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SANDY — Real Salt Lake returns to its home pitch Saturday night to host MLS Western Conference opponent the San Jose Earthquakes and is in search of a win to bounce back from its rough 2-0 loss to Seattle last week, which lost the Salt Lake club its lengthy first-place standing.
The Saturday night matchup brings an opponent the Salt Lake club is not taking lightly despite its current standing — eighth of nine in the Western Conference.
“I still think it's an incredibly dangerous opponent and an opponent now that literally is going to have their very backs against the wall,” RSL head coach Jason Kreis told ESPN 700 this week. “They are going to be playing for their playoff lives and we know that a team like that can present us all kinds of problems if we’re not prepared for it.”
The Saturday night home match is the club’s sole home match this month, and Kreis called upon the fans to once again do their part this weekend — which includes arriving early and being loud — being the 12th man for the Salt Lake club.
“I’m hopeful for another fantastic crowd come Saturday night,” said Kreis. “I’m hopeful that our crowd keeps getting there early enough to make us feel like it is a home field atmosphere at the beginning of the match and not just at the end of the match. And hopeful that the group is as loud as they were against Portland because that was simply fantastic and we see now that when we go to places like Seattle and Portland how absolutely daunting the crowds can be for the home team, so we will hope for the same things come Saturday night against San Jose.”
The Salt Lake club enters the match sitting in second place in the West with 48 points and a 14-9-6 record thus far. Despite entering the match after its disappointing result last week, RSL is unbeaten in five of its last seven MLS matches and six of its last eight matches across all competition.
San Jose enters the weekend match in eighth place in the West, with 38 points and a 10-11-8 record thus far. The Earthquakes also enter the match on a three-game unbeaten streak and RSL is prepared for what the California-based club will bring.
“They are obviously a pretty desperate team right now that needs as many points as they can get,” RSL midfielder Ned Grabavoy told ESPN 700 Thursday. “A team that’s been playing better, without question, the second half of this season, a team that’s made changes throughout their squad and coaching staff as well and so really a completely different team than the one we played earlier in the season at our place.”
The match will be the third and final meeting between the two sides this regular season, and a win for the Salt Lake side would give it a sweep of the season series with the Earthquakes. The two sides started the season against each other in San Jose, where RSL took a 2-0 victory. San Jose came first came to Rio Tinto this season June 1, where RSL also posted a win, 3-0, over the Earthquakes.
RSL will most likely still be without its leading scorer, forward Alvaro Saborio, who is still dealing with a calf injury that was suffered a couple weeks ago while abroad for his national team, Costa Rica.
“We’re a little back to the drawing board on (Saborio) and we’re going to make, I think, a more cautious decision with him in order that we can hopefully get him back 100 percent for a playoff push come the last month of the season,” said Kreis. “As of right now, I tell you, it doesn’t look too good for this weekend.”
Following Saturday’s match, RSL returns to the road to finish up the month of September as it faces MLS Western Conference opponent the Vancouver Whitecaps Sept. 28 in Canada. Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
