Real Salt Lake resumes 1st place chase vs. lowly Earthquakes

It's the home stretch of the MLS regular season, and Real Salt Lake will look to close in on top spot in the Western Conference, aided by some new faces, when it hosts the last-place San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

With nine matches remaining, Real Salt Lake (12-5-8, 44 points) sits third in the West, five points shy of the first-place Los Angeles Galaxy with a game in hand. Six of those matches will be on RSL's home pitch, where it is 8-2-1.

Saturday is RSL's first match since Aug. 5, when it dropped its second and final match of Leagues Cup play, and could feature the debuts of some of the players acquired during the transfer window. Attackers Diogo Goncalves and Lachlan Brook will be available.

"My objective is to work hard, help the team and the club as much as possible, and obviously provide goals and assists to lift RSL to the highest level," Goncalves said earlier this month.

It's unknown if defender Javain Brown, acquired from the Vancouver Whitecaps, will be available, while Polish midfielder Dominik Marczuk will not debut this weekend.

RSL resumes its schedule on a season-high three-match winless skid (0-2-1) in MLS play. It has been outscored 7-3 in that stretch and is now without second-leading scorer Andres Gomez (13 goals), who was transferred to French side Stade Rennais. Captain Cristian Arango has 17 goals; no one else has more than six.

At the other end of the table, Earthquakes (4-19-2, 14 points) are looking to salvage what has so far been a miserable season.

"You can't always be the coach motivating them," interim coach Ian Russell said, per The Mercury News. "This is their job; they get paid to do this and they're playing for contracts as well. I think it's self-motivation as well as the staff pushing them. And just pride - win games."

San Jose is last overall in the MLS standings, nine points behind the second-worst New England Revolution and St. Louis City.

The Earthquakes have conceded a league-high 61 goals and are on pace to eclipse the MLS record 75 tallies allowed by FC Cincinnati in 2019, then an expansion side.

Despite its struggles, San Jose has shown defensive improvement under Russell, who replaced Luchi Gonzalez in late June. The club has allowed 10 goals and posted one clean sheet across Russell's six matches as interim coach.

--Field Level Media