PREGAME FACT & INFO SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE v HOUSTON DYNAMO
SAT., APRIL 30, 2016 – 7:30 p.m. MT – RIO TINTO STADIUM
on KMYU, ESPN700 & 102.3 LaGranD / 1600 AM
1 – LOSS THIS SEASON IN THE CLUB’S FIRST 7 GAMES, as the 4-1-2 mark gives Jeff Cassar and his club a league-high points-per-game average (2.00, joining LA) going into tonight’s match v Houston …
2 – GAMES MISSED BY RSL FW JOAO PLATA due to a hip flexor injury suffered 10 days ago, RSL losing 2-5 at LA last week without the early-season MLS MVP candidate … Plata has scored (5x) or assisted (4x) on nine of the club’s 13 MLS goals in 2016, as well as hitting on the lone RSL goal in CCL play against Tigres earlier this year … For his efforts, the diminutive Ecuadoran was named the March 2016 Etihad MLS Player of the Month, RSL’s first winner of the monthly honor since June, 2010 (Nick Rimando) … Plata is just the fourth RSL player to have earned the award, as Rimando (2x), Jeff Cunningham and Alvaro Saborio join him …
3 – WINS IN AS MANY HOME GAMES SO FAR THIS YEAR, as RSL owns a perfect 3-0-0 league mark with 1-goal wins over Seattle (2-1), Colorado (1-0) and Vancouver (1-0) …
4 – HOME GAMES IN FIRST 13 OVERALL for RSL, as the Claret-and-Cobalt travel for five consecutive matches after tonight, with the May 7 – June 2 trip to Colorado, Houston, Kansas City, Columbus and New York City the longest in club history … The glut of early-season road matches is due to a resurfacing of Rio Tinto Stadium in the month of May, with the venue re-opening to MLS and USL play on June 18 with an exact replica of the original field installed back in September, 2008 …
4 – WINS THIS SEASON WITHOUT midfield maestro Javier Morales in the starting lineup, as RSL earned the full 3 points on March 12 v.