Each side could use the three valuable points at stake on Saturday night when Real Salt Lake visit Orlando City in a battle of MLS playoff contenders.
Salt Lake (8-7-4, 28 points) sits in eighth place in the Western Conference, but tied on points with Colorado as it looks to move up into the top seven and potentially avoid the play-in round.
Orlando (6-11-3, 21 points) is in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and needs to pile up wins to assure itself a postseason spot.
Salt Lake has qualified for the Leagues Cup quarterfinals, but is in the midst of a six-game winless streak in MLS matches dating back to a win over Colorado at home on May 16. Salt Lake has also not won a road match in league play since beating Atlanta on March 7 — a streak of seven consecutive road games without a win.
Salt Lake is coming off a 4-3 home loss Wednesday against Dallas. RSL fell into a 3-1 halftime hole due to some close-range goals, rallied and ultimately allowed the tiebreaking tally in second-half stoppage time.
“It’s a dynamic area of the field where if you’re lumbering around, you’re not going to be able to make plays (on defense). And I think that’s what got us in the first half,” coach Pablo Mastroeni said.
RSL and Orlando City did business together the day before the match, as Salt Lake acquired midfielder Colin Guske on loan from Orlando for the remainder of the season with a purchase option. Orlando received $50,000 in General Allocation Money as compensation.
The move comes the same week that Salt Lake forward Zavier Gozo transferred to English Premier League club Crystal Palace on a $15 million transfer fee. Gozo was an MLS All-Star for the first time this season and had six goals and five assists. Gozo was RSL’s second-leading scorer behind Sergi Solans, who has nine goals this season.
Orlando is also looking to snap a recent winless skid in league play as it has not prevailed in three straight since July 25 when it beat Nashville. Orlando is coming off a 2-1 home loss to Chicago on Wednesday.
“It’s just about controlling what we can control and focusing on the details, individually and collectively,” Griffin Dorsey said Friday. “Doing our job individually will only help the group do their job as a whole. For us it’s just about maintaining good details and good focus for the game on Saturday.”
Martin Ojeda continues to pace Orlando’s attack with 11 goals while Ivan Angulo leads the team with eight assists.
–Field Level Media
