Real Salt Lake look to quench red hot Union

Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman will play a ey role in limiting the high-flying Philadelphia Union attack (photo credit: Charlotte Thomas)

Real Salt Lake host the Philadelphia Union Saturday, May 27 at 8 PM EST. The Union return to the road after a two game home-stand, and look to continue its recent form. Meanwhile Real Salt Lake is coming off of a 1-0-5 streak, with its only win coming in a tight 2-1 victory over NYCFC.

The Union finished off 11th placed Western Conference side Colorado last week, 2-1, and return to play 10th placed Real Salt Lake. In 11 games, Real has recorded just 11 points, with a -13 goal difference in a difficult Western Conference. Last week, RSL dropped 1-0 in a fairly tight game against reigning champions Seattle Sounders. But it continued a streak of games where RSL were outscored 3-13 by its opponents. Nick Rimando came up with a penalty save that game to keep the score 1-0. While its season form is dismal, RSL have looked stronger in recent weeks. Before the Seattle loss, RSL beat NYCFC 2-1 after going down 1-0 in the first 5 minutes. Recent form can be a tricky stat. If we examine the last 6 games, RSL seems in trouble, but the last 2 games have seen incredible improvements for RSL, who are a perennial top-half team. It wasn’t too long ago the Union were 0-4-4 and down on its luck, so it isn’t hard to believe that RSL is working its way out of a jam currently, and will look a dangerous side Saturday.

The Union, on the other hand, have won 4 straight, outscoring opponents 11-1 in that time. On top of that, the Union have a 6 game unbeaten streak, stretching back to that painful 3-3 draw against Montreal, where the Union went from 3-0 to 3-3 at home. Initially it was C.J. Sapong who carried the Union out of its funk, scoring three in the first 15 minutes against New York Red Bulls. But since then many different players have picked up the slack, with Oguchi Onyewu, Haris Medunjanin, Fafa Picault, Ilsinho and Fabian Herbers scoring for the first time this season.

Despite picking up some early slack, coach Jim Curtin has made this Union side look untouchable. Many questioned his lack of tactical changes early on, but his consistency has led the Union out of a funk, making only some minor changes along the way to secure his line-up. He stuck by some players such as Haris Medunjainin, Jack Elliott, and Ilsinho; each of whom have played outstanding in the recent weeks. Despite the recent success, the Union may start a bit slow, hoping to keep a clean sheet above all on the road. With the top 4 players firing on all cylinders, it may be wise to focus on defense, and let the in-form forwards do what they do best.