March 9, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Real Salt Lake News Release
HERRIMAN, UT – Real Salt Lake (West t-2, 1-1-0, 3 pts.) returns home to its America First Field fortress for MLS Matchday Three, welcoming Austin FC (West t-2, 1-1-0, 3 pts.) to Utah on Saturday (7:30p MT kickoff on the Apple MLS Season Pass w/ Keith Costigan, Maurice Edu (ENG) & Jorge Perez-Navarro, Marcelo Balboa (SPN); 6:30p MT radio pre-game w/ David James & Jay Nolly via www.KSLSports.com / 1280 AM / 97.5 FM and www.KSLNewsRadio.com / 1160 AM).
Real Salt Lake kicks off the home portion of its 19th campaign in Club history with what is expected to be a highly-charged playoff rematch from last October in Austin, as Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s side now commences a run that sees RSL at home for five of its next seven MLS matches and seven of its next overall 10 contests.
RSL has enjoyed great success in home openers over the years, posting a 7-1-6 (W-L-T) record in Sandy at the venue now known as America First Field, outscoring opponents 26-17 on aggregate, with the lone loss a brutal 1-5 decision coming in 2018 against expansion LAFC. During the entirety of the Club’s 18-year history, RSL is 8-1-9 overall (31-21 on aggregate), including the early Rice-Eccles years.
Despite last week’s scoreless 0-2 result at Seattle, RSL kicks off the home stint with 3 points from a pair of road turf matches, courtesy a come-from-behind, 2-1 win at Vancouver on Feb. 25. This week, RSL will once again look to improve upon its record in “bounceback” games under Mastroeni, RSL now 10-2-6 (W-L-T), earning a result in 16 of 18 matches following a loss and suffering back-to-back losses just twice in the former USMNT star’s 56 games at the RSL helm. Under Mastroeni’s leadership, RSL is now 13-7-5 (W-L-T) on Utah soil against MLS opponents following last year’s dominant “Decision Day” win over Portland.
VERDE vs CLARET/COBALT
RSL split the season series with Austin during the 2022 MLS reg. season, each side winning at home. On May 14 of last year, RSL conceded first to the second-year “Verde” side, falling behind 0-1 at halftime. However, a 54th-minute equalizer from MF Maikel Chang – one of his two goals on the year – was followed by a dramatic 87th-minute game-winner from DF Andrew Brody, his first MLS goal of two last season, to give RSL the 2-1 victory.
In mid-Sept., RSL visited Q2 Stadium for midweek action between a pair of Saturday home matches, the crowded three-game week forcing Mastroeni to…
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