LA Galaxy vs. Real Salt Lake match preview

What RSL needs to do to win

I’m sighing here. Just a deep, prolonged sigh. You know the answer here. RSL needs to score goals. They need to do it before the opposition. It feels like nothing meaningful has changed in the last 15 games to set us up for goal scoring opportunities, and I think that’s evidenced by the fact that the goals haven’t seemed closer. You need look no further than the continued, repeated shots from distance — indisputably low-odds shots, even if they’re exciting — to see RSL repeating the same mistakes, week-in, week-out. When our attacking game plan outside of shots from distance involves crossing to players like Andrew Brody (a fine player in his own right, but a target man, he is not,) it’s clear something’s wrong and not being corrected.

Match details

• Time: 8:30 p.m. MDT
• Where: Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, California

Injuries and Absences

Out

• Damir Kreilach
• Bobby Wood

Quote of the Match

”The guys that flew in from out of the country took today off, so we literally couldn’t do anything tactical.” — Pablo Mastroeni on ESPN 700 on Thursday

Stat of the Match

RSL still holds a 31% chance (or thereabouts) of making the playoffs as things stand right now. They can secure a berth with a pair of wins, but a loss on Saturday could prove deadly to the chances.

Predicted Lineup and Formation

4-4-2
MacMath
Herrera, Glad, Silva, Brody
Chang, Ruiz, Löffelsend, Meram
Savarino, Cordova

Last ten matches

• Sat., Apr 30, 2022: Real Salt Lake 1-0 Los Angeles Galaxy
• Wed., Sep 29, 2021: Real Salt Lake 2-1 Los Angeles Galaxy
• Wed., Aug 4, 2021: Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 Real Salt Lake
• Wed., Jul 21, 2021: Real Salt Lake 2-2 Los Angeles Galaxy
• Sun., Nov 1, 2020: Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Real Salt Lake
• Wed., Sep 23, 2020: Real Salt Lake 2-0 Los Angeles Galaxy
• Wed., Sep 25, 2019: Real Salt Lake 1-2 Los Angeles Galaxy
• Sun., Apr 28, 2019: Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 Real Salt Lake
• Sat., Sep 1, 2018: Real Salt Lake 6-2 Los Angeles Galaxy
• Sat., Jun 9, 2018: Los Angeles Galaxy 3-0 Real Salt Lake