REAL SALT LAKE @ SPORTING KANSAS CITY SATURDAY APRIL 5 2014
6:30 PM MT
TOUGH SLATE TO KICK OFF 2014:
2014 sets up with a difficult schedule for RSL from the outset, with 4 of its first 6 games and 6 of first 10 on the road … Early home games include perennial power Los Angeles, the new-look, star-studded Toronto FC and West rival Portland … Once the first 1/3 of the season is complete, RSL will lose 3 or 4 starters (Rimando, Beckerman, Saborio and maybe Gil) to World Cup play, and have to use its depth – potentially the best in MLS – to navigate mid-May to late July, including (hopefully) multiple Open Cup dates, before have a completely healthy, rested and ready team for the stretch run starting July 30 …
BECKERMAN, RIMANDO TOP TWO ACTIVES:
Entering today’s match, Rimando and Beckerman rank first and second, respectively, amongst active MLS players in all-time regular season minutes played (Rimando: 31,653; Beckerman: 26,913), games played (NR: 350; KB: 329) and games started (NR: 350; KB: 300) ... Both players have played in MLS since 2000, when both debuted for the Miami Fusion ... Now in their 15th MLS campaigns, the duo have shared a locker room in 10 of those years (MIA 2000-01; RSL 2007-present) ...
YOUNG ‘UN LUIS GIL RISES TO OCCASION:
RSL MF Luis Gil has played the full 90 or 120 minutes in each of RSL’s last 13 games across all comps, the club posting a 7-1-5 mark in those games with the versatile MF contributing on attack as well as on the all-important defensive side of the ball ... The recent run of stability for Gil comes after the 20-year old only went the full 90 in 8 of 26 previous MLS games in 2013 and only 9 times in 54 games from 2010-12 ... Gil came to RSL via Sporting Kansas City in the Spring of 2010, when the young U.S. player was awarded via lottery ... KC traded Gil to Real Salt Lake in exchange for a conditional SuperDraft pick, an international slot and future transfer fee considerations ... While being brought along slowly by RSL boss Jason Kreis, Gil has excelled for Tab Ramos’ U.S. U-20 side in the last two years, especially at last summer’s U-20 World Cup ... Gil has displayed speed, athleticism, vision and attacking prowess, the newly-turned 20-year old assuming minutes in the last 3 seasons vacated by Andy Wiliams’ retirement, Javier Morales’ injury woes and the trade of Will Johnson ...
SABORIO BACK TO LEAD RSL:
RSL FW Alvaro Saborio - the team’s all-time leading scorer with 71 goals in 119 games across all comps for the Claret/Cobalt - has scored three goals in the last two weeks to open his account on the young MLS season ... Despite playing in just 16 MLS games last season, Saborio scored 12 goals for a league-leading strike rate of 0.75 per game ... Saborio also had 2 goals in 3 Open Cup games ... “Mr. Clutch” for RSL, Saborio has 18 gamewinners and 13 multi-goal games among the 101 league games that have seen his 55 goals, the highest scoring rate in league history for players with 75 or more career MLS games …
SPORTING PARK
KANSAS CITY, KS
RSL (USUALLY) CELEBRATES IF SABO SCORES:
RSL’s all-time leading scorer, Costa Rican int’l FW Alvaro Saborio, usually leads RSL to victory when finding the back of the net ... Despite the heartbreak of MLS Cup 2013,, RSL still owns a dominating 37-6-11 all-time record in all comps when Sabo scores ... Entering his 5th year, Saborio joins Kreis (2005 Open Cup) and Robbie Findley (2009 MLS) as the lone “hat trick heroes” in RSL’s 10-year, 344-game history across all competitions ... In all comps, Sabo now owns a team-record 71 goals in 119 games, w/ 22 game-winning goals and 16 multi-goal matches (18 and 13 in 101 MLS games) ... Prior to last year’s Aug. 18 1-2 L v DAL, the two most recent losses when Sabo finds the back of the net were against LA, June 20 of last year and also in the 2011 West Final at LA ... The only loss prior to 9/24/11 at DC was the rain-soaked 4-5 loss at Cruz Azul in Aug. 2011 ... RSL is only 20-28-19 when Sabo plays and does not score, but 17-8-6 when he is unavailable due to suspension, injury or national team duty since his arrival in 2010 …
VETERAN CONTINUITY LEADS YOUNG CORE:
RSL’s 2014 roster is split into two factions as the club seeks to capture the elusive hardware from a year ago, as Cassar’s locker room boasts 11 players who have called RSL home for 5 or more years ... They are: Rimando (8 seasons), Beltran (7), Wingert (8), Beckerman (8), Borchers (7), Findley (6), Grabavoy (6), Morales (8), Gil (5), Schuler (5), Saborio (5) ... On the flipside, RSL also boasts a young group of 9 players who are aged 22 or younger, many of who will see extensive time in MLS, especially when Saborio, Beckerman and Rimando are tabbed for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil this Summer ... They are: Velasquez, Plata, Sandoval, Gil, Salcedo, Lalo, Allen, Garcia, Lopez ...
LONGEST ACTIVE POSTSEASON STREAK:
RSL’s current streak of 6 consecutive MLS Cup Playoff berths is the longest active run of postseason competition, with only NE having a longer run of 8 consecutive years and NY 6 since 2000 ... Only the triumvirate of Western elite RSL, Seattle and Los Angeles have advanced to Playoffs each of the last five seasons ...
RAREFIED AIR OF SUSTAINED SUCCESS:
The Sept. 29 win last year @ VAN put RSL at both the 15win and 50-point plateaus for the FOURTH consecutive season, something no MLS club had accomplished in the post-shootout era (LA Galaxy 2010-13 joined RSL with a late-season win over Montreal) ... D.C. United’s 2005/06/07 teams, as well as Los Angeles Galaxy 2010/11/12 joined RSL 2010-12 as the only teams to have put together three straight 15-win / 50-point seasons ...