Real Salt Lake vs. DC United | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Real Salt Lake vs. DC United
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 11
Rio Tinto Stadium — Sandy
May 12 - 9 pm ET
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Real Salt Lake return to Rio Tinto Stadium trying to snap their first losing streak of the season following back-to-back defeats away from home against Vancouver and Orlando City SC, while D.C. United is back from a bye week that came following a 3-2 loss at Philadelphia, their third loss in four games.

D.C. United won on their first-ever trip to Utah in 2005 – a 3-1 win at Rice-Eccles Stadium – and haven’t won there again. Real Salt Lake are 7-0-2 at home in the series since, including a 1-1 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium in the last meeting between the teams there, July 1, 2016.

Real Salt Lake

Mike Petke went with an unchanged starting XI from the side that fell to Vancouver Whitecaps FC, 2-0, the prior week.

Homegrown forward Corey Baird scored his second goal of the season to put Real Salt Lake (3-5-1) in front in the 12th minute, a lead that held into the second half. But Dom Dwyer leveled on the hour mark and Lamine Sane followed with the go-ahead goal three minutes later. Yoshi Yotun put the game away for red-hot Orlando City SC in the 78th minute.

“No team controls the game for 90 minutes,” Petke said. “For us its more about taking our chances. Getting chances first and then taking them and capitalizing on them. We got our chances through our very good movement and following the gameplan, but now we have to be a hell of a lot more clinical in the finish.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Tony Beltran (right knee surgery), M - Jordan Allen (knee), D - David Horst (knee), GK - Alex Horwath (Achilles), D - Shawn Barry (knee), D - Demar Phillips (ankle); QUESTIONABLE: M - Luke Mulholland (back)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Nick Rimando — Brooks Lennon, Justen Glad, Nick Belser, Pablo Ruiz — Kyle Beckerman, Albert Rusnak, Damir Kreilach— Jefferson Savarino, Corey Baird, Joao Plata

Notes: RSL have averaged 1.5 points and conceded 1.5 goals per game since the start of last season in the 25 games that both Brooks Lennon and Justen Glad have played in (have averaged 1.0 points and 2.1 goals against per game in the 18 games in which neither of them played). … RSL conceded five goals in their first home game this season. They have conceded just one goal over the three home games since (3W).

D.C. United

D.C. United (1-4-1) returns to action following a 3-2 defeat to the Philadelphia Union at Talen Energy Stadium on April 28, which came on the heels of their first win of 2018, 1-0 over Columbus Crew SC two weeks prior to that.

Zoltan Stieber gave D.C. United an early lead and Darren Mattocks leveled in the 70th minute, but Borek Dockal struck for what proved to be the winner two minutes later for the Union.

After facing Real Salt Lake, D.C. United heads to San Jose (May 19) and LAFC (May 26) as part of a seven-match road trip before the anticipated grand opening of Audi Field on July 14.

“We’re in this together and it’s a long season and we are seven games in,” said D.C. United coach Ben Olsen. “What’s in front of us now is a three-game West Coast road trip. I think we are all looking forward to it. Sometimes it’s good to get away.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Taylor Kemp (groin), M - Russell Canouse (knee), M - Junior Moreno (hamstring), D - Chris Odoi-Atsem (calf)

Projected Starting XI
(4-1-4-1, right to left)
GK: Steve Clark — Nick DeLeon, Frederic Brillant, Steve Birnbaum, Joseph Mora — Chris Durkin — Zoltan Stieber, Luciano Acosta, Ulises Segura, Yamil Asad — Patrick Mullins

Notes: D.C. United has scored just five goals from inside the box this season, tied for the fewest of any team. … D.C. United has just one road win in their last 17 games (14L-2D). They have allowed 2.5 goals per game over this stretch.

All-Time Series

Overall: Real Salt Lake 8 wins, 30 goals … D.C. United 7 wins, 31 goals … 5 ties
At Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake 7 wins, 20 goals … D.C. United 1 win, 8 goals … 2 ties
Last meeting at Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake 1, D.C. United 1 (July 1, 2016)