …
24 – all-time PK denials by RSL GK Nick RImando, whose stoppage-time save of Juninho’s offering Wednesday at Rio Tinto Stadium dropped opposing PK conversion rates to 42-for-66, including 21-for-36 with Nick in an RSL uniform … Amazingly, Rimando has stopped 7 of the last 9 PKs faced and 9 of the last 13 … #WalloftheWasatch indeed
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 22-34-26 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 …
99 – wins in his 8-year RSL career for GK Nick Rimando, with nearly 80% of the club’s all-time 122 victories … Will today be #100?
108 – Veteran RSL DF Tony Beltran has earned the start in 108 of the club’s last 126 games (including 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 ...
123 – players to have taken the field in MLS play for Real Salt Lake in last 11 seasons, now that 25-year old Brazilian MF Wellington “Pecka” Paeckart made his debut two weeks ago at New England … Pecka celebrated his 26th birthday last week, on Saturday, May 2 …
387 – minutes played by RSL prior to Bernardez’ OG Friday night, since scoring a goal late in the first half at San Jose back on April 5 … The scoreless streak is the club’s longest in six years, and the 2nd-longest in club history … RSL’s expansion year saw a 557-minute drought, while 2007 saw a 370-minutes streak between goals … RSL has not scored a goal of its own in 496 active minutes entering this afternoon …
