Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Major League Soccer clash between Real Salt Lake and Vancouver Whitecaps, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
With third place in the MLS Western Conference still a possibility, Real Salt Lake wrap up the regular season against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday at America First Field.
Claret and Cobalt are tied with the Seattle Sounders for third following a 1-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes, while the Whitecaps are desperate to avoid having to play in the wild-card round, currently sitting eighth after a dramatic 2-1 defeat versus Los Angeles FC.
Match preview
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Pablo Mastroeni has guided Real Salt Lake into the post-season for a fourth successive campaign, claiming 56 points domestically thus far.
A victory this weekend would set a new single-season club record for points in MLS, a record which has stood since 2012 (57 points).
Heading into this encounter, RSL have points in five successive league fixtures, failing to concede on consecutive occasions.
Seattle have one more victory than them, which is the only thing keeping RSL from third place, meaning that Salt Lake need to better the Sounders’ result on Saturday.
RSL have points in four successive domestic home fixtures, though their last victory in Sandy, Utah, came in mid-September against Dallas (3-2).
In 2024, they are undefeated versus Canadian opposition, coming away with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory in their previous meeting with the Caps near the beginning of the season.
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The Vancouver Whitecaps have picked a bad time to cool off, losing for a third successive match in this competition last weekend.
That is their longest losing run in MLS since 2022 (three), while they are in danger of losing at least four in a row for the first time since the 2020 campaign (five).
Vanni Sartini‘s men have claimed a mere two points from their previous six domestic affairs, with their last MLS victory taking place at home versus the San Jose Earthquakes in mid-September.
The Caps are winless in their last two league contests away from home but have at least a point in five of their previous six road games in this competition.
All but one of their league victories this season have come versus Western Conference opponents (4-0 win over Toronto), with all of their road victories this year coming against their own conference.
Not since the 2020 regular season have the Whitecaps come away with three points against RSL in Utah, claiming a 2-1 triumph in September of that year.
Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer form:
Vancouver Whitecaps Major League Soccer form:
Vancouver Whitecaps form (all competitions):
Team News
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In their victory over the Quakes, RSL did not have Pablo Ruiz at their disposal as he is out for the year with a torn ACL, while Kevin Bonilla is also done for the season because of a knee injury.
Mastroeni is going to be without Brayan Vera, who will be suspended for two games for spitting at someone in an earlier match this season.
Diego Luna netted with 12 minutes remaining in their previous encounter, and Zac MacMath made two stops to collect a clean sheet.
On Sunday against LAFC, the Caps kept Belal Halbouni on the bench with an illness, while Max Anchor was sidelined due to a finger injury.
Numerous players like captain Ryan Gauld, Andres Cubas, Ali Ahmed, Pedro Vite, Sam Adekugbe and Fafa Picault will return from the international break.
An own-goal courtesy of Sergi Palencia was all the Caps could manage against the Black and Gold, as they conceded the winner in the 93rd minute.
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
MacMath; Brown, Glad, Quinton, Brody; Ojeda, Crooks; Julio, Goncalves, Luna; Arango
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Takaoka; Utvik, Veselinovic, Blackmon; Raposo, Berhalter, Cubas, Schopf; Picault, White, Gauld
We say: Real Salt Lake 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps
The Whitecaps’ lack of depth has been evident in recent outings, and their lengthy slump is not an encouraging sign heading into this encounter and we project the altitude in Utah may get to them on Saturday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.