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SANDY — Real Salt Lake will host Major League Soccer Western Conference rival the Los Angeles Galaxy Saturday in its second of a three-match home stand and is facing LA for the first time this season.
“I think we’re always looking forward to the matches that we get to play against the Galaxy,” RSL head coach Jason Kreis told ESPN 700 Tuesday during a radio interview. “I feel that the guys are always up for it emotionally. I feel the crowd is always excited to have them here in our building, and it’s become a really nice rivalry in which I think the majority of the games that we’ve played have been really good, competitive, exciting games to be a part of.”
RSL (3-3-2) and the visiting LA Galaxy (3-1-2) will each enter the match fresh off a win last weekend and tied for the second slot in the MLS Western Conference at 11 points. Neither side has been able to notch back-to-back wins yet this season.
Over the last four years, the Salt Lake side and the LA side have created somewhat of a rivalry, and Kreis says his club will need a solid and full performance against the Galaxy this weekend.
“I think we’re still looking for a 90-minute performance,” said Kreis. “We’re still having 15, 20, 30 minutes in a match where we struggle a little bit, lose our way, lose our discipline. I think overall I would say also that I just think that we need to be more disciplined defensively so that we’re not giving away so many clear-cut chances against us.
"Probably a little bit fortunate in some of these games that we didn’t play teams that were putting them away on us, but that will not be the case with the Galaxy. If we give them the opportunity that we’ve been giving over the last couple weeks, they’ll punish it for us and the game will get out of hand.”
Last season, RSL took two of the three matches against the Galaxy — both of which were in their house, the Home Depot Center. The Galaxy took a single match on the Claret and Cobalt’s pitch before going on to claim the 2012 MLS Cup.
All-time, RSL is 9-8-5 against the Galaxy during regular season play and 9-9-6 including MLS Cup playoff matches. The Salt Lake side holds the higher end of goals against the Galaxy, 40-37, in 24 matches played against each other.
Kreis will have close to a full roster to choose from for the starting 11 and seven alternates Saturday night as the club’s injury list has been inching toward zero over the last two weeks. For the match this weekend, RSL only lists midfielder Cole Grossman (concussion) as out and veteran defender Chris Wingert (left quad soreness) as questionable.
Kreis however believes Wingert, who has seen action in the last couple reserve matches for RSL and who was available in the club’s last weekend MLS match, will be an option this weekend against the Galaxy.
“Wingert is still gaining match fitness and match sharpness in my eyes and he will be in contention for this weekend as he was last week,” said Kreis. “I thought he was really, really close to begin, ready to come back into the lineup, but I wanted to reward Lovel (Palmer) for playing extremely well at Vancouver. So difficult decisions.”
Following Saturday’s match, RSL will play its final match of its three-game home stand as it hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps on May 4, facing the Canadian club for the second time this season.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
