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RSL ready to host 'Quakes at Rio Tinto

Apr 30, 2015 - 8:14 PM Sandy, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Real Salt Lake will shoot to return to winning ways on Friday when the club welcomes the San Jose Earthquakes to Rio Tinto Stadium.

RSL claimed a 1-0 win over San Jose on April 5 in the clubs' first meeting of the season, but Jeff Cassar's team has been on an uncharacteristic run of poor form, including a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of the New England Revolution last time out.

RSL fell behind against the Revs in the 39th minute as Chris Tierney did well to cut inside on the left side of the pitch to beat his mark before uncorking and well-struck bending effort that snuck inside the far post past RSL goalkeeper Jeff Attinella.

The Revs doubled the lead two minutes prior to the break when Charlie Davies got in behind the RSL defense and let a strike go that was stopped by Attinella, but he left the rebound in front of the net and Agudelo was in perfect position to knock it home.

The Revs made it 3-0 five minutes into the second half when Charlie Davies got on the end of a cross from Scott Caldwell and nodded it home, and Caldwell got into the scoring mood with six minutes to play when he fired home his first career goal in Major League Soccer.

"There was a lot of things that were going wrong: poor giveaways, losing the second balls, getting ourselves in bad positions and not getting close enough," said Cassar. "There was multiple things that went wrong tonight."

"They're a solid team," added RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman. "I think they've been together now for a while, a lot of familiar guys. They got a nice front three with some guys coming off the bench that could be starters on other teams, and they're a good team."

San Jose, meanwhile, had last week off, but will try to rebound from a 2-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls on April 17.

The 'Quakes fell behind in the 29th minute when Felipe Martins looked to find Bradley Wright-Phillips at the top of the six-yard box, but last year's Golden Boot winner couldn't redirect the effort on target. Instead, Sacha Kljestan popped up at the far post to give New York a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Mike Grella netted his second MLS goal just six minutes later to give the Red Bulls some breathing room. Some poor defending from San Jose allowed Lloyd Sam to pick out an unmarked Grella at the far post, as his first-time effort beat 'Quakes goalkeeper David Bingham to double the Red Bulls advantage.

The 'Quakes have won on two of their last four trips to Rio Tinto Stadium, but RSL won 2-0 on Oct. 11 of last year in Sandy, the only meeting of the year at their home ground. The Quakes haven't defeated RSL at home since the final meeting in 2012, a 5-0 San Jose victory that is the largest win in the all- time series.