Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy | 2020 MLS Match Preview

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 13
Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy
Rio Tinto Stadium – Sandy
September 23 – 9:30 PM ET

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US

LOCAL TV: Spectrum SportsNet, KMYU

Real Salt Lake look to regain their form at home, where Rio Tinto Stadium was once a fortress, when they host an LA Galaxy team looking to rebound after their six-match unbeaten run was snapped on the weekend.

Real Salt Lake (3W-4L-5D) are coming off a second straight home defeat, losing to the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 Saturday, while the Galaxy (4W-4L-3D) fell at home to the Colorado Rapids, 2-0. One point separates the teams in the Western Conference standings, with the Galaxy just above the playoff line.

The Galaxy won the last meeting between the teams in Sandy, beating RSL 2-1 Sept. 25, 2019 on second-half goals by Cristian Pavon and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Real Salt Lake

On Saturday night, RSL dropped a second consecutive game at Rio Tinto Stadium and suffered defeat for the third time in the last four games.

In both of those defeats, RSL finished with 10 men. First it was second-half substitute Douglas Martinez who received a straight red card for violent conduct following Video Review in a lopsided Rocky Mountain Cup defeat to the Colorado Rapids and on Saturday, Kyle Beckerman was sent off for a second bookable offense, also following Video Review.

"I’m going to have to address it because it’s not us,” Juarez said after the 2-1 loss to the Whitecaps. “It was a little bit unlucky. It wasn’t anything vicious today. It was a second yellow, so it’s not a discipline thing. Even the one last week with Douglas, I thought that Douglas had someone push on him and then he reacts, I get it. Contact to the head, red. It’s not a disciplinary thing, it’s just the heat of the moment. It’s a second yellow. Beckerman knows better than that. He’s a professional and he feels bad about it.

“We’ll mention it, and we just have to be mature,” he added. “That wasn’t a problem of ours last year, so we have to get back to containing ourselves in situations and not putting ourselves in those situations. If we have a yellow already, we just have to be a bit smarter.”

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Sam Johnson (F) - undisclosed injury
- OUT: Giuseppe Rossi (F) - undisclosed injury
Suspended: Kyle Beckerman (M)
Suspended after next caution: Justen Glad (D), Kyle Beckerman (M)
International duty: None

LA Galaxy

The Galaxy lost for the first time since mid-July, losing to the Rapids in a match they also finished with 10 men after Julian Araujo saw a second yellow card for dissent in the second half.

"The red card is not clear," Galaxy coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto said after the match. "It’s not clear if before the second goal [Andre] Shinyashiki pushed [Daniel] Steres a little bit. I don’t know if the ref checked it, or just checked the offside, but Colorado deserved to win today, and they won three very important points for them.”