Real Salt Lake at Columbus Crew SC
June 30, 2018; Mapfre Stadium
5:30 p.m. MT; KMYU, KSL.com, KSL app
Player to Watch – Gyasi Zardes burst onto the scene with the LA Galaxy, scoring 16 goals in his second MLS season in 2014 playing alongside Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan. He followed up that sophomore campaign with six goals in each of his next two seasons before scoring just two goals last year. After an off-season trade, he is now third in MLS with 10 goals amidst his resurgence in his first season with Columbus.
Matchup to Watch – While Zardes has been one of the best Homegrown products in MLS during his six MLS seasons, he isn’t alone on the Columbus roster. Wil Trapp has returned to be the midfield fulcrum and is now part of the rebuilding process with the U.S. National Team. But goalkeeper Zac Steffen has also been a standout for club and country. The Crew SC Academy product earned his way onto the U.S. National Team as well, but is sidelined after recent knee surgery and is replaced by MLS journeyman Jon Kempin. RSL’s attacking group will look to test the 25-year-old goalkeeper, who is likely to make his fifth start of the season and 18th in his MLS career. He has a career 4-8-4 mark with two shutouts – both last year with the LA Galaxy – and a 1.90 goals against average.
All-Time Record – RSL is 5-11-4 all-time against Crew SC in MLS regular season play (8-11-5 overall), including a 1-8-1 mark at Mapfre Stadium. The lone victory in MLS regular season play came in 2006, a 2-1 August win for Salt Lake. In addition, RSL topped Columbus in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs 4-2 on aggregate after posting a 1-0 win at Rio Tinto Stadium and a 3-2 win in Columbus. They met again in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, Real Salt Lake again advancing. This time around they drew 0-0 in Ohio before a resounding 4-1 win in Utah.
Last 5 Head-to-Head – RSL is 1-2-2 in the last five meetings with Columbus, going winless in the last four after a 4-0 home win in 2013. The last time they met at Mapfre Stadium, Ola Kamara scored a hat trick to hold off RSL 4-3 in the first match on a back-to-back road trip in 2016.
Last 5 Overall – Columbus was an Eastern Conference surprise going 7-3-3 through the first 13 matches, but is winless in the last five matches at 0-2-3. That includes shutout losses in the last two matches, 2-0 at home against Atlanta United, then 2-0 on the road against LAFC. Previously, Crew SC lost three straight from March 31-April 14 and RSL will look to put one of the MLS originals into its second three-game losing streak of the season.
