(Monday, May 6, 2024) – For a third consecutive week, Real Salt Lake again places at least one player – this time, DF Brayan Vera – to be selected to Major League Soccer’s “Team of the Matchday” for Matchday 12 of the 2024 season, following his game-winning assist and dominant – if at times volatile – defensive performance in RSL’s 1-0 home win on Saturday.
Vera’s 81st-minute free kick from the right side of the attacking third, approximately 40 yards out, found the head of red-hot RSL Captain Chicho Arango, who found separation from his mark far post and headed the ball down off the ground and past Kansas City’s diving goalkeeper. Earlier in the match, Vera received his fifth yellow card of the season for assisting KC’s Daniel Salloi off the ground following an off-ball duel. During his 33-game RSL career over the past two seasons, Vera has three goals and three assists, mostly as a central partner to Justen Glad, but also seeing time at left back last season.
The game-winning goal in the final 15 minutes of the match marked RSL’s fourth such marker during its current seven-game unbeaten run, which has seen Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s side accrue five wins and two draws to ascend to first place in the West, holding the solo position atop the table this late in the season for the first time since August, 2013.
RSL now heads to Albuquerque midweek for its 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup debut and then on to LA Galaxy in Southern California on the weekend, boasting a 3-1-2 record away from home this year, winning on the road in Vancouver on March 23 and at Chicago on April 20, prior to the April 27 win in Philadelphia. Mastroeni’s road warriors have scored first in four of its seven road matches this season, settling for draws at St. Louis on Feb. 24 and at Minnesota on April 6, winning at Chicago and Philadelphia. A year ago, Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team amassed 12 road wins and five away draws across all competitions, against just eight losses, by far the most successful road campaign in Club history.
RSL plays nine of its 13 matches away from home from April 20 to June 19 as a very busy May includes six MLS matches – two midweek – and could include as many as two possible 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup road games on Wednesday at New Mexico (and May 22 away with advancement), prior to a two-game road trip May 25-29 at Dallas and Seattle.
Recent weeks have seen RSL place both Katranis (Matchday 10 and 11) and Captain Chicho Arango (Matchday 10) honored for their stellar performances, while RSL has also previously seen both Andrés Gómez (Matchday 3) and teenage attacker Fidel Barajas (Matchday 5) honored in the League’s weekly selection; Gómez following his two-goal, one-assist March 2 home performance in a 3-0 win against LAFC, and Barajas for his March 23 efforts at Vancouver, assisting on both goals in a 2-1 comeback win.
Colombian Captain Arango and oft-mentioned early-season MLS MVP candidate has now amassed 16 goal contributions on RSL’s 18 goals this season. Arango’s career totals include 108 goals as a professional, including 52 goals in 86 games across all competitions since arriving in MLS for LAFC and RSL. Since appearing on the Wasatch Front last July, Chicho boasts 17 goals and nine assists in 29 MLS appearances for the Claret-and-Cobalt, with those numbers increasing to 19 goals and 11 assists in 34 RSL games across all competitions (incl. Leagues Cup, Open Cup, Playoffs).
RSL’s Open Cup Round of 32 match kicks off at 7:00 p.m. MT Wednesday and can be viewed via www.MLSsoccer.com / www.USSoccer.com, while RSL’s league match Saturday at LA Galaxy will be featured on Apple TV+ through MLS Season Pass, with kickoff from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., at 8:30 p.m. MT.
RSL then returns to America First Field for a pair of home games on Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. MT against Seattle Sounders FC, followed by Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. MT in the second of three Rocky Mountain Cup matches against Colorado Rapids this season. Tickets for all home RSL and Utah Royals FC matches are available at www.RSL.com/tickets.
