Preview: SKC at RSL May 4th

Sporting Kansas City at Real Salt Lake  
2024 MLS Regular Season Match 11
Saturday, May 4th | 8:30 p.m. CT
America First Field – Sandy, UT
Broadcast: Apple TV (Free)
English (Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth)
Spanish (Francisco X. Rivera and Martin Zuniga)

Sporting Kansas City head west to face Real Salt Lake Saturday evening. It is the first meeting this year between place Sporting KC (2-3-5, 10 pts) and Salt Lake (5-2-3, 18 pts). SKC is 10^th in the Western Conference while RSL is tied for first.

Last Season

These longtime rivals faced each other twice last season. They drew the first game 2-2 at Children’s Mercy Park. SKC took the lead in the first half but Salt Lake responded with a pair to split the points.

Late in the season when SKC absolutely needed every point, they were able to get all three on the road. Justen Glad earned an early red card and Erik Thommy scored on the resulting free kick. Johnny Russell and Alan Pulido both scored. RSL knocked in a pair in the last ten minutes of regulation to make it a little nervous for Kansas City.

2024

This season again sees Real Salt Lake playing well under head coach Pablo Mastroeni while Sporting KC is hovering near the playoff line. Salt Lake are undefeated in their last six (4W 2D). Offensively the two squads are similar in goals scored. SKC with 18 goals and RSL with 17 in their first 10 games.

RSL star striker Cristian Arango is in form with eight goals on the season and six in his last five matches. Midfielder Andrés Gómez is second on RSL with four goals and defender Alexandros Katranis with a pair is the only other RSL player with multiple goals.

Thommy leads SKC with four, while Pulido and Willy Agada with three each. Dany Rosero and Remi Walter both have a pair while four others have a single tally for SKC.

Defense is the difference for these two sides. Sporting KC has given up 18 goals while RSL has only allowed nine this year. To make it even tougher on SKC, Salt Lake has only allowed three in their four home matches.

What will this match look like?

Manager Peter Vermes described RSL as “The best team in the West at the moment.”

“They are always a tough defensive team,” Vermes continued. “With the strike power they have up front, we will have to be focused and concentrated, it will be a tough match for us.”

Vermes has played a 4-2-3-1 often in recent games with Johnny Russell injured. He could again choose that formation with Russell not starter fit and then flip back to a more SKC standard 4-3-3 if Russell subs in.

Availability

The availability lists were not available yet but Sporting KC will likely only be missing Logan Ndenbe.

Officials

Referee: Tim Ford

Assistant ref: Chris Wattam

Assistant ref: Ben Pilgrim

4th official: Ricardo Fierro

VAR: Chris Penso

Jake Davis just signed a contract extension. | Credit: Thad Bell