Match Coverage
What we’re watching in Real Salt Lake vs. New England Revolution
Real Salt Lake welcome the Revs to AFF
Real Salt Lake are coming of an embarrassing loss to bottom of the table San Jose Earthquakes. With another home game, RSL need to pick up points, but the New England Revolution just dismantled Montreal 5-0 on the road, so this could be a tough test for Real.
The whole attack
Selling Andres Gomes made sense. It was insane money and the team should be one with buys young, develops players, then makes a profit. But when the first game after he’s sold is a loss to the worst team in the league, it feels like a bad omen.
Chicho leaving in the first half of that game with an injury also feels like a bad omen.
New England starting to get better under Caleb Porter feels like a bad omen.
So RSL should win this one.
The return of Diego Luna to the starting XI is massive. Luna brings a calmness to his game that few other players on the team have. As Diogo Gonçalves settles into the team, playing along side Luna should help. While Chicho is listed as questionable, if he’s able to play for any stretch at all, that’s a good boost to the attack. Who starts up top is the biggest question around this game, but they simply have to do better than what we saw last weekend.
The many questionables
Arango (hamstring), Palacio (knee), Vera (neck), Hidalgo (back spasms), Crooks (back spasms) are all listed as questionable this week. And that’s a lot of players who you would expect to start. Obviously Chicho is the main concern, but if Vera and Hidalgo are both out, we could see the return of Marcelo Silva and Andrew Brody to the backline. If Crooks and Chicho are both out, that makes the attack feel fairly thin.
The return of Bobby Wood with the Revs Bobby Wood was a big signing for RSL just a few years ago. He had been a USMNT and Bundesliga regular, but he never quite panned out here. After missing some time earlier in the season, Wood scored a few goals in Leagues Cup and put two post Montreal in their last game. It’s too early to say if Porter has NER going in the right direction, but they could be a tough team to beat as they’re looking up.
RSL player availability
Out: Bonilla (knee), Ruiz (knee)
Questionable: Arango (hamstring), Palacio (knee), Vera (neck), Hidalgo (back spasms), Crooks (back spasms)
