Real Salt Lake head coach Pablo Mastroeni is looking forward to seeing how his new players settle in, with Houston Dynamo next up in MLS.
RSL brought in five new faces in the transfer window, with some of those introduced during their 2-0 win over New England Revolution last time out.
They currently sit third in the Western Conference, five points behind leaders LA Galaxy, and with teams below them starting to close in.
And with only seven games left of the regular season, Mastroeni is eager to get the new players integrated as soon as possible.
"A lot of problems to solve, but it allows us to collaborate as a team and figure out on the fly quickly how these new players can bring their skill sets to make our team better," he told KSL Sports Zone.
"It completely changes the dynamic of everything up to this point, but if we play with the right mentality, aggressive on both sides of the ball, then the acclimation of the new players will be much easier as the players show what our standards are."
Meanwhile, Houston have lost just two of their last 13 MLS matches and sit seventh in the table.
They have a good record against RSL too, losing just one of their nine meetings, and Ben Olsen is excited to face off against them once more.
"They're fun games," Olsen said. "We continue to look at the schedule and Salt Lake keep popping up.
"They're a very good team, if not a little bit different. We'll have to be at our best and defensively sound like we were against LAFC, but a little sharper in and around the goal."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Houston Dynamo – Steve Clark
Houston Dynamo played Los Angeles FC in back-to-back MLS games, winning one and drawing the other without conceding a single goal.
It is the first time the Dynamo have kept a clean sheet in consecutive games since March this year, when they registered consecutive 1-0 wins over Portland Timbers and Colorado Rapids.
Real Salt Lake – Braian Ojeda
Braian Ojeda got his second assist of the MLS season last weekend in Real Salt Lake's 2-0 win over New England Revolution.
However, he also had the most touches (88), made the most passes (67), with more accurate passes than any of his team-mates.
MATCH PREDICTION: HOUSTON DYNAMO WIN
This will be the ninth meeting between the Dynamo and Real Salt Lake since the start of the 2023 season. Houston have won four of the nine meetings (D3 L1) with Real Salt Lake's only win coming in the first meeting of this year's regular season, a 3-2 home win on July 3.
However, Houston have won just three of their last 13 home matches in all competitions (D7 L3) dating back to late March. One of those three wins was a 3-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in the Leagues Cup on August 5.
Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake have won only one of their last 10 away matches in all competitions (D5 L4) dating back to the beginning of May, including losing two straight away from home for the first time in 2024, with the second of those the 3-0 loss at Houston in the Leagues Cup.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Houston Dynamo – 50.2%
Draw – 25.2%
Real Salt Lake – 24.6%
Hull City 0-2 Sheffield United: Hamer and McCallum goals send Blades third
Sheffield United continued their fine start to the Championship with a comfortable 2-0 win away to Hull City.
Goals from Gustavo Hamer and Sam McCallum were enough to give Chris Wilder's side victory and send them up to third in the table.
The home side made an encouraging start to the game but fell behind after a stunning Blades counter-attack, with Callum O'Hare driving forward before playing in Hamer, who gave keeper Ivor Pandur no chance with a neat finish.
Hull went close to equalising through Abdulkadir Omar's free-kick, but he was thwarted by a flying save from Michael Cooper in the Sheffield United goal.
The away side doubled their advantage in the second half as substitute McCallum swept in a fine effort from Andre Brooks' cutback.
Marvin Mehlem nearly handed the Tigers a way back into the encounter, but his header crashed against the crossbar, leaving Hull 19th in the table, still without a league win this campaign.
Data debrief: Blades make best start in 12 years
With three wins and two draws under their belt in the Championship, Sheffield United will be proud of how they have adapted to life back in the second tier.
It marks their best start to a campaign since the 2012-13 season, which saw them go unbeaten in their first 16 games in League One.
Wilder also continued his good record as Blades boss at MKM stadium, winning a fourth successive match away to Hull after losing in February 2018, in his first spell in charge.
Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Heidenheim: Adeyemi stars with brace to inspire win
Karim Adeyemi scored twice and set up another goal as Borussia Dortmund earned a 4-2 victory over visitors Heidenheim on Friday.
Adeyemi first set up Donyell Malen, who drilled his low shot through Kevin Muller to give the hosts the lead in the 12th minute.
The 22-year-old then doubled their advantage six minutes later with his first goal after completing a textbook break five minutes later.
Heidenheim briefly cut the deficit with Marvin Pieringer's powerful header after 39 minutes, but Dortmund restored their two-goal cushion before the break with Adeyemi's low drive wrongfooting the goalkeeper.
The visitors set up a nervy finish after being awarded a 74th-minute penalty for a foul by Niklas Sule on Mikkel Kaufmann, with Maximilian Breunig confidently hitting the back of the net.
But Dortmund earned a spot kick themselves in stoppage time thanks to Omar Traore's handball, and Emre Can coolly slotted in to make it 4-2.
Data Debrief: Home advantage
While it looked like Dortmund may be in for a nervy ending after Heidenheim's late penalty, that was not the case, and it means they extend an impressive home record.
The Black and Yellow are unbeaten in 37 Bundesliga home games on a Friday since a 1-0 loss to Schalke in January 2004, which is a league record, level with Werder Bremen between 1984 and 1991).
Dortmund are unbeaten so far this campaign, but Heidenheim's six-match winning run in all competitions is now at an end.
Vancouver Whitecaps v San Jose Earthquakes: Gauld not expecting easy game against struggling visitors
Ryan Gauld says Vancouver Whitecaps will not treat the visit of San Jose Earthquakes as an "easy game" as they look to get back to winning ways in MLS.
Vancouver have lost just one of their last eight league matches but fired a blank for just the second time at home this season in a 0-0 draw with FC Dallas last time out.
They sit sixth in the Western Conference, but a win, coupled with defeats for Seattle Sounders and Colorado Rapids, could see them move up the table.
Gauld is prepared for a tough fight though, despite how it looks on paper.
"We've got to treat it like any other game," said the captain. "They're at the bottom, but they've still got a lot of good players that can hurt us if we're not at our best.
"If you look at the standings, someone can say that [Saturday] is an easy game. But it's not. We need to play a very good game."
San Jose have won only five games this season, though one of those came in their last road match, beating high-flying Real Salt Lake 2-0.
Interim head coach Ian Russell is hoping they can build on that result as they try to finish the season on a high.
"It's going to be a good road trip for us to play quality opponents," Russell said. "It's a place where we won last year, and we'll look to get a result again.
"We need to start better in Vancouver than we did in our last game [against Minnesota United]. We have to go out on the front foot and try to put them under pressure. We have to get points on the road now, and it's going to be a really good test for us."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Vancouver Whitecaps – Mathias Laborda
Vancouver's goalless draw with Dallas on Saturday marked just the second time they failed to score in a home match this regular season (0-0 vs. Austin on May 4).
It was not for lack of trying though, as they had 21 shots (though just four on target). Mathias Laborda had five of those efforts, creating 0.4 expected goals, though only tested the goalkeeper with one of those.
San Jose Earthquakes – Ousseni Bouda
Ousseni Bouda scored the Earthquakes' lone goal in their defeat to Minnesota United on August 31.
Bouda is the seventh different player to score one of San Jose's last seven MLS goals dating back to June 19, as no 'Quakes player has more than one goal in league play in that time.
MATCH PREDICTION: VANCOUVER WHITECAPS WIN
The Whitecaps ended a five-match winless run against San Jose (D2 L3) with a 2-0 road win on March 9. Vancouver have only recorded consecutive wins over the Earthquakes once in the last nine years, doing so during the 2018 season.
Vancouver have lost only one of their last eight regular season matches (W5 D2) following a scoreless draw with Dallas on Saturday. The Whitecaps have kept consecutive clean sheets in league play for the first time since October 2023.
However, San Jose defeated Real Salt Lake, 2-0, in their last away match on August 24, just the fourth win in the 'Quakes' last 42 away matches in all competitions. San Jose last won consecutive away matches in all competitions in July 2019, with the second of those being a 3-1 win in Vancouver.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Vancouver Whitecaps – 61.8%
Draw – 20.2%
San Jose Earthquakes – 18%
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
