The Major League Soccer returns with a fresh set of fixtures as Real Salt Lake and Dallas go head to head at the Rio Tinto Stadium on Sunday morning.
Both sides head into the weekend off the back of contrasting results, with the hosts seeing off Houston Dynamo and the Hoops suffering a narrow home defeat at the hands of Vancouver Whitecaps.
Match preview
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Real Salt Lake returned to winning ways last Sunday as they held their own to see out a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo when the two sides squared off at the Shell Energy Stadium.
Diogo Goncalves and Diego Luna scored on either side of Ezequiel Ponce‘s 16th-minute equaliser to hand the visitors a first-half lead before they turned in a solid defensive display in the second half to see out the result.
Having failed to win their opening three matches across all competitions, Real Salt Lake have now picked up two wins from their most recent three outings, seeing off Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo on either side of a 3-1 loss against debutants San Diego FC.
Pablo Mastroeni‘s men come into the 2025 MLS campaign looking to build on their performance from last year, when they secured a third-placed finish in the Western Conference before crashing out of the playoffs in the first round courtesy of a 6-5 aggregate defeat against Minnesota United in their beat-of-three clash.
While Real Salt Lake will be looking to secure consecutive league wins for the first time this season, next up is the challenge of an opposing side who are unbeaten in five of their last six meetings, claiming three wins and two draws since July 2022.
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Dallas, on the other hand, were condemned to back-to-back defeats for the first time in the new campaign last Sunday when they suffered a 1-0 loss against Vancouver Whitecaps at the Toyota Stadium.
Following a goalless first half, the Whitecaps were rewarded for their sustained period of dominance as Tristan Blackmon broke the deadlock in the 54th minute to hand them a fifth win in seven matches across all competitions.
Prior to that, Dallas suffered their first defeat of the season on March 9, when they were beaten then 3-1 by Chicago Fire after conceding three goals in the final nine minutes at the Toyota Stadium.
Having kicked off the 2025 MLS campaign with a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo on February 23, Eric Quill‘s men have managed just one point from their subsequent three outings and this has been owing to their struggles at the back, where they have conceded seven goals since the season opener.
While Dallas will be looking to find their feet this weekend, results on the road offer little optimism as they have managed just two wins from their last 15 competitive away games while losing eight and claiming six draws since May 2024.
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Team News
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Real Salt Lake will have to cope without several players down the spine of the team as Zavier Gozo, Aiden Hezarkhani and 17-year-old defender Gio Villa are all on international duty.
Luna has been included in the United States’ 23-man squad for March’s international break while Dominik Marczuk has been named in Poland’s Under-21 squad.
As for Dallas, Maarten Paes has been called up to the Indonesian national team for the World Cup qualifying ties against Australia and Bahrain while Nolan Norris earns a spot in the United States’ Under-20 squad.
On the injury front, this weekend’s visitors remain without the midfield duo of Paxton Pomykal and Angolan international Show, who have been ruled out through knee and leg injuries respectively.
They are joined on the club’s injury table by 23-year-old defender Geovane Jesus, who continues his lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining a cruciate ligament injury.
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
Cabral; Hidalgo, Glad, Vera, Junqua; Ojeda, Eneli; Wolff, Goncalves, Ruiz; Piol
Dallas possible starting lineup:
Collodi; Moore, Urhoghide, Ibeagha, Farfan; Ramiro, Lletget; Farrington, Acosta, Pedrinho; Musa
We say: Real Salt Lake 1-0 Dallas
Having stumbled into the new campaign, a run of two wins from their last three games has shown that while Real Salt Lake are capable of winning games, consistency remains their biggest hurdle. However, we predict Mastroeni’s men will make the most of their home advantage and come away with all three points against the floundering visitors.
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