Crew-Real Salt Lake Preview

Though the Columbus Crew boast the MLS leaders in goals and assists, they still haven't gotten untracked on the road.

They'll look to change that when they visit short-handed Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.

The Crew (5-6-5) ended a six-match winless streak away from home with a 2-1 victory over New England on Wednesday. Kei Kamara scored in the fourth and 50th minutes to increase his league-leading goal total to 12.

"He just finds himself in great spots," midfielder Ethan Finlay told the team's official website. "The ball and him, it's like a magnet, they are finding each other."

Finlay, who tops the league with nine assists, set up Kamara's second goal and has assisted on four of his goals this year.

Kamara has scored once in 12 career matches against Real Salt Lake despite recording 20 shots with six on goal.

Columbus has a minus-eight road goal differential while going 0-4-3, getting blanked five times. The team averages 0.6 goals on the road compared to 2.1 at home.

RSL (5-6-6), shut out three times in its last five matches, is 3-1-4 at home. Salt Lake has outscored Columbus 12-3 while going 4-1-0 in the last five matchups there.

"It's a tougher environment to play for sure. You're dealing with altitude, (it's) always a packed house; they play very well at home," Crew captain Michael Parkhurst said. "It'll be a difficult game for us, especially with the travel."

Salt Lake won't be at full strength after captain Javier Morales and defender Demar Phillips received red cards in Wednesday's 1-0 loss at New York. Nick Rimando made six saves to keep the score respectable in spite of a 23-4 disadvantage in shots.

Coach Jeff Cassar said the call against Phillips in particular was "extremely weak and awful."

"No one got hurt and we got a red card," Cassar said. "It's just unacceptable."

Morales is tied for the team lead with nine goals, while Phillips has made nine starts. RSL is 1-3-1 without Morales, getting outscored 10-3.

Alvaro Saborio, who has three goals, is not expected to rejoin the team until after the Gold Cup as he plays for Costa Rica. Rimando and captain Kyle Beckerman have been selected by the United States but aren't expected to report to the squad until next week.

The Crew have gone 5-2-1 in the last eight meetings with Salt Lake, playing to a 1-all draw in Columbus in last year's only meeting June 4.