Nashville SC will put their undefeated season on the line on Saturday when they travel to Rio Tinto Stadium to face Real Salt Lake for the first time in their Major League Soccer existence.
The 2009 MLS Cup winners lost their first match of the season last Friday, 2-1, to San Jose, while Nashville are coming off their first win in 2021, beating the Eastern Conference-leading New England Revolution 2-0.
Match preview
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In an off-season marred in controversy due to some unpopular remarks made by their soon-to-be former owner Dell Loy Hansen, Freddy Juarez and his side have been able to put all that ugliness aside and focus on football.
There are still plenty of questions about who will take over ownership of the team from Hansen, but in the meantime, this side have done well to earn six points from their opening three matches, their best start to a regular season since 2012.
Salt Lake lost a lot of experience in midfield with the retirement of Kyle Beckerman and the departure of Corey Baird, but, so far, they have done fine without them, as loanee Anderson Julio has a pair of goals and is providing a lot of speed out wide.
Midfielder Damir Kreilach has helped fill the big shoes of Beckerman up to this point of the season, leading the team with three assists and playing a crucial role in this team's early success.
Juarez will be preaching to his squad the importance of playing hard for 90 minutes and never letting up, something they need to improve on, having conceded three of their four goals so far with less than 10 minutes remaining.
After a couple of rough defensive outings to begin the season, Gary Smith and his team have looked much more like the side that surprised everyone in 2020 by qualifying for the post-season.
Last Saturday, they shut down a versatile offensive unit in New England with Walker Zimmerman playing exceptionally well at the back and earning a spot in the MLS Team of the Week alongside his teammate Alex Muyl, who scored their second goal.
Nashville are a side built on defence, and those qualities have got this team back on track after having to fight back from two goals behind to earn two points in their first two matches in 2021.
That being said, this team have shown a desire to attack, recording double-digits in shots in every game so far and outshooting their opponents in all four matches as well.
In their second season in MLS, Nashville will hope to get their first road victory of the season this weekend, an area that they struggled with in their inaugural campaign, going winless in their opening seven fixtures.
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Team News
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Playing for his seventh club at the age of 25, Rubio Rubin is off to a good start in his career at Real Salt Lake, netting three times in his last two games, including a spectacular bicycle-kick goal in a losing effort against the San Jose Earthquakes.
Marcelo Silva will hope to reclaim his spot in central defence after being replaced by Erik Holt last Friday.
Silva and Justen Glad were solid together in the first two games of the season and have developed a strong partnership at the back.
As for Nashville, striker Dominique Badji has a hamstring problem, Daniel Rios is out with a foot injury and Abu Danladi is still nursing a muscle injury.
CJ Sapong scored his first goal for Nashville last weekend, while goalkeeper Joe Willis, who led the league with nine clean sheets a season ago, picked up his second straight shutout of this campaign last Saturday.
Real Salt Lake possible starting lineup:
Ochoa; Brody, Silva, Glad, Toia; Ruiz, Besler; Rusnak, Kreilach, Chang; Rubin
Nashville SC possible starting lineup:
Willis; Johnston, Zimmerman, Romney, Lovitz; McCarty, LaGrassa; Leal, Sapong, Muyl; Cadiz
We say: Real Salt Lake 1-2 Nashville SC
Containing Rubio Rubin is a tall order for any side as he has shown to be a handful for opposing defences and a clinical finisher in front of the goal.
However, Nashville have faced some dynamic strikers so far in 2021 and have performed well, shutting out Gonzalo Higuain and Inter Miami while also holding an offensively-gifted New England team scoreless last weekend.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Real Salt Lake win with a probability of 40.48%. A win for Nashville SC had a probability of 33.14% and a draw had a probability of 26.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Real Salt Lake win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.33%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.6%) and 2-0 (7.08%). The likeliest Nashville SC win was 0-1 (9.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.55%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.5% likelihood.
