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Real Monarchs will play host to LA Galaxy II this weekend in USL action. Both teams are coming off a win against Saint Louis FC; the Monarchs defeated St Louis 1-0 last Saturday while LA2 came up with a 3-0 victory against them at home on Wednesday.
LA sits at the top of the table in the west at the moment, having played two games and won both of them. The Monarchs will look to hand LA their first loss of the season and continue the momentum they created in their first game.
Two Monarchs called up to RSL
After the scary incident involving Omar Holness last week in their first game, the Monarchs will be back in action at home this weekend, but not with a full lineup.
RSL, missing several key members of their lineup, has invoked the extreme hardship rule and called up two players from the Monarchs for short-term loans. Defender Emilio Orozco and forward Andrew Brody will be traveling to Kansas City this weekend with the MLS side, and as a result will not be available for the matchup against LA.
In turn, the Monarchs have called in several RSL-AZ academy players to fill holes in the roster, including forward Elijah Rice.
2015 matchup results
Last year, these two clubs met twice in the USL regular season; once at each team’s respective home.
The first game, on March 22, was played in LA at the StubHub Center. Despite both teams having several chances on goal, the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
The last matchup was at Rio Tinto Stadium on April 25, and LA left Salt Lake City with a point, winning the game 1-0. Again, both teams traded great scoring opportunities, but it was LA who finally found the game-winning goal in stoppage time.
Who to watch
With RSL on the road in Kansas City this weekend, it’s safe to say that several of the players who were loaned down to the Monarchs won’t be with the squad for the LA matchup, including Devon Sandoval, Luke Mulholland, Jeff Attinella, and Justen Glad.
Now that Andrew Brody will be gone for this weekend’s game, we may see last week’s goal scorer Maikon Orellana get the starting nod in his place. Orellana came on for Brody at the end of the game and played three minutes, but scored the game’s only goal to give the Monarchs the win. The Provo native is likely to see more minutes this week and will seek to add to his goal tally for the season.
LA Galaxy II’s premier forward and captain, Jack McBean, scored two goals in their last game on Wednesday, tallying his 12th and 13th career USL goal in just two years 26 appearances for the USL side. He also was a member of the LA Galaxy in MLS from 2011 to 2014, where he made 17 appearances and notched two goals.
Although last season’s meetings with LA Galaxy II didn’t turn out as well as the Monarchs would have liked them to, they ended last year on a five-game winning streak. Real hopes to extend that streak to seven this weekend at Rio Tinto Stadium for what is sure to be an exciting night of soccer.