Match Preview: Real Salt Lake in Need of Finding Road Form at Philadelphia on Friday

RSL (13-10-3, 42 points, 2nd in the Western Conference, 4th overall) travels to the Philadelphia Union to face the Eastern Conference side on Friday August 24th, 2012 at 5:30PM MDT.

Coming off a convincing 2 – 0 win against the Panamanian Tauro FC on Tuesday night in CONCACAF play, RSL has found some confidence to overcome their recent slump.  However, Real Salt Lake has struggled this season on the road, winning just 4 of the 12 road matches they have played.  The bright side is that RSL's last couple of road matches the team did actually play quite well but was unable to grind out a win.

RSL has unfortunately dropped a multitude of points in the Supporters Shield and playoff home field advantage races the last 2 months.  If the Claret and Cobalt is to make a serious run to claim the accolade and establish advantage in the playoffs they must some how find a way to get results in their last 9 MLS matches, 5 of which are on the road.

The Union (7-12-3, 24 points) has had their share of difficulties as well this season.  The club has seen several questionable trades of possible key players and had some controversial turnover in their coaching staff.

Philadelphia at the present is battling to claim a low seeded spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.  They view the match against RSL on Friday as a must win.

Union interim Head Coach, John Hackworth said in a press conference on Wednesday "I can't stress enough the importance of pulling maximum points from this match. However, it's certainly not going to be easy, with Real playing some really good soccer right now."

Sheanon Williams, the switch starting fullback for Philadelphia will miss match action due to picking up two yellow cards in their hotly contested match against DC United on Sunday.  Hackworth has stated that rookie fullback Raymon Gaddis will fill in for Williams.

Left back Gabriel Farfan picked up a knock in the same match on his left knee but is expected to start on Friday.

The Union expects RSL to come into their home with tired legs due to recent match congestion with MLS, CONCACAF and international play and travel.  They may be right, but underestimating the resiliency of the Royal side when at a disadvantage may prove to be a costly mistake for Philly.

As RSL is in dire need of getting points on the road I suspect we will see an aggressive offensive approach to the game against the Union?  I expect to see Real try to dominate the midfield possession, control the tempo of the match and look to create chances on goal often, pinning the Union around their 18 yard box, much like we witnessed against Tauro FC.

Real will need a full and complete effort from every player on the pitch to emerge victorious.

Likely to miss match action for RSL on Friday will be center backs Jamison Olave and Chris Schuler due to injury.  While both have returned to the practice pitch I don't expect to see them play in a match for a few weeks yet.  I suspect newly established stalwart Kwame Watson-Siriboe will start the match in place on the injured Olave.

Due to the aforementioned match congestion, predicting the starting lineup week in and week out is becoming more and more difficult.   However, I am predicting a starting 11 from back to front of GK Nick Rimando, DF Tony Beltran, DF Kwame Watson-Siriboe, DF Nat Borchers, DF Chris Wingert, MF Kyle Beckerman, MF Ned Grabavoy, MF Will Johnson, MF Javier Morales, FW Alvaro Saborio, FW Paulo Araujo Jr.

Of course I could be wrong about Paulo but as he has had two fairly effective starts in the last two fixtures against FC Dallas and Tauro FC, had several decent shots on frame against Tauro, notched an assist on Beckerman's goal against Tauro, effectively split the defense on a 40 yard run that inadvertently lead to Sabo's goal on the rebound of his shot, I think Jason will give him the nod to see if he can continue and improve on his recent form.

The match promises to be a nail bitter so be sure not to miss it.   Tune in to a rare nationally televised RSL match on NBC Sports at 5:30 to support or boys!

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