Real Salt Lake looks for home win vs. Orlando (Jun 30, 2017)
There is no time like the present for Real Salt Lake to turn around its season, but to do so, it will have to find a way to beat Orlando City SC when the two sides battle on Friday at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.
It is the only time RSL and Orlando City will play this season. They have met just twice before in their limited history, drawing in both matches the past two years.
Real Salt Lake (5-11-2, 17 points) heads home after a 2-1 loss to San Jose on June 24 and seeks its fourth consecutive home victory. RSL will have Slovakian international midfielder Albert Rusnak back in the fold after he missed both the 1-0 home win over Minnesota on June 17 and last week's loss at San Jose representing his country in the UEFA European U-21 group stage.
Real Salt Lake is 5-8-0 since Mike Petke took over as coach on April 8, a total that includes three consecutive one-goal home wins in recent weeks over New York City FC (2-1), the Philadelphia Union (1-0) and Minnesota United (1-0).
"I'm a competitor, I'm always looking at the standings," Petke said. "Since I took over, this has been a very big evaluation for me. It was a team that has quality, but essentially it was built before I got here. So we have to take a deep look and make some adjustments in the transfer window but also really start instilling the way I want to play -- a little more stern, a little heavier."
The club has conceded 37 goals, which is second worst in MLS. Real Salt Lake also needs to fix issues at the back in order to give attackers such as Joao Plata and Yura Movsisyan (team-leading five goals) a chance to make the difference in the offensive end.
"What we talk about all the time and work on obviously is to keep the ball out of the back of the net," Petke said. "So there's no magic potion to it. It's work. It's repetition. It's repeating punchlines and statements until we get it through."
Orlando City (7-6-5, 26 points) heads to the shores of the Great Salt Lake after a disheartening 4-0 defeat in Chicago last Saturday.
"You have these types of performances as the year goes along, and what's nice is that if it's not the last game of the year, we have the opportunity to set the record straight," Orlando City coach Jason Kreis said. "We have the opportunity to go out and perform a lot better than we did this past weekend and get moving in a positive direction again."
Orlando City is winless in its past six MLS road games (0-4-2) and has been outscored 13-3 across those matches. The Lions have won just once in their past 11 matches.
The Lions are expected to have Cyle Larin, who was suspended for a DUI charge two weeks ago, back on the game-day roster after he was cleared to play this week. In the 15 matches Larin started this year, Orlando averaged 1.6 points per game; in the three games he missed, that number dropped to 0.7 points per game.
However, it will take more than Larin and his offense -- a team-leading eight goals -- to get Orlando City back on track.
"(RSL is a) very good team at home, as all teams are," Kreis said. "The altitude causes some consideration as well. They are a team that just like every other team in this league on their day can be very, very good."
