RSL will play spoiler role in final game of season against first-place Sporting Kansas City

Real Salt Lake has already been eliminated from playoff contention. Much of the team is already in reflection mode.

But there’s still a game to play against Sporting Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. Kansas City is playing for first place in the Western Conference, while RSL is essentially playing for pride.

The game comes with some intrigue that has nothing to do with what will transpire on the field. Both teams have had a player test positive for the coronavirus in recent days. SKC reported theirs on Thursday, while RSL announced theirs Friday. The game will continue as scheduled after both teams reported that all other first team players and staff have tested negative.

Sporting is also coming off a relatively long layoff after its Oct. 31 game against Minnesota United was canceled due to two Loons players testing positive for COVID-19.

Sunday’s match will also be a farewell game for RSL defender Nedum Onuoha, who announced his retirement. The club will honor him before kickoff.

But there will be plenty to watch on the field as well. RSL coach Freddy Juarez said his message to the team was it has to end the season with the right mentality and secure a win so it can start next season off the right way.

“We owe it to the fans,” Juarez said Friday via videoconference. “We owe it to ourselves.”

It’s been a difficult season for RSL, which made the playoffs each of the last to seasons and did so comfortably in 2019. But 2020 saw Real struggle mightily with finishing scoring chances and giving up too many easy goals on defense.

Defender Justen Glad said scoring some goals is the team’s main focus heading into Sunday.

“We’re focusing on finishing plays,” Glad said. “There’s been a little bit of a scoring drought. I think that’s the first thing we’re focusing on.”

Glad added that the team wants to get the win against SKC, which has been a rival for several years. While he knows that Sporting is formidable this season, he described the goal as “doable.”

Salt Lake hasn’t recorded a win in seven of its last eight games. Two of those games have been scoreless draws. The last time RSL won was a 2-1 result at home against the Portland Timbers.

But even though RSL technically has nothing to play for, Sporting doesn’t intend to take their rival lightly.

“I know that Salt Lake is a team that we always have very, very big games against. We don’t expect anything less from them,” SKC coach Peter Vermes told local media Thursday. “They will give everything that they have. It’s just the kind of team that they are.”

RSL midfielder Albert Rusnák said Friday that he won’t be available against SKC. He was called up to his national team, Slovakia, for a slate of three games, including one Nov. 12 against Northern Ireland for a chance to play in the 2020 European Championship.

Seeing as it’s the last game of the year, it stands to reason that Juarez might give some playing time to a few of the younger players on the roster. But he said the finality of the season is not how he will decide who to play.

“There’s some ideas out there,” Juarez said. “But we’re not going to give young guys shots if they didn’t put in the work to get there. I think that’s counterproductive. What message does that send to the rest of the guys? … We can’t just have this mentality of just giving away things when it’s not deserved or hasn’t been earned.”