Real Salt Lake boasts the newest soccer-specific venue in Major League Soccer, spectacular 20,000-seat Rio Tinto Stadium, which opened in October just south of downtown Salt Lake City. Considering D.C. United’s latest struggles to build a new home, they should be envious.
Instead, they couldn’t be more excited.
“I think everybody’s very happy to not play in that disaster of a stadium they were playing at before,” said United midfielder Ben Olsen of RSL’ former home, the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium. “It was terrible. Not only was the turf not great, but whatever was under it made the ball bounce ridiculously high. It was just a full-blown blood fest every time, not to mention we didn’t have the best results there.”
Not only has United (1-0-2) lost in it’s last three visits to Utah, including a 4-0 debacle last year, the team is also coming off a season in which it won just two of 21 matches away from home in all competitions.
“We struggled last year on the road,” said United midfielder Santino Quaranta. “This game this weekend’s going to be tough, especially because I think they’re a better team than L.A. at this point in the season. They do well at their place, and it’s going to be a good test to see where we are.”
With four goals in three games, United’s offense is still a work in progress, but it’s unlikely to be focal point against a potent opponent like Salt Lake (1-1-0).
“I think early in the year you want to make sure you take care of the defensive things first,” said Soehn. “Then as the season develops, the offense will come together, and you’ll create more opportunities. But to win games, you don’t need 20 opportunities. You need two, three, four really good ones.”
