Sporting Kansas City at Real Salt Lake
Saturday, September 17, 2011 – 8:00 p.m. CT
Rio Tinto Stadium | Sandy, Utah
English TV: KSMO
Spanish TV: Time Warner Cable Channel 5
Spanish Radio: La Gran D 1340 AM
Coming off a 3-0 win over the Houston Dynamo last weekend at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Sporting Kansas City will play their first road match since July 16th as they travel to take on Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, September 17th. The match will kick off at 8 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on KSMO.
Sporting Kansas City, currently one point behind the Columbus Crew for first place in the Eastern Conference, leads the all-time series against Real Salt Lake with a record of 6-4-3 since the sides first squared off in 2005. Sporting Kansas City has only won twice on the road against Salt Lake, however, withtheir last victory at Rio Tinto Stadium coming in a 2-0 win on May 16th, 2009.
Saturday’s match will mark the second meeting between the two clubs in 2011. Sporting Kansas City overcame Real Salt Lake by a 2-0 scoreline at LIVE STRONG Sporting Park on August 3rd. First-half goals from Roger Espinoza and Teal Bunbury propelled Sporting Kansas City to a club-record fourteenth straight match without a loss, despite playing with ten men for much of the second half due to the sending off of Espinozajust after halftime.
Real Salt Lake (13-7-6), currently sitting in fourth place in the Western Conference, enter Saturday’s contest coming off of a 2-1 win on the road against Sounders FC last Saturday. A Kasey Keller own goal coupled with a missed penalty from Mauro Rosales and a second half strike from Costa Ricaninternational Alvaro Saborio helped Real Salt Lake to their first-ever win at CenturyLink Field.
Sporting Kansas City will have very few injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s clash as only defender Daneil Cyrus (L foot fracture) and midfielder Luke Sassano (R knee sprain) will miss out. Chance Myers (foot contusion) is listed as questionable.
Real Salt Lake will be missing midfielders Nelson Gonzalez (R foot fracture) and Javier Morales (L ankle fracture), as well as defender Chris Wingert (Lwrist fracture) and reserve goalkeeper Kyle Reynish (R ankle sprain). Defender Tony Beltran will miss the match due to suspension after being shown a red card against Seattle last weekend.
Saturday’s match will be shown in its entirety at LIVE
STRONG
Sporting Park following the international friendly between the United Sates Women’s National Team and Canada. The match will be shown on the videoboards inside the seating bowl, as well as on the televisions in the Members’ Club.
