Match Details
Real Salt Lake (10-4-16) vs. Austin FC (12-8-10)
America First Field | 7:30pm MT | Saturday Sept 27
Watch on Apple TV
Match Preview
Real Salt Lake hosts Austin FC in an important game for RSL’s playoff hopes. The home side sits in 12th place on 34 points but is only 3 points below the current playoff line. Austin is in 6th place with a respectable 44 points, and their postseason is all but assured. RSL does have a game in hand over several teams around them in the standings, but they absolutely must win at home if they hope to fight their way into the playoffs.
After two brutal defeats at the hands of LAFC, RSL has some important questions to ask itself. The first is on the defensive side. It seems the team largely, though not entirely, learned the importance of marking Son Heung-min after he scored an embarrassingly easy hat trick last Wednesday. On Sunday, they kept the South Korean captain to just one goal and mostly prevented him from finding large amounts of open space. However, Denis Bouanga was then able to get behind the backline far too often and scored his own hat trick.
Folks, the defense is bad. Granted, LAFC’s attack is very good, but a -13 goal difference indicates there are issues on both sides of the ball.
The team’s attack clearly hasn’t gelled yet. There are good pieces (like Luna), developing pieces (like Goza), and a longer list of TBDs than anyone should be okay with. Austin has a good defense, and the team has to be better with their opportunities if they want to find success on Saturday.
