Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 27
Rio Tinto Stadium — Sandy, Utah
Sept. 1 — 10 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Fresh off a 6-0 Rocky Mountain Cup drubbing of the Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake seek to continue their fine home form and win a third straight game against an LA Galaxy side winless in their last five following a 1-1 El Trafico draw against LAFC.

This is the second meeting this season, with the Galaxy winning 3-0 at home on June 9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck for a brace and Ola Kamara added a goal in that game — all coming after the hour mark.

Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake (12-10-5) captured a 10th Rocky Mountain Cup in 12 years with a 6-0 rout of the Rapids on Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, winning their second road game in a row in the process.

Damir Kreilach opened the scoring just six minutes after kickoff and three minutes later the Rapids were down to 10 men when Niki Jackson was sent off. Nana Boateng was also sent off just before halftime. Jefferson Savarino scored a goal on either side of halftime and Joao Plata, Corey Baird and Albert Rusnak tacked on second-half goals to clinch the lopsided victory.

“Continuing to do the things that we’ve done first at home, but even over the last couple of road games — the discipline, our shape, our ability to play out of transition, which has gotten so much better and we’ve always been a very good transition team, but it’s really gotten better over the last month and to set the tone,” RSL head coach Mike Petke said when asked what needs to keep happening to continue winning. “The games that we’ve been successful in is when we’ve come out and set the tone and that’s what we’ve need to do.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Marcelo Silva, D - Justen Glad
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); QUESTIONABLE: D - Marcelo Silva (ankle injury), M - Pablo Ruiz (knee injury)

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

LA Galaxy

The Galaxy (10-9-8) earned regular-season bragging rights with a 1-1 El Trafico tie against LAFC, but they rue conceding a second-half equalizer and dropping needed points in an entertaining draw at StubHub Center last Thursday.

Ibrahimovic put the Galaxy in front on 15 minutes, scoring his 16th goal in 17 appearances. But Carlos Vela leveled from the penalty spot in the 51st minute after being tripped by Perry Kitchen in the box.

The Galaxy were down four injured starters — Romain Alessandrini, Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos and Michael Ciani — but all four participated to some degree at training this week.

“The guys are training. Romain did the most today, Jonathan did more today, Ciani did more today, and Gio as well. We’ll see how they react,” head coach Sigi Schmid said. “We need all hands on deck if we can, but it always comes down to the player and how symptomatic they are.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Michael Ciani, D - Jorgen Skjelvik
International duty: None
Injury Report: QUESTIONABLE: M - Romain Alessandrini (knee injury). OUT: F - Giovani dos Santos (leg injury), M - Jonathan dos Santos (groin injury), D - Michael Ciani (hamstring injury)

Projected Starting XI
(3-4-1-2, right to left)
GK: David Bingham — Rolf Feltscher, Jorgen Skjelvik, Dave Romney — Chris Pontius, Perry Kitchen, Servando Carrasco, Ashley Cole — Sebastian Lletget — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ola Kamara

All-Time Series

Overall: Real Salt Lake 13 wins, 61 goals … LA Galaxy 15 wins, 59 goals … 9 draws
At Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake 6 wins, 30 goals … Galaxy 4 wins, 27 goals … 7 draws
Last meeting at Salt Lake: Real Salt Lake 1, LA Galaxy 2 (March 18, 2017)