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How to watch
- Where: Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
- When: 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time; 9:30 p.m. Central
- Local TV: KMYU (2.2 over-the-air; 12 satellite; 643 Comcast HD)
- Live stream: MLS Live
- Radio, English: ESPN 700 AM (6:30 p.m. pre-game)
- Radio, Spanish: 102.3 La Gran D FM
If you’re going to the game...
- Don’t forget to wear a Petke-esque cardigan, sweater vest, or plain old sweater.
Lineup news
- Expect Justen Glad to remain out — at this point, it’s unlikely he’ll play for RSL until after the U-20 World Cup, with Mike Petke prioritizing his involvement in the tournament over the short-term gain of playing one or two matches before and risking further injury.
- Joao Plata is still listed as carrying an indeterminate quad injury, but it does sound like he’s been involved in training. Will he play, or will he be on the bench at all?
- Everyone else listed with injury remains as such, so don’t expect significant changes to the lineup. Jordan Allen and Sunny are both not yet ready — they might see Real Monarchs minutes — which clears space for Sebastian Saucedo and Brooks Lennon to start again. Tony Beltran is in the same boat, so we’re likely to see Danilo Acosta again, too.
Predicted lineup
Rimando; Acosta, Schuler, Wingert, Phillips; Beckerman, Mulholland, Rusnak; Lennon, Movsisyan, Saucedo
Formation thoughts
- See that predicted lineup? I placed those semicolons purposefully. I’d argue that we’re closer to a 4-3-3 than we were under Jeff Cassar, who deployed a 4-2-3-1. That’s because our wingers are tending to play further up the field in the attack.
- But Albert Rusnak is also involving himself less in the defense, leading to more of a 4-4-2 look when he goes up a little higher to involve himself with Yura Movsisyan. But he’s also dropping deeper in possession, too. The real thing? Watch Rusnak and where he plays. That’ll be the crux of our possession game.
- Still, those wingers are also bursting up the pitch at a greater pace. The only thing we can really say with certainty is that Beckerman is generally going to defend, and Mulholland will more often be further forward. That might lend us to a 4-1-4-1 look, too.
- Whatever the case, this is some serious flexibility Mike Petke is showing with this side. But we’ve only seen two games so far, and there’s a lot of time left in the season for it to shake out.