Real Salt Lake aims to extend their unbeaten run to five matches when they face a struggling Sporting Kansas City in a Western Conference match on Saturday in Sandy, Utah.
Salt Lake (3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss; 10 points) has not lost since their season-opening 1-0 defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps on February 21. Head coach Pablo Mastroeni credits the team’s strong start to the contributions of several new players. Eight rookies have made their MLS debuts in the first five games, energizing the veteran players.
Mastroeni noted, “It’s been impressive because it’s motivated the experienced players. This group is coming together well. The training level this year has been the best I’ve seen in my five years here.”
Sergi Solans has quickly made an impact on offense, sharing the team lead with Aiden Hezarkhani with two goals.
Having won both of their home games, Salt Lake is ready to take on a Kansas City team looking to climb out of the conference’s last place. Mastroeni emphasized the need to keep the pressure on their opponents.
“Just because we’ve had a good start doesn’t mean we can be complacent,” Mastroeni said. “MLS can be unpredictable. Any team can win on any day. We need to improve from our last game.”
In their last match, Salt Lake drew 2-2 against San Diego FC on March 22.
Sporting Kansas City (1 win, 3 draws, 1 loss; 4 points) has the second-worst goal differential in the Western Conference at minus-6. First-year head coach Raphael Wicky is navigating a challenging start, especially after a significant roster change following last year’s difficult season.
They signed 14 new players this year, the most in MLS. Wicky believes the team has hit rock bottom after a tough 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rapids in their last match on March 21.
“All we can do is recover and keep pushing forward,” Wicky said. “We know we can perform better than we did against Colorado.”
Dejan Joveljic leads Kansas City with three goals, while Lasse Berg Johnsen and Shapi Suleymanov have each scored once.
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