Two teams near the top of their conferences will square off on Wednesday night on the Wasatch Front, when Real Salt Lake host the red-hot New York Red Bulls at Rio Tinto Stadium (10 pm ET; MLS LIVE).
The match is the MLS LIVE Game of the Week for Week 16, meaning it’ll be available on MLS LIVE everywhere in the US and Canada, with the exception of the MSG broadcast region in the New York area.
There are plenty of reasons to watch the midweek clash – here are the top five:
- RED BULLS AIM FOR TOP OF THE EAST: The Red Bulls enter Wednesday’s match as the hottest team in the league, having won their last four and six of their last eight in MLS play. The torrid run has erased New York’s brutal 1-6-0 start and a win or a draw Wednesday would put them atop the East.
- RARE SPOTLIGHT FOR RSL: Salt Lake have quietly gotten off to one of the best starts of any team in MLS, putting together a 7-4-3 record despite playing nine of their first 14 games on the road. RSL have the second-best points-per-game average in the league and have been very good at home, posting a 4-0-1 MLS record in Utah. If they can continue to take care of business in their remaining 12 home matches, they should be in contention for one of the West’s higher seeds come October.
- BATTLE OF ELITE NO.10s: Their games don’t necessarily look all that much alike, but there’s no denying that RSL’s Javier Morales and New York’s Sacha Kljestan are two of the top No. 10s in all of MLS. Kljestan is an early MVP contender, and, with 10 assists in the bag already, has a real shot to become just the second player in league history to notch 20 in a single season. Morales hasn’t put up the numbers this year – he only has one goal and two assists in 11 appearances – but he’s capable of turning a game on its head at any moment.
- GOALS, GOALS, GOALS: These two teams have plenty of attacking talent – and lots of goals to prove it. The Red Bulls enter Wednesday’s match second in the league with 26 goals scored, while RSL is just one behind, tied for third in MLS with 25. Each have a stable of excellent attacking players, with the Red Bulls boasting Kljestan, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Mike Grella and Lloyd Sam against RSL’s Morales, Burrito Martinez, Joao Plata and Yura Movsisyan.
- GOLDEN GOALKEEPERS: The Red Bulls and RSL have two of the most potent attacks in the league, and two of the top goalkeepers, too. 2015 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Luis Robles has backstopped four straight shutouts for the Red Bulls, while RSL’s Nick Rimando has long been one of the best in the league.
