Real Salt Lake earned its sixth straight home win over Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday and that 2-0 win at Rio Tinto Stadium. With that win, which catapulted RSL into fifth in the Western Conference standings, came plenty of recognition in the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week.
Nick Rimando, Justen Glad and Jefferson Savarino all earned the honors while Head Coach Mike Petke was also recognized as the coach of the week. Rimando becomes the 11th different RSL player to earn Team of the Week honors, while Glad made the team for the third time in the last five weeks. For Petke it was his third time on Team of the Week and it was the second time for Savarino.
Rimando had four saves to earn his eighth shutout of the season, ranking fourth in MLS. He also ranks fifth with 12 wins and fourth among keepers with at least 20 appearances with a 1.20 GAA. Glad made a goal-saving tackle early in the match to keep it scoreless and continues to be a steady presence in the back for RSL. Meanwhile Savarino had one goal and one assist to give him two goals and two assists in the last three matches.
Joining RSL’s trio of players on Team of the Week were defenders Josh Williams (Columbus Crew SC) and Chris Tierney (New England Revolution); midfielders Paul Arriola (D.C. United), Lee Nguyen (New England Revolution), Diego Valeri (Portland Timbers) and Yamil Asad (Atlanta United FC); and forwards Christian Ramirez (Minnesota United SC) and Patrick Mullins (D.C. United).
It was the sixth time this season that RSL had two or more representatives on Team of the Week.
Team of the Week
Week 4: Matt VanOekel
Week 6: Albert Rusnák and Yura Movsisyan
Week 7: Mike Petke
Week 13: Sunny
Week 16: Joao Plata
Week 19: Albert Rusnák and Jefferson Savarino
Week 20: Joao Plata and Danilo Acosta
Week 23: Kyle Beckerman
Week 25: Justen Glad, Albert Rusnák, Luis Silva and Mike Petke
Week 28: Justen Glad and Albert Rusnák
Week 29: Nick Rimando, Justen Glad, Jefferson Savarino and Mike Petke
For more on Team of the Week, click here.
