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SANDY — When Real Salt Lake and Seattle Sounders FC meet at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday in a nationally televised contest, first place in the hypercompetitive Western Conference will be at stake.
Only two points separate the two sides at the meeting, a fact that seemed hardly tenable a few weeks ago when Seattle led the rest of the West by as much as 10 points. But Saturday’s matchup, which airs live on NBC Sports Network at 12:30 p.m. MDT, won’t be the first time the two teams have met under high-pressure circumstances.
The teams have combined for 25 goals in 13 meetings since Seattle joined the league in 2009, with RSL holding a slim 5-4-4 advantage in all competitions. The Salt Lake side also boasts a 3-1-2 record on the Wasatch Front.
This weekend’s meeting has just as much at stake.
“It’s obviously a little more of added excitement, against a first-place team and a place where we want to get to,” RSL coach Jeff Cassar said. “It’s a game that will help us back to the playoffs, put us in the Supporter’s Shield race. I think the guys are really excited about it.”
The high level of competition and intense back-and-forth matches is what makes Seattle a strong rivalry for RSL in the Western Conference, according to defender Chris Wingert.
“For me, that’s what creates a rivalry: great matchups over the years,” Wingert said. “I don’t think it has much to do with geography or anything else. I think it’s all about playing big games against a tough opponent and having the series go back and forth. That’s what’s happening with us and Seattle over the years, and I think it’s been a great rivalry.”
The two teams met May 31 at CenturyLink Field, when the Sounders snapped RSL’s 13-match unbeaten run with a dominating 4-0 win. Both sides were missing several players for international call-ups, including Seattle’s Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin and Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando and Alvaro Saborio.
The lineups are mostly back to normal, though RSL is still without Saborio for injury, and Seattle will miss second-leading scorer Obafemi Martins after receiving two yellow cards in the Sounders’ 2-0 win over Houston. Dempsey still leads the Sounders with nine goals and eight assists, while RSL’s Joao Plata has been on a tear with 10 goals and four assists.
In other words, RSL has been playing better soccer since the last meeting between the two teams.
“I think that’s part of why we’ve gotten some results,” midfielder Ned Grabavoy said. “This time of year, people are fighting for jobs and playoff spots, and games become tighter across the league. I think we’ve been better the last five or six games, and that’s probably why we’ve gotten a decent amount of points.”
Whether a rivalry or not, Saturday’s match will feature two teams fighting to be the best team in the West.
“I think any time you have two teams that square off as much as we have and have been consistently successful as both clubs have, I think you get (a rivalry),” Grabavoy said. “I think you probably get that feeling between us and L.A., as well. But we don’t look at them and think they are some bigger rival than any other team in the West.”
