The Real Questions: March 28, 2019

Real Salt Lake: How worried should we be about Dallas coming to town this weekend?

The short answer to this question is, perhaps a little but not too. Dallas is 2-1-1 this season. However, they’re 0-1-0 on the road. Now the season is pretty short, but RSL is known for doing pretty well at home typically, and has almost everyone who was gone last week is back. Salt Lake managed to hold a really talented LAFC team to a 2-1 despite playing a “second” team, FC Dallas at home with the regular people back, and hopefully those who did especially well vs LAFC mixed in, shouldn’t be a problem. If RSL can go into LAFC again and almost get a result without their big names, Dallas should be a cake walk. I only say a little because it is Dallas and you never know how this game will go.

Utah Royals FC: Why could the World Cup window potentially benefit Utah?

Whenever anyone mentions the World Cup this summer, it’s followed with a lot of excitement. After all, it’s the World Cup, but quickly the average NWSL fan takes a look down their roster and begins to tick off names of players they'll lose to their respective national teams during that time. With URFC, you’re looking at at least a good four to potentially six or so names. This is a big blow to any roster, especially in the NWSL where the roster size is so limited. But, this could be good for Utah. Utah does have a pretty deep roster. This World Cup break this season will give players like Sam Johnson, Lo Labonta, and even the comeback kid, Mandy Laddish, some minutes. This gives time for those players who aren’t internationals or necessarily routine starters lots of minutes to compete for. It will most definitely test some rosters, but URFC likely will lose fewer players than some other teams like Portland or North Carolina, so it also has the potential to help us move up the table too. So don’t fret too much yet, it may all be okay.

Real Monarchs SLC: Can they keep the goal scoring up?

Last week we talked about how the Monarchs had been struggling to get their goalscoring feet wet, well, they certainly did that last week. With their 5-0 win they definitely proved their goalscoring ways aren’t too far gone, but how can they keep that up? With a match against Las Vegas this weekend, they need to get this goal scoring streak going. Scoring 5 goals in one game is huge, but the key to getting this season started is going to be keeping it up. If the Monarchs are able to score hopefully two or more goals this weekend and win, it’ll be huge for their confidence as a team and could potentially help them out later in the season when it comes play-off time.