After spending the first two weeks of the season playing in the friendly confines of Rice-Eccles Stadium, Real Salt Lake will venture on the road for the first time this season.
RSL, which is still in search of its first win of the season, will travel to Southern California this weekend to take on Chivas USA. RSL has competed to consecutive draws with FC Dallas and Columbus to start the season.
Last year, it took the team more than a month to capture its first points of the season on the road, but it finally did so in its fourth road contest of the season. Real Salt Lake beat the L.A. Galaxy 3-0 at the Home Depot Center.
This year, RSL hopes to find its first road success at the same stadium where the Galaxy and Chivas USA both play their home games.
Chivas is 1-1-0 this season with its lone win coming at home against Toronto FC, which is in its inaugural MLS season. Chivas lost to the defending MLS-cup champion Houston Dynamos in its lone road game thus far. Last year, Chivas suffered only two losses at home-the fewest of any MLS team. Last year, Real Salt Lake went 0-1-1 on the road against Chivas.
Making matters more challenging for RSL will be the nicks and bumps that have surfaced in the young season.
Although their injuries should not keep them out of action this weekend, RSL star midfielder Freddy Adu and star defender Eddie Pope have been hampered by hip injuries. Pope’s injury is listed as a left hip pointer and Adu is working through a left hip flexor strain.
Those injuries did not prevent RSL from winning their opening U.S. Open Cup match for the second straight year with a victory over the Kansas City Wizards on Wednesday. RSL won the home match 2-1 in stoppage time.
After traveling on the road for the weekend, RSL will be home for two more weeks of home cooking before playing four straight matches on the road.
Tyler CobbDuke Hashimoto fights for the ball in Real Salt Lake’s 2-1 win over Kansas City on Wednesday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.