By Todd Hayes
Real Salt Lake will take on two-time MLS Champion San Jose Earthquake this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
This will be the second home game for the first-year franchise, who will be looking to stay undefeated at home.
Real (1-2-1) will need to cool down the Quakes (1-1-2), who got their first win last Saturday against the Kansas City Wizards. RSL will also be looking to get back on track after a less then stellar performance against FC Dallas in a 3-0 loss.
Making the matter more complicated for Real is the suspension of center back Eddie Pope. Late in the game against FC Dallas, Pope got a red card for a tackle from behind on FC Dallas? Eddie Johnson. Johnson stayed down for several minutes, writhing in apparent pain before limping off the field.
Later, Johnson told the Dallas Morning News that he had taken a dive and was not injured on the play.
?Eddie [Johnson] needs to relook at his mentors,? RSL coach John Ellinger said afterwards in a news release. ?That definitely surprised me. I wouldn?t have thought that Eddie [Johnson] would do something like that, especially to someone like Eddie Pope, a fellow teammate on the national team.?
It was only the second red card Pope has received in his career.
Replacing Pope in the starting lineup will be Matt Behncke, who played against BYU in the Cougars? game against the RSL reserves on Wednesday. Behncke will need a solid game to get back in the good grace of Ellinger after being benched following the loss at Los Angeles three weeks ago.
Real?s Clint Mathis, who has been held scoreless since his return to MLS, had the game-winning assist last time Real played at Rice-Eccles. Forward Jason Kreis leads Real in scoring along with Brian Dunseth, a defender who is back in the league this year after spending last year playing in Sweden.
An intriguing matchup will be the Quakes? offense against RSL?s defense. San Jose, second in MLS with nine goals scored, is lead by Brian Ching, who has scored three goals and has two assists in the team?s four games. Real?s defense has given up just six goals, three of which came in the game against FC Dallas.
Notes: Real be without defender Jeff Stewart, who is out with a right knee injury. The Quakes will be without Danny Califf, who has a right knee MCL sprain. ? RSL first-round pick in MLS? SuperDraft in Januaury, Nikolas Besagno, saw his first action with the Real during the reserves? game against BYU.
