SALT LAKE CITY - Real Salt Lake (7-10-5, 26 pts, 5th West) enters Saturday's match against the Houston Dynamo riding high on a three-game winning streak, and will look to continue it's late season playoff push against one of the Western Conference's toughest teams at Rice Eccles Stadium (7:00 MT).
This past Wednesday night in Columbus, RSL came away with a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Crew courtesy of two goals scored late in the contest. The first came off the right foot of RSL MF Chris Klein, who blasted a shot past Columbus GK Bill Gaudette in the games 75th minute. The games equalizer was set up off a great feed from RSL MF Andy Williams, who collected his fourth assist of the year. Klein now has four goals on the season, and has scored in back to back games for the first time in his Real Salt Lake career.
Just when it appeared that the contest would end in a tie, RSL Striker Jeff Cunningham sent in a pin point cross that found MF Carrey Talley all alone in front of the goal. Talley blasted the game winner into the back of the open net for his second goal of the season. Cunningham's assist was his seventh of the year, placing him third in MLS in that category.
RSL goal differetntial iis now even for the first time in team history, and RSL's 31 goals scored ties the team for fourth in MLS in total offesne. Also of note, RSL leads the league in goals scored after the games 75th minute with 12.
RSL now stands just a single point behind Chivas USA (27 pts) in the race for the fourth and final Western Conference playoff spot.
PRESENT "XANGO CUP" TICKET STUB AND RECIEVE DISCOUNTED HOUSTON DYNAMO TICKET: Good news for fans who kept their ticket stub from the historic "XanGo Cup" featuring Real Salt Lake vs. Real Madrid! Bring the ticket stub to the University of Utah ticket office on Saturday and receive a $15 premium level seat to Real Salt Lake vs. Houston Dynamo taking place at Rice-Eccles Stadium Saturday evening at 7:00 MT. For more information regarding this exciting promotion, please call 866-9-SOCCER.
COMCAST ON DEMAND TO RE-BROADCAST "XANGO CUP": For fans who didn't have the chance to see the historic "XanGo Cup", Comcast is offering a re-broadcast of the game through their "On Demand" feature, starting this week. The game can be accessed by going to the "Local Events" option and selecting "Soccer". There is also a separate option which will allow fans to see an abbreviated version of the game, featuring highlights and player interviews.
COAST RICAN NATIONAL TEAM MEMBER JAFET SOTO SIGNED: Real Salt Lake is pleased to announce that Jafet Soto, a Costa Rica National Team Midfielder, has been added to the senior roster and will join the team for training starting tomorrow. Soto has played the last three seasons for Club Sport Herediano and was named "Player of the Year" for the league in 2004-05. Prior to joining Herediano, Soto Played eight years in the Mexico 1st Division with Puebla, Pachuca and Morelia. Soto has been staple for the Cota Rica National team with 63 caps and 10 career goals. He has been a member of the Costa Rican U-17's, U-20's, U-23's and played for Costa Rica in both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup's.
RSL TRADES RIGHTS TO MELVIN TARLEY: Real Salt Lake has announced that the team recently completed a trade that sends the rights to Striker Melvin Tarley to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for a fourth round supplemental draft pick. Tarley, currently with the Minnesota Thunder of the United Soccer League, played in nine contests with RSL last year, starting all nine, and tallied one goal. With this trade completed, RSL now has eight draft picks next year between the MLS "Superdraft" and the MLS "Supplemental Draft."
RSL TRAINING TOMORROW AT RICE-ECCLES STADIUM AT 10:00 MT: Real Salt Lake will hold training tomorrow morning at 10:00 MT at Rice-Eccles Stadium in preparation for Saturday's Western Conference battle with the Houston Dynamo. For more information please call Real Salt Lake Communications at (801)577-0633 or (801)870-3150.
2006 RSL TICKET PACKAGES ON SALE: RSL 2006 ticket packages are on sale and fans can now purchase full season, half season, the "High-Five" pack and flex season by visiting the RSL Ticket Office at 515 South 700 East, #2R, SLC, UT 84102, by logging onto www.RealSaltLake.com or by contacting the Real Salt Lake Ticket Office at (866) 9-SOCCER. Fans can also purchase single-game tickets by visiting the Utah Ticket Office at 451 South 1400 East, by logging onto www.UtahTickets.com or by contacting the Ticket Office at (801) 581-UTIX. Finally, fans can purchase The KFC Colonel's Corner $12 ticket voucher, the club's most affordable single-game ticket, by visiting any of the 36 KFC® restaurants in Utah.
MLS CAMPS: The Official Camp and Clinic of Major League Soccer is NOW the Official Camp & Clinic of Real Salt Lake! NEW for 2006, Fantasy Camp and focused Team Training experiences. To find out more about all of RSL's Youth Development Programs, call Scott Reynolds at (801) 924-8575 or by email at SReynolds@RealSaltLake.com. To partner with RSL to host MLS Camps in your community, call us today.
ACCESS REAL: Real fans can now receive up-to-date information on the team by signing up for the RSL Weekly Newsletter on our website at http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/MLS/rsl/fans/.
