Real Salt Lake is in the midst of its heaviest two weeks of travel all season.
After last weekend’s disaster of a weather-induced match postponement and a delayed flight home from D.C., RSL has yet again made the trip back east. This time they’ve crossed the border to land in Montreal.
“You just have to be used to it, and if you’re not you have to adapt quickly,” captain Kyle Beckerman said of travel in MLS. “It’s tough, it is. If you just take out the soccer part and just put in the travel, you’re going to be tired. So you’ve got to do the right things and just get it out of your mind and be ready to play.”
MLS is unique among soccer leagues in the amount of long-distance travel its teams endure within a season.
With teams in every corner of the continental United States and three in Canada, MLS teams traveled an average of roughly 1,060 miles to each away game in the 2014 season, according to American Soccer Analysis.
“The traveling is the hardest part for the players from Europe coming to MLS, that’s for sure,” said Albert Rusnák, who transferred to RSL from the Dutch club FC Groningen in January. “I think the recovery is a big part with traveling so much and playing games on the road. You have to look out for your body in between the games.”
The league allows charter planes for just four legs of travel in a season, with exceptions for extenuating circumstances, so MLS teams do most of their flying on commercial airlines.
RSL is scheduled to charter back home from Montreal, team administrator Tim Weaver said. That should ease some of the travel wear-and-tear ahead of a two-game week following Saturday’s match.
"Their front four are extremely dangerous and dynamic." -Mike Petke on Montreal pic.twitter.com/Sh1UYJpKw6
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) August 18, 2017
The team had to fly commercial to Montreal Thursday, however, with a layover in Minneapolis.
“Things like travel, weather, referees, whatever, they’re uncontrollable,” coach Mike Petke said. “If they were controllable we’d have a better flight pattern than we have on Thursday, without a layover and a full day [of travel].”
The approach, however, isn’t just, ‘suck it up and play.’
Petke and his staff are aware of the physical toll of traversing the country, and he said they’re constantly meeting with the athletic trainers and strength coaches to make sure they adjust their practice schedule and flying habits to keep the players in good fitness.
“All that put together should physically make them prepared for this game, and then it’s a mentality thing,” Petke said. “I think they have a strong mentality. They proved that in D.C. after all that went on there, and now it’s just about the next game.”
After facing the Montreal Impact at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the remainder of RSL’s regular season road games will be in the west.
Real Salt Lake at Montreal Impact<br>At Saputo Stadium, Montreal<br>Kickoff » 5:30 p.m.<br>TV » KMYU<br>Radio »700 AM<br>Records » RSL 8-12-5, MTL 9-8-6<br>Last meeting » 1-1 draw (July 9, 2016 at Rio Tinto Stadium)<br>About the Impact » The Impact enter the match on a three-game winning streak. …. Ignacio Piatti has scored four goals in his last three appearances. …Montreal’s recent winning streak moved it up to seventh in the Eastern Conference. … Defender Ambroise Oyongo remains out with a season-ending knee surgery. … Midfielders Marco Donadel and Hernan Bernardello are questionable for the match.<br>About RSL » RSL is on a six-match unbeaten streak in three away and three home games. …. RSL has never won at Montreal (0-2-0) but is even with the Impact in the all-time series (2-2-1). … RSL’s Jordan Allen, Omar Holness and Chad Barrett remain out (knee surgeries). ...Matt Van Oekel (ankle) and Demar Phillips (hamstring) will be sidelined with injuries.