Real Salt Lake Travels To Austin FC For First Time In Club History
Oct 1, 2021, 2:38 PM
Real Salt Lake midfielder Jonathan Menendez (10) gets taken down by Austin FC midfielder Alexander Ring (8) as Real Salt Lake and Austin FC play at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. RSL won 1-0. (Courtesy of Deseret News)
(Courtesy of Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Real Salt Lake will visit Q2 Stadium for a date with Austin FC, the fixture will mark the first time Real Salt Lake has visited the Major League Soccer newcomers.
Recent History & Standings
Previously, Real Salt Lake played, and beat, Austin FC 1-0 on August 14 when Bobby Wood’s first-half goal cemented all three points for the Claret & Cobalt.
Recently, Real Salt Lake enters the contest having escaped with a victory over the LA Galaxy midweek at Rio Tinto Stadium. Austin, however, lost 3-0 on the road against Colorado.
Real Salt Lake sits in the 5th position in the western conference whereas Austin finds themselves at the bottom of the conference in 13th. Over the past eight games for Austin, they have won two and lost six. Real Salt Lake.
That 24 hour hype pic.twitter.com/iTdtajK27k
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) October 1, 2021
Mastroeni’s Impact
Under interim manager Pablo Mastroeni, Real Salt Lake has won four games and lost three. Under Mastroeni’s watch, they are yet to draw a game and have only secured one clean sheet.
The style of soccer Real Salt Lake is playing under Mastroeni is entertaining, they are looking to attack and create goal-scoring opportunities by being aggressive with their positioning and delivery.
The 3-5-2 formation has given life to Real Salt Lake, who now believe that they can beat any team in the competition with their quality in front of goal. Furthermore, the club is bolstered through the help of David Ochoa in goal who has been superb throughout this season.
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Last game against the Galaxy, Ochoa made four big saves that kept Real Salt Lake in the contest. Ochoa’s efforts were rewarded when he was named the starting goalkeeper in week 28’s MLS Team of the Week.
See y'all at @Q2Stadium for this Saturday's early afternoon kickoff. 👀#ATXvRSL | 2:30pm CT
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) September 30, 2021
Damir Kreilach was also named to the bench following his first-half goal to open the scoring against the Galaxy.
Austin FC has five players ruled out due to injuries as Matt Besler, Danny Hoesen, Ben Sweat, Ulises Segura, and Aaron Schoenfeld are all unavailable with injury concerns.
Real Salt Lake is much healthier, only Marcelo Silva, and Zack Farnsworth are listed on the injury report.
Match Info
Austin FC and Real Salt Lake will kickoff at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 2nd.
The match will be available to stream for free via the KSL Sports & KSL 5 TV apps or on KSL Sports dot com.
