Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

Real Salt Lake returns home on Saturday, taking on an Austin FC side whose results can best be described as 'mixed' — literally, because they have a win, a draw and a loss to this point in the season. Here's what we can expect.

Absences

The following players remain out — I'll include a note about each if I'm able.

• Juan Jose Arias — groin — the injury report now says a "groin stress reaction" which doesn't sound great! I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever see Arias play for this club.
• Emeka Eneli — knee — it sounds like the club isn't anticipating he'll be back until after the World Cup break. I'll look to write something about this.
• Ari Piol — achilles — he remains out for the season
• DeAndre Yedlin — hamstring — sounds like he might be ready after this match, time will tell
• Tyler Wolff — shoulder — apparently this is an in-training separation, which is not great

The following are questionable

• Kobi Henry — hamstring — a preseason injury, glad to see he's on the mend
• Diego Luna — knee — it does sound like he's close and may play this weekend
• Victor Olatunji — eye — he's got some cool goggles now, must have been pretty bad. Should be available

No players have fully exited the injury report in the last week.

Predicted lineup

• GK: Cabral
• CB: Quinton, Glad, Engel
• RWB: Gozo
• LWB: Sanabria
• CM: Caliskan, Moisa
• FW: Hezarkhani, Guilavogui, Solans

Yeah, I'm predicting the same lineup as last week — I think that's probably accurate enough. A few areas where I feel less certain, though:

• Will Luca Moisa continue starting? Is Stijn Spierings available to start? I don't think Spierings will get the nod, if just because he hasn't played any minutes for the club yet, and it's clear that Pablo Mastroeni likes to ease players in when they come in later. I'm still honestly a little baffled that he didn't come in against Atlanta, but I'm not the coach, so who knows. (I would expect him to be an improvement over Griffin Dillon, just generally, though. If he's not, then we've probably overspent.)
• Speaking of Dillon, I wouldn't be surprised to see him starting over Moisa — just given the halftime sub last week. That may have been more about the yellow card than anything.
• Whatever the case, it sure feels like Pablo Ruiz just isn't a part of Pablo Mastroeni's plans.
• Is there a chance we see Zavier Gozo moved further forward at any point? My early skepticism about his role at right wing back has been put at some ease after the team figured out that he shouldn't be playing a true right back role.
• When will RSL be truly tested? The season opener against Vancouver was tentative and a little ugly, but it was also the season opener, and RSL was down a handful of important players. With the youngsters now fully operating from a position of strength, I think we have a much better opportunity to evaluate them. I don't know if it'll be against Austin, but I'm sure next week will be a battle.

Match details

• Time: Saturday, March 14, 7:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight
• Location: Real Salt Lake stadium, Sandy, Utah — with the awful new addition on the north end and all
• Stream: Apple TV (no MLS subscription required)

Team form

• Real Salt Lake: LWW — two wins for some early-season success
• Austin FC: DWL — one of each! Neat!