Real Salt Lake vs. Montreal Impact | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Real Salt Lake vs. Montreal Impact
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 24
Rio Tinto Stadium — Sandy
August 11 - 10 pm ET
WATCH: TVAS, ESPN+

Two teams perilously close to the playoff line in their respective conferences square of at Rio Tinto Stadium when Real Salt Lake host the Montreal Impact Saturday night.

Sixth place in the West, RSL is coming off a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire at home last Saturday, while the Impact, level on points with sixth-place New England in the East, played D.C. United to a 1-1 draw at home.

Real Salt Lake are undefeated at home against the Impact (2W-1D), never allowing more than one goal in a match, per Opta.

Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake (10-9-4) snapped a three-match winless streak and improved to 9-1-2 at RioT with a 2-1 win over the Fire.

Damir Kreilach scored in first-half stoppage time and, after Bastian Schweinsteiger leveled three minutes into the second half, Kreilach scored what proved to be the winner in the 75th minute.

“We talked a lot this week about where we are in the standings, how many points are left up for grabs and how many points we think we need,” Mike Petke said. “It’s a credit to this group that we’ve been in the playoff picture for three months now. We’ve been above the line, but we need to stay there.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Marcelo Silva
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Tony Beltran (right knee surgery), M - Jordan Allen (knee surgery), GK - Alex Horwath (Achilles surgery), M - Luke Mulholland (back injury), D - David Horst (Achilles surgery), F - Ricky Lopez-Espin (knee surgery), GK - Connor Sparrow (knee injury), F - Luis Silva (groin injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Nick Rimando — Brooks Lennon, Marcelo Silva, Justen Glad, Aaron Herrera — Kyle Beckerman, Damir Kreilach — Jefferson Savarino, Albert Rusnak, Joao Plata — Corey Baird

Notes: Kreilach has six goals and six assists this season for Real Salt Lake. Five goals and five assists have come while playing at Rio Tinto Stadium. … Real Salt Lake have scored in 17 consecutive MLS home matches, dating back to last season. They have tallied a record of 14W-1L-2D in that time. No team has more home wins since the start of this streak.

Montreal Impact

Montreal (9-13-2) raced out to an early lead, but surrendered late and settled for a 1-1 draw with D.C United Saturday night at Stade Saputo.

Matteo Mancosu opened the scoring five minutes after kickoff, but Yamil Asad struck for the equalizer in the 70th minute.

“I think we didn’t play to be smart enough,” Remi Garde said. “We have been playing a little bit too much selfish sometimes. We didn’t respect the game. I told that to the players at halftime and when you don’t respect the game, you get punished and this is the story of the game. We made a lot of effort, I’m not saying the players didn’t make an effort, but we didn’t play smart enough.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Chris Duvall
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - David Choiniere (ankle surgery), D - Chris Duvall (calf injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Evan Bush — Michael Petrasso, Rod Fanni, Rudy Camacho, Jukka Raitala — Ken Krolicki, Samuel Piette, Saphir Taider — Alejandro Silva, Matteo Mancosu, Ignacio Piatti

Notes: Real Salt Lake’s Joao Plata and Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti are two of 10 players with 3+ goals and 3+ assists since the start of July. … The Impact are 2W-9L-1D on the road this season. Their nine losses are tied for the third-most in a single season since the start of 2010.

All-Time Series

Overall: Real Salt Lake 2 wins, 9 goals .. Montreal Impact 3 wins, 12 goals … 1 draw
At Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake 2 wins, 5 goals .. Impact 0 wins, 2 goals … 1 draw
Last meeting at Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake 1, Montreal Impact 1 (July 9, 2016)