Real Salt Lake resumes hunt for first place against weak Earthquakes

(Photo credit: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports)

It’s the home stretch of the MLS regular season and Real Salt Lake will look to move closer to the top spot in the Western Conference with the help of some new faces when it hosts the currently last-place San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

With nine games remaining, Real Salt Lake (12-5-8, 44 points) sits in third place in the West, five points behind first-place Los Angeles Galaxy, which has one game in hand. Six of those games come on RSL’s home court, where it is 8-2-1.

Saturday is RSL’s first game since August 5, when the second and final Leagues Cup match was cancelled. Several of the players signed during the transfer window could make their debuts, with attackers Diogo Goncalves and Lachlan Brook available.

“My goal is to work hard, help the team and the club as much as I can and, of course, provide goals and assists to take RSL to the highest level,” Goncalves said earlier this month.

It is not known whether Vancouver Whitecaps defender Javain Brown will be available, while Polish midfielder Dominik Marczuk will not make his debut this weekend.

RSL resumes its schedule with a season-high three games winless (0-2-1) in MLS. The team has been outscored 7-3 during that stretch and will now be without second-leading scorer Andres Gomez (13 goals), who left for French club Stade Rennais. Captain Cristian Arango has scored 17 goals; no one else has more than six.

At the other end of the table, the Earthquakes (4-19-2, 14 points) are trying to salvage their miserable season so far.

“You can’t always be the coach that motivates them,” interim coach Ian Russell said, according to The Mercury News. “That’s their job; they get paid to do it and they’re playing for contracts too. I think it’s both self-motivation and the motivation of the staff that drives them. And just pride – winning games.”

San Jose is last in the MLS standings, nine points behind second-worst New England Revolution and St. Louis City.

The Earthquakes have conceded the most goals in the league with 61 and are on track to surpass the MLS record of 75 allowed by then-expansion club FC Cincinnati in 2019.

Despite its struggles, San Jose has shown defensive improvement under Russell, who replaced Luchi Gonzalez in late June. The club has allowed 10 goals and kept one clean sheet in Russell’s six games as interim coach.

–Field level media