New England is surging at the right time and looking to stay near the top of the Eastern Conference standings as it travels to face struggling Real Salt Lake on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.
The Revolution (14-8-4, 46 points) have been impressive of late, winning their last three matches and sitting in second place in the East, tied in points with Inter Miami but holding the edge on wins.
Real Salt Lake (8-13-5, 29 points) are looking to snap a club-record 13-match winless streak in league play and put themselves back in contention for one of the final postseason berths in the Western Conference.
Last Saturday, New England’s potent duo of Carles Gil and Peyton Miller each scored in second-half stoppage time to propel the Revolution to a 4-2 win over visiting Orlando. Gil and Miller each had a brace in the game. Gil now has a career-best 12 goals and leads the team with nine assists. Miller has scored in back-to-back matches, but will not be available on Saturday as he heads off to compete with the U.S. men’s national team.
“These guys are very inspiring, Peyton is part of this group, and he’s showing great progress in the way he competes,” New England coach Marko Mitrovic said recently.
New England will also be without Ilay Feingold, Brooklyn Raines and Dor Turgeman on international duty.
Real Salt Lake have lost four consecutive matches and nine overall during their winless drought. RSL have also been blanked in each of their past three matches. The frustration continued this past Wednesday following a 2-0 loss at Seattle against a side that also came in on a 13-match winless streak. Forward Sergi Solans leads Salt Lake with nine goals in league matches and 13 across all matches this season.
“If you’re doing everything you can, and it’s still not enough, we’re either not good enough at the moment or we’re unlucky,” Real Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “Either way, there’s only one way forward, and that’s to put your head down and keep grinding.”
Salt Lake recently lost Diego Luna after he underwent season-ending knee surgery. The club will also be without four players — Juan Manuel Sanabria, Luc de Fougerolles, Saba Lobjanidze and Luca Moisa — due to international duty during the ongoing FIFA break.
–Field Level Media
