PREGAME FACT & INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE v. SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
FRI., JULY 22, 2016 – 9:00 p.m. MT – RIO TINTO STADIUM
on KMYU, UNIMAS, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
0.67 – INCREASE IN GOALS CONCEDED RATE for all RSL centerback pairings other than tonight’s starters, DF Aaron Maund and Justen Glad, who have combined to spearhead a defense that has allowed just 16 goals in the tandem’s 13 starts this season, a rate of 1.23 goals against … In the 10 games (all competitions) that have featured other pairings – all of which have included one of this dynamic duo – RSL has conceded 19 goals, a rate of 1.90 per game … The duo has allowed just 10 goals in 10 combined starts, excepting the 6 goals the duo bled 5 days apart in late May at Columbus (a 3-4 loss) and the pair conceded at NYCFC on June 2 (a 3-2 RSL win, complete with a disputed PK call late) …
1 – WIN NEEDED FOR RSL GK NICK RIMANDO TO MATCH KEVIN HARTMAN at the top spot on Major League Soccer’s all-time list, as the “Wall of the Wasatch” earned career victory #179 on June 22 at home v Red Bulls … Rimando – already the all-time MLS leader in shutouts (125) by 13 over Hartman, despite playing 6 fewer games – could eclipse the longtime LA/DAL/KC/NY ‘keeper in several categories this Summer, including wins (needs 2 to surpass), starts (2 entering tonight), games (7) and minutes (208) … While Rimando’s career 1.18 goals against average is better than Hartman’s 1.22, “The Wall of the Wasatch” will probably have to wait until next year to eclipse the save total (54 behind) or shots faced (70 behind) to complete a sweep of every significant all-time category … Rimando has never come off the bench in his 409 career MLS appearances …
1.50 – POINTS PER GAME FOR RSL THROUGH 20 GAMES, TIED FOR #5 OVERALL IN MLS … RSL saw its run of five consecutive 50-point seasons come to an end last year, but could see a return to that threshold, especially with 8 of the remaining 14 games at home, where RSL is 5-0-4 in league action this season …
4 – RSL MAESTRO JAVIER MORALES has scored in FOUR of his last 7 games against San Jose since the start of 2013, his second-most against any MLS team in that span (Houston, 5 goals, including a hat trick in May 2014) …
5 – RSL PLAYERS NAMED TO THE 2016 CHIPOTLE HOMEGROWN GAME, as MF Danilo Acosta, M/F Jordan Allen, DF Justen Glad and DF Phanuel Kavita set a league-high amongst the 11 teams that saw players selected … Earlier today, the Mexico U-20 squad was announced, with RSL Academy GK Christian Herrera – currently on loan from Real Monarchs to Pachuca (MEX) – also participating in the match …
“The invitation of five RSL homegrown players to this event is a phenomenal development for which the entire Real Salt Lake organization should take great pride,” said RSL General Manager Craig Waibel. “Credit should go to the setup implemented by our Owner, Dell Loy Hansen, whose support of our academy and investment in our development infrastructure is unparalleled.”
“In Casa Grande, Ariz., Martin Vasquez and his staff are doing a fantastic job of preparing our kids mentally, physically, tactically and technically to challenge for professional minutes, at both the MLS and USL levels, within one-two-three years,” continued Waibel. “Obviously, with our structure, the Real Monarchs play a huge role in developing both the individual and the collective, so Freddy Juarez and his staff clearly deserve a ton of credit as well.”
6 – GAME ACTIVE WINLESS STREAK ACROSS ALL COMPETITIONS FOR RSL heading into tonight, as the Claret-and-Cobalt have not won since June 22 against New York, a span of five MLS contests and one Open Cup match … The club has lost both road matches by identical 0-2 scorelines at Dallas (June 25) and at Vancouver (July 13), with a trio of consecutive home 1-1 draws (June 28 v Seattle, July 1 v D.C. and July 9 v Montreal) followed by last Saturday’s 0-0 home draw against New England, RSL’s first scoreless draw in 33 games dating back to last September 15 at Santa Tecla (SLV) in CONCACAF Champions League group play …
7 – PREVIOUS PIONEER DAY WEEKEND FIREWORK SPECTACULARS AT RIO TINTO STADIUM, RSL amassing a dominant 5-1-1 mark in those games … The lone loss saw RSL drop a 1-2 decision in 2013 to Kansas City, a game which ultimately meant that RSL would have to travel to the midwest for MLS Cup against Sporting. The Rice-Eccles era saw the Claret-and-Cobalt host both Everton (ENG) and Boca Juniors (ARG) back in 2007, with Costa Rican power Saprissa visiting in 2008 …
RSL's first-ever Pioneer Day match at Rio Tinto Stadium in 2009 saw the club reverse an 0-2 halftime deficit against Dallas for a 4-2 come-from-behind win, sparked by FW Yura Movsisyan … San Jose visited on Pioneer Day back in 2011, RSL winning 4-0 as an Alvaro Saborio brace was bolstered by goals from current actives Kyle Beckerman and Jamison Olave …
9 – DIFFERENT PLAYERS TO HAVE SCORED FOR RSL THROUGH 20 GAMES THIS SEASON, the club compiling 29 goals as a team … Could DF Aaron Maund, outside backs Chris Wingert / Tony Beltran or substitute options Demar Phillips or Omar Holness make it 10 tonight? …
12 – GAMES WITHOUT A LOSS AT RSL’s Rio Tinto Stadium fortress this season, with RSL going 5-0-4 at home in MLS action on top of three draws in CCL/Open Cup play … RSL is among five teams in MLS without a home loss this season, joining Dallas (8-0-3), Colorado (8-0-2), the LA Galaxy (6-0-4), and Orlando City SC (3-0-7) … After tonight, RSL plays back-to-back road games at Philadelphia on Sunday, July 31 and at Toronto on Wednesday, August 3 prior to returning home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday, August 6, kicking off a stretch of 3 of 4 at home to close out the month of August …
13 – TOTAL POINTS IN COME-FROM-BEHIND RESULTS ALREADY THIS YEAR, with in a trio of 2-1 home victories over Seattle, Houston and New York Red Bulls, as well as the 3-2 win on the road in early June at NYCFC – quadrupling the total deficits erased during the entire 2015 season … That lone come-from-behind win to capture the full 3 points from a losing position happened last October at Colorado, RSL winning 2-1 with late first-half goals by FW Joao Plata and MF Luke Mulholland … RSL also scratched back from an 0-2 deficit at home in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup play against Wilmington, the game officially a draw with RSL advancing via penalty kicks …
15 – CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITHOUT A DEFENSIVE SHUTOUT ACROSS ALL COMPETITIONS THIS SEASON, a streak that came to an end in Saturday’s 0-0 home draw with New England … Prior to Saturday, RSL last posted a clean sheet against the Whitecaps with a 1-0 home win on April 16 … RSL went 13 straight MLS games back in 2005 without holding opponents to zero goals, the previous longest shutout drought … RSL was so so close to a road clean sheet with GK Jeff Attinella between the pipes April 2 at KC, but a disputed PK call late enabled Sporting to cut the margin to 2-1 in favor of RSL … RSL has now allowed 62 goals in its last 29 road games dating back to last season, an astonishing 2.11 goals per game, three times more than at home (by comparison, RSL has allowed just 24 goals at home in its last 31 matches at Rio Tinto Stadium, a 0.77 average) …
18 – DENIALS IN 46 PK ATTEMPTS for RSL GK Nick Rimando, as the “Wall of the Wasatch” extended his stellar run of success by stoning Galaxy MF Steven Gerrard from the spot on April 23 … Rimando’s denial on a total of 18 of 46 attempts during his 10 MLS seasons with RSL is about 30% higher than average, and his 8 PK saves in the 2013-16 seasons double the total of any other GK … For his MLS career, Rimando has now saved 27 of 76 attempts from the spot, in addition to his scintillating efforts in shootout tiebreakers to enable RSL to advance to and win MLS Cup 2009 (also engaged in playoff PK shootouts in 2004 with D.C. United and 2013 for RSL) … So so close last game out against David Villa and NYCFC …
22 – CAREER GOALS SCORED by returning RSL FW Yura Movsisyan in MLS action, the Armenian international scoring in five of his last six MLS starts to surpass Jason Kreis and Jeff Cunningham to move into 7th all-time in the RSL golden boot race … Yura’s 22 league goals for RSL (15 from 2007-09, prior to a six-year career in Denmark and Russia that saw him score another 77 across all competitions, including the Armenian National Team) ranks him fourth overall amongst active RSL players, behind Javier Morales (45), Joao Plata (25), and Kyle Beckerman (25) …
24 – STARTS MISSED BY RSL “IRON MAN” DF TONY BELTRAN, OUT OF THE LAST 194 MATCHES ACROSS ALL COMPETITIONS … Beltran was suspended Saturday due to yellow card accumulation, as the club’s 2008 draft pick picked up his fifth caution of the year July 1 against DCU …
62 – GOALS ALLOWED IN LAST 29 ROAD GAMES BY RSL, an astonishing 2.11 goals per game, three times more than its 0.77 GAA over same period at home … On 12 occasions – nearly half of the last 29 road games – RSL has allowed 3 or more goals, posting a 6-20-3 mark away dating back to last Easter …
103 – HOME WINS since 2008, as RSL has amassed a 103-22-46 mark on home soil in all competitions in its last 171 home matches, during which it has outscored opponents by 173 goals (298-125) … Last Saturday’s 0-0 draw against New England marked RSL’s most recent match at Rio Tinto Stadium, the club amassing an all-time home 82-17-40 record in MLS reg. season games (242-101 goals), and an 8-1-2 CCL mark (21-7), a 5-2-2 playoff resume (11-4), and an 8-2-2 ledger in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (24-13) …
128 – players to have represented the Claret-and-Cobalt in MLS ACTION in the club’s first 12 seasons, as MF Omar Holness – who became #128 on June 25 in Dallas in his MLS debut – added himself to the list … The #5 overall pick from North Carolina made his Rio Tinto Stadium debut in the RSL XI July 9 against Montreal, and made his 3rd career MLS start July 13 in Vancouver, adding depth options to Jeff Cassar’s midfield crew that includes Morales, Beckerman, Mulholland and Stertzer as well as Sunday Stephen, out another 5 weeks after surgery to repair broken bones in his face suffered on June 22 v NYRB …
