Real Salt Lake have had a good showing in the league recently, taking nine points from their last three games. This game will be Real’s fifth in fifteen days. LA Galaxy are five points and five places behind RSL, having tied and lost their last two games. With the dos Santos brothers away for the World Cup, will RSL be able to take advantage of this trip to LA? Albert is back Albert Rusnak has returned from international duty and should start this game. For the first time since he joined the club, starting him as the number ten may not be what’s best for the team. Kreilach impressed in his absence and looked much better there than as a defensive mid. Rusnak often plays on the wing for his national team, so we could see him there. That would be an experiment worth trying, as it would mean we could get Rusnank, Damir, Sunny, and Beckerman all on the field at the same time. Where Albert lines up is going to be key to both this game and perhaps RSL’s future. Backline vs the lion Not to overhype the man, but Zlatan Ibrahimović is very good at this sport. It’ll be fun to watch him but also fascinating to see how our backline and defensive mids deny Zlatan. The self-proclaimed lion has been dangerous in MLS, netting five goals in ten games played. There was a time, and not long ago, had Zlatan been playing when Ronaldo and Messi were not, he likely would’ve been considered the best in the world. He’s one to watch through his time on the field, and so is our defense’s response to him. Extending league points On Wednesday, RSL lost in the US Open Cup. It was a disappoint result, but starting the competition against SKC always meant the first challenge would be one of the most difficult. Petke made it very clear in the post match press conference that he was prioritizing league play against an Open Cup win. That puts a lot of weight on this game. RSL rested key players, many of whom had always played in their busy schedule, so we should see guys fairly fresh and ready to get a result in LA. Injury Report Out: Beltran (knee 10/15/17) Allen (knee 6/16/17) Barry (knee 3/10) Phillips (ankle 4/7) Horwath (achilles 4/18) Mulholland (back 5/2) Questionable: Plata (back 6/2) Predicted Line Up Rimando Lennon, Glad, M.Silva, Acosta Beckerman, Sunny Savarino, Kreilach, Rusnak Baird<doc-sep>Real Salt Lake will play their last game before the World Cup break on Saturday as they travel to Southern California to take on long-time rivals LA Galaxy. Although they made a quick US Open Cup exit with a 2-0 loss to SKC on Wednesday, RSL is riding high on a three-game winning streak in MLS play and will look to head into the short break on a high note. The rivalry between these two sides run deep, as they’ve traded wins back and forth over the years, ending up almost on an even keel. LA holds a slight edge in the all-time series, with a record of 14W-13L-9D in regular season play. Of the three meetings between the teams last year, each side won once and ended the series with a 1-1 draw at the StubHub Center. RSL’s win in LA, however, is widely seen as the turning point of the 2017 season as they crushed the Galaxy by a score of 6-2, after which they would go on to be arguably the best team in the Western Conference for the remainder of the season, despite narrowly missing out on the playoffs. Real Salt Lake Record: 7-6-1 (22 points) Table: 3rd place (west), 7th place (overall) Points per game: 1.57 (T-9th in MLS) Most goals: Corey Baird (4) Most assists: Damir Kreilach (4) Clean sheets: 4 Form: WLWWW On a roll So, this is a very different conversation we’re having now compared to a week or two ago. Real Salt Lake, once near the bottom of the table, banked nine points in three games to catapult themselves to third place in the Western Conference, just six points behind first-place Sporting Kansas City. Two of those games came without star midfielder Albert Rusnak, who’s been away on international duty. In his absence, Mike Petke opted to push Damir Kreilach up to the attacking midfield role and play Sunny in the holding mid spot, which seemed to work out really, really well for the team. That begs the question: what will be Petke’s strategy now that Rusnak has returned from the Slovakian national team? Surely Albert will be starting in his normal spot, but with how well Sunny and Kyle Beckerman played together, will he choose to bench Kreilach in LA to see if he can keep that defensive midfield pairing going? Or will he get a little crazy and leave Kyle as the lone holding midfielder, while pushing Kreilach up further to play next to Rusnak? New goal leader Corey Baird, who is on an absolute tear as of late, successfully notched his fourth goal of the season with the game-winner against Seattle last week, and now alone holds the title of the team’s leading goal scorer on the season. This speaks volumes for the youngster who has clearly won the starting spot at center forward over teammate Luis Silva — who has also been playing pretty decently when he gets the opportunity. Los Angeles Galaxy Record: 5-7-2 (17 points) Table: 8th place (west), 15th place (overall) Points per game: 1.21 (T-15th in MLS) Most goals: Ola Kamara (5), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (5) Most assists: Emmanuel Boateng (4), Ashley Cole (4) Clean sheets: 4 Form: LWWLD Mediocre at best With the addition of superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has notched five goals and three assists through 10 games, I’m sure LA expected to be a little higher in the table than they are currently. Since Zlatan came on board, they’ve only put together four wins in 11 games, while losing five and adding a single draw. It speaks more to the idea that one player can’t necessarily save a whole team’s season. Fresh off a 1-1 draw on the road against Portland, and a 3-2 loss at home to Dallas before that, LA will look to head into the break by securing a home win against a side that has only won once on the road all season. Fresh attacking faces While LA sent away long-time staple Gyasi Zardes to Columbus in the offseason, they picked up top-notch striker Ola Kamara in return, who has exploded this season to bank five goals for the Galaxy. Pairing alongside Ibrahimovic, their attack has the potential to be extremely dangerous. While their record doesn’t bode well for how good they could be, they’ve scored seven goals in their last five games. Unfortunately for them, the defense couldn’t hold it down as they also allowed seven goals, although to be fair, six of those goals came from FC Dallas who handed them two 3-2 losses within four weeks of each other. LA has only won three of their seven games at home this season, while losing the other four outright. If they keep up that trend, that should strongly play to RSL’s advantage while they’ve been playing some of their best soccer all season the last couple weeks. Real Salt Lake will take a week off for the World Cup, resuming MLS play on June 23rd as they host the San Jose Earthquakes. LA will be off until July 1st, at which point they’ll travel to San Jose to take on the Earthquakes themselves. Absences Real Salt Lake OUT: Tony Beltran (knee), Jordan Allen (knee), Alex Horwath (achilles surgery), Shawn Barry (knee), Demar Phillips (ankle), Luke Mulholland (back) QUESTIONABLE: Joao Plata (quad) LA Galaxy OUT: Bradford Jamieson IV (concussion), Rolf Feltscher (shoulder) QUESTIONABLE: -none- Expected lineups RSL: Rimando; Lennon, M Silva, Glad, Acosta; Sunny, Beckerman; Savarino, Rusnak, Saucedo; Baird LAG: Bingham; Romney, Ciani, Skjelvik, Cole; Carrasco, Kitchen; Alessandrini, Lletget, Boateng; Kamara Match info When: Saturday, June 9, 8:30PM MT Where: StubHub Center — Carson, CA Weather: 75 degrees, clear Broadcast: KMYU, KSL TV app (streaming), ESPN+ (streaming), ESPN700 (radio) Referee: Ted Unkel<doc-sep>Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a brace off a pair of headers as the Galaxy celebrated 15 years at the StubHub Center with a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake Saturday night. Sigi Schmid’s side did not look good to start the match, with LA struggling once again to generate anything in attack with Zlatan up top and Ola Kamara on the wing. Notably the Galaxy back line dodged a number of bullets, with RSL either lacking the final touch or individual brilliance saving LA’s bacon. At some point the Galaxy switched to a 3-5-2 formation, and the team began to click offensively. LA carried that momentum into the second half, and after a series of agonizing near misses the breakthrough came in the 61st minute: Chris Pontius sliced a hopeful cross to the far post and Nick Rimando made a hash of the clearance, gifting Ibra the easiest of headers to nod home. Six minutes later, Zlatan had his brace when Servando Carrasco was given time and space to float a cross from the left flank to the 6’5” target forward, and Ibra outmuscled center back Justen Glad before re-directing a header past a helpless Nick Rimando. The hard working Ola Kamara put the game out of reach in the 76th minute, accepting a square ball from the excellent Bradford Jamieson IV and sliding a low shot past Rimando to secure all three points for LA heading into the World Cup break.<doc-sep>Zlatan Ibrahimovic won’t play in the World Cup, so he made sure to give the fans something to remember over the coming break. On a night in which the promotional giveaway for the Galaxy was a set of postcards commemorating the 15th anniversary of StubHub Center, Ibrahimovic gave them something to write home about. He scored two goals on headers in the second half to lead the Galaxy to a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake on Saturday. The victory allowed the Galaxy to go into the three-week MLS break on a positive note as they are unbeaten in four of their last five games (3-1-1), their best streak since May 2017. Advertisement Ibrahimovic played his last game before he leaves for the World Cup, not to play but because of sponsorship opportunities. He took advantage of two chances in front of the net within a five-minute span to energize the 25,462 spectators, who offered up cheers as he left in the 86th minute with his arms raised. David Bingham recorded his fifth shutout. “This is what we want every game, to win 3-0,” Ibrahimovic said. “It’s important to keep the zero, for the confidence for the defensive side and let’s say the whole team [as well]. We scored three goals. We took [advantage] of the opportunity that we have. It was a good win. I’m happy, and you can see that everybody’s happy.” Ibrahimovic headed in his first goal from the left side after goalie Nick Rimando tapped the ball up. Chris Pontius made the initial throw-in on the possession. Ibrahimovic made it 2-0 with a redirected header off Servando Carrasco’s pass as the ball rolled to the left corner of the goal. Ola Kamara made it 3-0 when he converted Pontius’ pass on the left side. Kamara returned from international duty with Norway, although he didn’t start in Norway’s game amid speculation of injury. He appeared to fight through two injuries Saturday and showed chemistry with Ibrahimovic. “I always want to play together with him, on top,” Kamara said. “In a couple of games, when both of us have been playing striker, I think it’s looked a little bit like it has today, so I think it’s a good thing for this team.” The Galaxy played without Romain Alessandrini because of a slight quad strain, coach Sigi Schmid said. Advertisement “He should be able to go next weekend,” Schmid said. Schmid did not have an update on Sebastian Lletget, who left early in the second half because of an ankle injury, Schmid said. His absence meant the insertion of Bradford Jamieson, who gave the Galaxy a spark in his first MLS game since October. Jamieson had been out since January because of a concussion before playing and scoring in the Galaxy’s U.S. Open Cup victory Wednesday. “I had the opportunity to try to show some work that I’ve been putting in and offer something to these guys,” Jamieson said. Advertisement The Galaxy spent long stretches on the attack in the first half but came up empty despite two terrific tries. curtis.zupke@latimes.com Twitter: @curtiszupke<doc-sep>
Entering into their fifth game in the last 15 days, RSL is ready to travel to LA and take on the Galaxy. Having rested all of their starters during Wednesday’s US Open Cup game, they should be loose and ready to run come Saturday night. What might we see from each team as they come into their last game before the World Cup break? Let’s talk about it! As has been mentioned in other articles this week, the biggest question facing Mike Petke and Real Salt Lake is how to re-integrate Albert Rusnak back into the side, having recently returned from international duty with Slovakia. I would like to talk about several different possibilities that I think we could see from the team. The first possibility (and least likely) is that Petke decides to stick with the current mojo and leave Albert on the bench. We would then see Sunny and Beckerman in the midfield, Saucedo and Savarino on the wings, and Kreilach playing the 10 underneath Corey Baird. I think this is extremely unlikely simply due to the fact that Rusnak is currently the best player on RSL’s roster. We lose a lot more than we gain by keeping him off of the pitch. The next possibility is that we see Rusnak replace Corey Baird in the lineup, and see him play as a false 9. We have seen that Mike Petke’s system can be played well by a player playing a false 9, as that is typically how Luis Silva plays the role when he is in the side. Rusnak definitely has all the skill necessary to play as a false 9, and has a little more pace that Luis Silva does, which could bode well. This possibility would leave the midfield intact with how it has been during recent games, which has been working well for the Claret and Cobalt. Another possibility is that we see Rusnak come back in as the number 10, and then see Kreilach replace Corey Baird and play as the 9. This would keep Kreilach’s ball and header winning ability high up the pitch, and provide the opportunity for him to win balls and play them to the two wingers making runs off of his position. The last possibility that I want to talk about is that we see Kreilach stay at the number 10, and instead see Rusnak play as one of the wingers. As has been mentioned previously in other articles, Rusnak does mostly play on the wing for the Slovakian National Team, so it is a position he is familiar with and plays well even at the international level. My guess is that he would come in on the left wing, replacing Bofo Saucedo. Regardless of what Mike Petke decides to do with the team tonight, it is definitely obvious that there are several players stepping up their game and making some of these decisions extremely difficult for him. As a fan, that is something I love to see from the team and I hope that it continues to show in a good run of form. LA Galaxy come into this game having played 14 MLS games, the same number as Real Salt Lake. Thus far this season, they have compiled a record of 5-7-2, good for 17 points and 8th place in the Western Conference. They have scored 19 goals in their 14 matches, led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ola Kamara who have each scored 5 goals. The Galaxy have conceded 23 goals thus far this season. The biggest talking point with LA this season has of course been the addition of Zlatan to the team, as well as exactly how he fits into the team. There is a lot of discussion that LA actually play better without Zlatan on the field, despite his contribution when he is on the field. With Giovanni and Jonathan Dos Santos both away on World Cup duty, it seems to me that it is much more likely that we see Zlatan start the game. His location on the field is something that the RSL defense is going to have to be hyper aware of at all times, as he is a master at picking apart defenses and creating goals out of nothing. The Galaxy typically line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and I don’t expect to see anything different from them in this game.