Real Salt Lake vs. Minnesota United match preview

Can RSL notch a victory over a team in tremendous form?

What RSL needs to do to win

Real Salt Lake is facing off against a team that has more points over their last 11 games than any other team in MLS (26) — but for all the plaudits they’re receiving at this moment, they’ve only kept one clean sheet. In fact, Minnesota has just four clean sheets on the season to RSL’s eight, which should be your best indication that points and clean sheets are not always tied closely together.

Can RSL score? They have to. Can they avoid conceding? That’s a bigger question, and of their eight clean sheets on the season, only two have come in the last 11 games.

Match details and forecast

• When: 7:30 p.m. stated kickoff, 7:38 p.m. actual
• Where: Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
• Forecast: Hot. It’s going to be a hot one once again, with the Wasatch Front in the midst of yet another heat wave. Expect mid-80s to low-90s temperatures, no cloud cover, and no chance of precipitation.

Injuries and Absences

Out

• Damir Kreilach (back)

Questionable

• Bobby Wood (abductor)
• Danny Musovski (hamstring)

Pending Visa

• Braian Ojeda

With Real Monarchs

Gavin Beavers, Julio Benitez, Jeff Dewsnup, Chris Garcia, Axel Kei, Jaziel Orozco, Jude Wellings

Quote of the Match

Had it not been for basically, the entire month of June, where Real Salt Lake was dropping points to teams that were not in the playoff race — we do this thing, where we look at the schedule, and we’re like, “that’s three points — they’re nowhere near a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, in the Western Conference.” You kind of just back-pocket points: “I don’t care, at home, on the road, RSL should beat them” — because they proved during the first half of the season that they could do it. Then they started to playing to the level of their opponent.

When Real Salt Lake played Austin FC, they played really, really well. This is a team that just took out LAFC the other night 4-1. Then, when they play LAFC and New York City FC, all of a sudden, it’s like, well, maybe there is a significant gap in terms of spending, and that equates to talent, to availability. (...) What our best player is to us, they’ve got four, five, six of them, and they’ve only gotten stronger in this window.

This is where you get excited, this is where you get a bit nervous ... now, you’re acutely aware of each and every opponent and what your team can do, and I guess more importantly, what you believe in the guys that are putting in the work every single day to prove that you can trust them to go out on the field and not lose games. If you go back to the Vancouver game, that’s kind of the example I’m using. When Pablo looks down his bench, outside of his starting eleven, he’s gotta be able to trust a couple of these guys, that he can put them in and know that they’re not going to give up goals.

— Brian Dunseth in an interview with Spence Checketts on ESPN 700

Predicted Lineup and Formation

(3-4-3)
MacMath
Herrera, Glad, Silva, Brody
Ruiz, Löffelsend
Savarino, Cordova, Luna, Meram

Stat of the Match

In their last five matches, RSL has scored their first goal, on average, at the 39-minute mark. They’ve conceded their first goal at the 35-minute mark. Perhaps most importantly, they’ve conceded and scored in each of their last five games.

Last ten matches

• Sun., Jul 3, 2022: Minnesota United FC 3-2 Real Salt Lake
• Sat., May 29, 2021: Real Salt Lake 1-1 Minnesota United FC
• Sat., Apr 24, 2021: Minnesota United FC 1-2 Real Salt Lake
• Sun., Sep 27, 2020: Minnesota United FC 0-0 Real Salt Lake
• Sun., Sep 6, 2020: Minnesota United FC 4-0 Real Salt Lake
• Fri., Jul 17, 2020: Real Salt Lake 0-0 Minnesota United FC
• Sun., Sep 15, 2019: Minnesota United FC 3-1 Real Salt Lake
• Sat., Jul 20, 2019: Real Salt Lake 1-1 Minnesota United FC
• Sat., Sep 15, 2018: Real Salt Lake 1-1 Minnesota United FC
• Sat., Jul 14, 2018: Minnesota United FC 3-2 Real Salt Lake

Big Questions

Playoff implications about here. What does a win for RSL do for the standings? This is one I’ll be building some tooling around to answer.