Real Salt Lake vs. Seattle Sounders FC | 2020 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 9
Real Salt Lake vs. Seattle Sounders FC
Rio Tinto Stadium – Sandy
September 2 – 9:30 PM ET

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, on DAZN in Canada

LOCAL TV: KMYU, Q13-FOX, Amazon Prime Video [SEA region only]

There could be plenty of fireworks Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium when two Western Conference foes with a proclivity for scoring a bevy of goals square off.

Real Salt Lake.have scored eight goals in claiming four points from their last two games, including two at the death to bounce back from a two-goal deficit with five minutes left to salvage a 4-4 draw at Portland Saturday. The Sounders have scored six goals in consecutive wins over the Timbers and LAFC.

Real Salt Lake have dominated this series at RioT over the years, winning nine of the 12 all-time meetings with just one defeat, outscoring the Sounders 21-7. In fact, both teams have kept a clean sheet in victory in each of the last seven regular season meetings, with the home time winning six of those. A 1-0 win at CenturyLink for the Claret-and-Cobalt on May 26, 2018 the only difference.

Real Salt Lake

Considering everything swirling around the team during the week with owner Dell Loy Hansen taking a leave of absence after Major League Soccer started an investigation following allegations of conduct and language in an article on The Athletic, you could understand if RSL folded up tent when Felipe Mora put the Timbers in front 4-2 in the 85th minute at Providence Park Saturday night.

But Freddy Juarez's guys fought back, with Giuseppe Rossi scoring his first MLS goal in the 90th minute and Sam Johnson leveling in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time to pull out a dramatic and wild 4-4 draw.

"When Rossi and Sam came in and made a difference and both got a goal which was great for us. It showed the team unity to fight for a result," Juarez said. "It was a hard game, but we deserved even more. We’ll take the draw and we’ll take what the team did as far as togetherness to fight for that point.”

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Douglas Martinez (F) - concussion
- OUT: Christopher Garcia (M) - undisclosed injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None

Seattle Sounders FC

A little more than a month after a three-goal defeat to LAFC at the MLS is Back Tournament, the Sounders responded with an emphatic victory of their own, winning 3-1 over Bob Bradley's squad at CenturyLink Field Sunday night. Raul Ruidiaz scored a first-half stunner and Jordan Morris added two goals in a span of a minute to lead the charge. Ruidiaz was subbed off at halftime as a precautionary measure with what Brian Schmetzer said was a "foot contusion."

“We're a proud franchise, we are the defending champions,” Schmetzer said. “There are so many different reasons why this organization is not going to let our foot off the gas. We're too smart for that, we have too many veteran players for that. We have a good locker room, we've got guys like Will Bruin that are hungry to play. I could give you 10 more different reasons why we're not going to let our foot off the gas."

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Danny Leyva (M) - left foot fracture
- QUESTIONABLE: Shandon Hopeau (M) - left athletic pubalgia
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None