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The Monarchs play their first home match of the 2021 USL Championship season in the friendly confines of Zions Bank Stadium at 7 PM tonight against LA Galaxy II. Expect to see only a slight shuffling in the 18 man gameday team selection from last week against San Antonio FC. Chris Garcia will be suspended for this match following his red card last Saturday night. Bret Halsey, the 2021 MLS Superdraft selection signed by RSL, has been loaned to the Monarchs and will likely see an extended shift on the field. New signing Timi Sobowale and five other injured and delayed players are yet to join the team for full practices. Once again several RSL Academy players look to be named to the starting eleven and others should see time as substitutes as MLS Next continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic and organizational issues.
Los Dos arrives in town with a 1-1-1 record and four points which leaves them in the middle of the Pacific Division standings. As a cross-divisional match this will be the only time the Monarchs see LA Galaxy II. With a goal differential of +4 in their first three matches, this will be the first road game for Los Dos which has allowed only two goals this season. It took a 96th minute penalty kick to pull Tacoma Defiance even for a 1-1 draw against them last Sunday.
As this is a cross-divisional match, this will be only time that Los Dos and the Monarchs, two of the so-called MLS 2 teams, will meet on the field during the 2021 regular season. The Monarchs will face each of their six Mountain Division opponents four times during the 2021 season, leaving only eight matches against non-divisional opponents.
The match will be streamed on MLS+ and the KSL app for those unable to attend in person.
Real Monarchs current roster as of May 14th, 2021
Goalkeepers (1): Jimmy Slayton
Defenders (4): Kyle Adams, James Moberg, Kevin Saucedo, Timi Sobowale
Midfielders (5): Sam Brown, Brayan Gomez, Josimar Quintero, Ibrahim Bancé, Julio Benitez
Forwards (4): Max Mata, Malik Johnson, Juan Vidal, Aris Briggs