Real Salt Lake have their sights set on continuing the second-best start in franchise history when they oppose San Diego FC on Saturday night at Sandy, Utah.
The only time Real Salt Lake (4-1-1, 13 points) have notched a better six-match start during their 22-season history came in 2011 when they were 5-1-0.
“Going into the season, nobody really gave us a chance this year,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the fast start that includes a five-match unbeaten stretch (4-0-1).
Real Salt Lake’s tie came on the road against San Diego FC on March 22 when Victor Olatunji scored in the 85th minute to forge a 2-2 final.
Though RSL is 3-0-0 at home, Mastroeni expects a fierce challenge in the rematch.
“San Diego is a fantastic team,” Mastroeni said. “They are going through a bit of a (rough) patch at the moment, but they have quality players who can make a difference in any games. … I anticipate a hard-fought match.”
Salt Lake notched a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City last weekend. Diego Luna, Sergi Solans and Zavier Gozo scored the goals.
San Diego FC (3-2-2, 11 points) is winless in their past four matches (0-2-2). They lost their last two games, falling 3-0 to the host San Jose Earthquakes and 2-1 to visiting Minnesota United.
“Last game was a step in the right direction even though the result didn’t go our way,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said of the Minnesota match. “We feel like we’re getting back on track.”
During that setback, stellar defender Chris McVey drew a red card in the first minute of the second half to leave San Diego short-handed. McVey will miss the match against Salt Lake.
Luca Bombino scored the San Diego goal against Minnesota. He feels the club is close to regaining last season’s expansion form when the club finished first in the Western Conference.
“It’s definitely frustrating because we expect a lot of ourselves and we proved in the first year that we can do it,” Bambino said. “Things haven’t necessarily gone our way, but we know we have all the talent and hard work within the squad to achieve the things we want to do on the field.”
In last month’s matchup, Marcus Ingvartsen and Anders Dreyer scored the San Diego goals. Solans joined Olatunji in scoring for RSL.
–Field Level Media
