Real Salt Lake v New England Revolution: Porter´s visitors ´only scratching the surface´

Caleb Porter believes the New England Revolution are only “scratching the surface” of their true potential, with several key players back in form ahead of their visit to Real Salt Lake.

The Revs trounced CF Montreal 5-0 on the road last time out in a triumphant return to MLS action after the Leagues Cup break, moving within two points of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Former league MVP Carles Gil and winger Dylan Borrero both returned to action in that game after dealing with injury problems, and Porter senses his team have turned a corner at an ideal time.

“I don’t think it is a coincidence when [Borrero] and Carles left, we were not quite as fluid,” Porter said.

“We hung in, we hung around, we did it in different ways, we got a few draws and a win in the Leagues Cup. But you can see our level.

“That’s what we want it to look like, and better. We are just scratching the surface. We’ve got to keep pushing and stay really hungry.

“We’ve got to go back to work and work even harder next week. We’ve got a very difficult game against Salt Lake on the road.”

Real Salt Lake, meanwhile, sit third in the West but were beaten 2-0 by the struggling San Jose Earthquakes on their return to MLS action last week.

Coach Pablo Mastroeni believes his side tried to force the issue too much in that match, saying: “There are two sides of the coin, we looked like a side that hadn’t played for a few weeks, and what that does to the psyche is it doesn’t allow us to reset.

“That was the story. We weren’t sharp with the ball and we tried to force it. You have to build confidence in your attack.”

Destination: Salt Lake City #NERevs | @JetBlue pic.twitter.com/sdDupYtFVU

— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) August 29, 2024

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Real Salt Lake – Cristian Arango

Arango (17 goals) and the since-departed Andres Gomez (13 goals) are the first pair of Real Salt Lake team-mates to combine for 30 goals in a single regular season in club history.

With Gomez now in France with Rennes, it is now up to Arango to fire RSL to the postseason.

New England Revolution – Emmanuel Boateng

Six of Boateng’s 19 career MLS goals (including playoffs) have been scored against Real Salt Lake. The only other opponent he’s scored against more than once is FC Cincinnati (also three goals).

MATCH PREDICTION – REAL SALT LAKE WIN

This will be the first meeting between New England and Real Salt Lake in Utah since October 2018. RSL have not lost any of their last eight home matches against New England (six wins, two draws) dating back to 2008.

That may not change this weekend. RSL have only lost one of their last 24 home matches against Eastern Conference opponents (14 wins, nine draws), including going unbeaten through their last six (four wins, two draws).

New England have lost two of their last three MLS road games, with their last two ending in a 5-1 defeat (to the Philadelphia Union) and a 5-0 victory (at Montreal).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Real Salt Lake – 51.4%

New England Revolution – 23.9%

Draw – 24.7%