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SANDY — Real Salt Lake returns to Major League Soccer action Saturday night as it hosts Western Conference opponent FC Dallas in a match with a lot on the line as the club inches closer to playoff season.
The Salt Lake club will not only be looking to rebound from its Open Cup loss earlier this week, but will look to clinch a playoff berth and stay in the Supporters' Shield race.
It’s a match that RSL knows will be another difficult challenge, even up against eighth-place FC Dallas.
“It will be our third opponent in a row in MLS play that is fighting for their playoff lives,” RSL head coach Jason Kreis told ESPN 700 Friday. “I think they feel pretty clear that they are going to have to win out, which starts with three points with us tomorrow night.
"I think (FC Dallas) is going to be a team that’s going to be desperate for sure, who is going to be up and amped for it and it’s a team that has proven difficult for us in the past because they are another bunker and counter attack team. Another team that will sit back with a lot of numbers behind the ball, make our lives difficult, look to frustrate us and then hit us on the break with their athletic speed.”
The Salt Lake club is returning to MLS play off a 1-2-0 September where it’s sole win came from a lineup made up largely of reserve players who got the victory on the road in Vancouver Sept. 28. Following Tuesday’s loss, Kreis told the media that it’s something he can’t ignore for RSL's upcoming match with F.C. Dallas.
“I think that we can’t just look at that (Vancouver) game and discredit it,” Kreis said Tuesday night. “I won’t. I refuse to. So we’ll look at that, look at (Tuesday’s) match, the San Jose match and we’ll have to make difficult decisions about who’s going to carry us through the end of the season.”
Those decisions, Kreis told ESPN 700 Friday, aren't an easy process.
“I will be frank and tell you that the coaching staff struggled (Friday) to put together what we thought would be the best lineup for this game and it’s not only for this game, either,” said Kreis. "When you get to the end of the season you make decisions that are not typically game-to-game.”
F.C. Dallas enters the weekend match currently sitting in eighth place in the Western Conference with 40 points and a 10-10-10 record on the season. The Texas side also enters Saturday’s match on a three-match winless skid.
Following Saturday’s match, RSL will have a week off before it travels to play its last road game of the regular season, facing the Portland Timbers Oct. 19. RSL will close out its regular season at home the following week by hosing Chivas USA on Oct. 23. Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
