(Monday, April 22, 2024) – Real Salt Lake sees two of its players – FW Chicho Arango and DF Alex Katranis – selected to Major League Soccer’s “Team of the Matchday” for Matchday 10 of the 2024 season. While this week’s selection marks Katranis’ debut amongst the weekly League honorees, this is Chicho’s second recognition of the month – the first coming after his exquisite March 30 hat trick – and his third overall since joining RSL last July.
The weekend’s 4-0 road win at Chicago saw RSL Captain Arango – Major League Soccer’s top goal contributor with eight goals and six assists on the season – continue his MVP-caliber campaign, although the defensive clean sheet by a homegrown goalkeeper and a makeshift backline was the Club’s second in as many games, despite a centerback injury epidemic. Former Greek youth international Katranis joined Arango in assisting on the game-winning goal, and exhibited an immense engine on the left side, aggressively dominating both sides of the ball in RSL’s most dominant road win since 2018.
The RSL duo combined on a spectacular sequence that saw 22-year-old Colombian winger Andrés Gómez providing what proved to the be the game-winning goal midway through the first half at historic Soldier Field. With Arango setting up Katranis on an overlap, the 2024 newcomer found Gómez behind the defense. RSL’s second-year Colombian winger cut back inside from the right to the left atop the 18, slamming home a near-post burner for the 1-0 lead.
Arango – who had recorded four of his previous six goals in consecutive weeks vs. St. Louis and at Minnesota in an eight-day span from March 30 – April 6, prior to being held scoreless at home by Columbus on April 13 – scored twice in the next 15 minutes. Arango deftly read a mistimed back pass by a Fire defender to move RSL’s lead to 2-0, then losing his marker on a corner kick shortly before halftime to head home a Bryan Oviedooffering. The three goals scored by RSL in the first half on the road at Chicago equaled the feat accomplished twice before in the Claret-and-Cobalt’s 309 all-time MLS road game history: May 2014 at Houston in a 5-2 win, and May 2023 at Colorado last year prior to an eventual 3-2 victory.
RSL now boasts a 2-1-2 record away from home this year, winning on the road in Vancouver on March 23 and at Chicago last weekend, while settling for draws at St. Louis on Feb. 24 and at Minnesota on April 6, following a season-opening loss at Miami on Feb. 21. 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.
This Saturday’s trip to Philadelphia continues a run that sees RSL play nine of its 13 matches away from home from April 20 to June 19. RSL visits Philadelphia to close out a three-game span against consecutive Eastern Conference opponents, with a fourth trip East on June 15 at Montreal. The team’s trip to Subaru Park – its first since 2018 – marks the third and final road match during the month of April, prior to a very busy May which sees RSL play three of its first four MLS contests at home between May 4-18, plus as many as two possible 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup road games on May 8 at New Mexico (and May 22 away with advancement), prior to a two-game road trip May 25-29 at Dallas and Seattle.
Arango has now amassed 107 goals as a professional, including 51 goals in 84 games across all competitions since arriving in MLS for LAFC and RSL. Since appearing on the Wasatch Front last July, Chicho boasts 16 goals and eight assists in 27 MLS appearances for the Claret-and-Cobalt, with those numbers increasing to 18 goals and 10 assists in 32 RSL games across all competitions (incl. Leagues Cup, Open Cup, Playoffs).
Previously this season, RSL has also seen both Gómez and teenage attacker Fidel Barajas 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.
