Playoff-Bound Real Salt Lake Look to Bolster Seeding with Weekend Trip to Austin Saturday

HERRIMAN, Utah (Fri., Sept. 27, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (14-7-9, 51 points, 2nd West MLS) continues its 2024 Major League Soccer regular-season slate Saturday night away at Austin FC (9-13-8, 35 points, 11th West), the first match of yet another three-game week ending on Sat., Oct. 5. Saturday’s 6:30p MT kickoff is available via Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, as Max Bretos & Brian Dunseth (ENG) provide the call, as will Pablo Ramirez and Jesus Bracamontes (SPN).

The point captured in last Saturday’s 3-3 home draw for RSL clinched an MLS Cup Playoff spot for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons, and for the fourth consecutive year under the guidance of Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni. Last Wednesday’s 3-2 home win over FC Dallas secured RSL’s eighth 50-point season in Club history – and its first since 2019 – while the 2024 edition of the Claret-and-Cobalt need just seven points in its final four matches to establish a new all-time Club record for points in a season, surpassing the 57 accrued in 2012.

In its last visit to Austin, RSL won 2-1 in June of 2023, paced by a Rubio Rubin double, the currently on-loan Guatemalan international exacting a modicum of revenge for his 53rd-minute red card received in RSL’s single-elimination postseason loss at Austin in the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs. RSL ran out to a 2-0 lead in that match, paced by a Sergio Cordova brace, but dropped the penalty-kick tiebreaker decision after 120 minutes, Austin forcing the 2-2 after regulation with a PK conversion in second-half stoppage time.

RSL defeated Austin, 5-1, in the teams’ previous meeting this season, back on June 1 at America First Field in Sandy. Led by Captain Chicho Arango’s second hat trick of the season and the first of two Anderson Julio braces in 2024, RSL held a 4-0 lead at halftime. An RSL attacker has scored two or more goals in three of the last four meetings with Austin dating back to that playoff battle in late 2022.

Real Salt Lake @ Austin FC – MLS Matchday 35

Q2 Stadium – Austin, TX

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024 – 6:30p MT

Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass / KSL Sports Zone Radio

CONGESTED WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF RACE PICKING UP STEAM ::

RSL is one of eight Western Conference teams separated by just nine points currently occupying seeds 2 through 9 in the West playoff race, chasing first-place LA Galaxy (17-7-7, 58 points / 31 games played) … In pursuit of a top-four seed and home-field advantage in the first-round, best-of-three opening series of the MLS Cup Playoffs, as well as a potential Conference title and/or a berth in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Utah side plays two of its final three contests of the 2024 regular season on home soil, following Saturday’s trip to Austin … America First Field in Sandy is where the Claret-and-Cobalt have excelled this season, with 10 wins and two draws against just three losses in MLS action, in addition to an 11th home win in the Leagues Cup tourney last month …

Saturday, RSL’s September run finishes with yet another Texas road trip at Austin FC (9-12-8, 35 points, 10th West). RSL then welcomes Minnesota to Sandy on Wed., Oct. 2 and the return of former Captain Damir Kreilach and Vancouver on the Oct. 19 Decision Day, the two home matches split by a Sat., Oct. 5 road trip to the Bay Area to face the San Jose Earthquakes prior to another FIFA international window the weekend of Oct. 12.

With two road wins next week, RSL – currently 4-4-7 / 19 points away – can secure the Club’s second-highest point total in a road season, surpassing the 2013 total of 22 points, second only to last year’s mark of 8-5-4 / 28 points.

DOMINIK & DIOGO SCORE GOAL DEBUTS v PORTLAND ::

Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Portland was highlighted by the MLS / RSL goal debuts for two RSL newcomers, as both Dominik Marczuk and DP Diogo Gonçalves each found the back of the net. Marczuk, a 20-year old Polish youth international winger making just his second-ever RSL / MLS start, banged home his debut goal in the 10th minute to give RSL a 1-0 lead, taking an Anderson Julio cross at the far post cutting back in the box to his left, slamming home a 10-yard lefty shot.

In the 90th minute, Gonçalves – coming off the bench for a second consecutive match after starting three straight – gave RSL what it thought was the apparent game-winner, taking a Chicho Arango square pass at the top of the box on a sequence started by Andrew Brody, slotting a right-footed shot from 18 yards out inside the right post.

In Wednesday’s 3-2 home win over Dallas, Marczuk earned his first assist of the year, a game-winner in the 62nd minute that set up Julio for an easy tap-in, in his first-ever RSL start.

LONG-RANGE HEROICS FIND FORM OF RSL ZAPATAZOS ::

Last Wednesday’s Anderson Julio bombazo from just inside midfield – his shot registering at 57.5 yards, according to Sportec – adds to the lore of recent long-range offerings by RSL players. RSL MF Nelson Palacio’s scintillating, game-winning ZAPATAZO August 1 from deep – 38 yards out, at 78.1 mph (according to Sportrac) – was the previous highlight from distance, coming in a 2-1 Leagues Cup group stage win over Atlas FC.

RSL Captain Chicho Arango scored from midfield back on June 1 in a 5-1 home win against Austin as part of his hat trick that day, while MF Pablo Ruiz saw his 68-yard offering at Audi Field in Washington D.C. last summer a finalist for the 2023 MLS Goal of the Year.

Back in October, 2022, RSL’s previous match against Atlas FC as part of that year’s “Leagues Cup Showcase,” RSL fell at home, 1-2, in a game will be remembered for former RSL Homegrown Aaron Herrera’s long-range goal – a 78-yard bombazo – that gave the home side the lead.

And then this Monday at Cal-State Fullerton, it was the Real Monarchs’ turn to get in on the long-range action, as MF Griffin Dillon – a native of Draper, UT and a former RSL Academy man who matriculated to the Univ. of Maryland – scored the insurance goal in a 2-0 win at LAFC 2, chipping another former Academy product – GK David Ochoa – from just inside midfield.

YET ANOTHER BOUNCEBACK RESPONSE REGISTERED DURING MASTROENI ERA ::

RSL’s 3-2 win last Wednesday over Dallas saw the Club rebound from the Sept. 14 1-4 drubbing at Houston. The resilience, response and determination of RSL’s collective DNA during the Pablo Mastroeni era – also known as the “xDAWG” mentality – was once again on full display amongst a heavily-rotated group that saw five personnel changes and two positional moves four days later. During 133 games coached by Mastroeni since taking the Claret-and-Cobalt reins in late August, 2021, RSL has dropped back-to-back matches now just 10 times overall – with four of those 10 occurring last August, following the season-ending, non-contact knee injury suffered by metronomic playmaker Pablo Ruiz in mid-August at LAFC in the Leagues Cup Round of 32 match.

In those 133 games coached by Pablo since late August, 2021, matches following a loss has seen RSL bounce-back successfully and respond with 23 wins and 13 draws against just 10 losses, avoiding long droughts and not letting losing streaks fester. Mastroeni’s all-time RSL record across all competitions is now 55W-46L-32T mark in MLS reg. season, MLS Cup Playoff, Leagues Cup, Open Cup and int’l friendly matches, guiding the Club to the 2021 MLS Western Conference Final and the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM:

If the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs presented by Audi began last week, second-seeded RSL would face off for a second consecutive season against the Houston Dynamo. RSL would look to rebound from two years of battles with Houston, a place in which it has not won since the 2018 season, defeating the Dynamo in just three of the last 14 meetings across all competitions. RSL has seen Houston end three different competitions in the 2023/24 campaigns, as RSL fell 1-3 at Houston in last year’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal in a 120-minute affair, before being ousted from the first round of the 2023 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in a three-game series that saw the final two legs decided by penalty kicks. On August 5 of this year, RSL fell 0-3 at Houston to suffer elimination from the 2024 Leagues Cup, when nearly any other result would have seen the Utah side win its group, which also included Atlas FC (Liga MX).

Earlier this year, RSL registered a 3-2 come-from-behind home win on July 3 against Houston to snap the recent drought; prior to last year’s reg. season loss, RSL went unbeaten against Houston in 11 consecutive games dating back to 2017, including five straight in South Texas. All-time, RSL owns a 3W-14L-6T record in Houston, with the Dynamo enjoying a +16 goal differential across all competitions, buoyed by last weekend’s 4-1 win over RSL.

FINAL STRETCH OF SEASON / PLAYOFF PUSH FOR PABLO

During the Pablo Mastroeni era – qualifying for the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of the three previous seasons – RSL has endured a rollercoaster ride in the final 10 games of each season. Time now to improve upon the 2W-3L-1T record from July 20 – present MLS contests.

Back in 2021, RSL split its 10 games under Pablo, winning five and dropping five, securing a dramatic Decision Day win at Kansas City to qualify for the postseason, eventually progressing to the West Final and suffering elimination at Portland.

In 2022, RSL posted a 3-3-4 / 13-point finish, suffering unexpected home draws / losses but delivering yet another Decision Day win, this time a dominant 3-1 home victory over Portland. That year’s RSL side burst out to a 2-0 lead at Austin courtesy an early Sergio Cordova brace in a first-round, single-elimination MLS Cup Playoff match, but a 53rd-minute Rubio Rubin ejection ended up with RSL falling in PKs after 120 minutes.

Last season, RSL went 4-5-1 / 13 points in its final 10 matches, as it learned how to play without injured metronome Pablo Ruiz following his non-contact Leagues Cup Round of 16 injury at LAFC. RSL did win three of its final five last year, including its lone win at LAFC on a late Chicho Arango goal, and a 1-0 Decision Day victory at Colorado, one that saw Diego Luna emerge and announce his presence with authority, scoring four goals in his final five matches of 2023, including the three-game series with Houston. However, the postseason once again saw RSL eliminated by the narrowest of margins, as both games two and three of the first-round series with the Dynamo were decided by PKs.

CAPTAIN CHICHO ARANGO, STARLET DIEGO LUNA END SCORESHEET DROUGHTS ::

In Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Portland, two of RSL’s attacking superstars – Captain, Colombian striker and MLS Golden Boot contender Chicho Arango and young U.S. starlet Diego Luna – each found the scoresheet for the first time since July 6, a 5-2 home win over Atlanta, a span of nine games and 72 days.

Luna’s goal midway through the first half gave RSL a 2-0 lead over the Timbers, despite a muted celebration due to the VAR review that ultimately awarded Luna his sixth goal of the season. Arango was awarded his 12th assist of the 2024 reg. season when he set up fellow DP Diogo Gonçalves for the apparent 90th-minute game-winner.

Arango returned last Saturday against Portland after missing six of the last previous nine RSL games due to either MLS suspension – forcing him out of the 1-1 July 17 RSL draw at LAFC, the 2-3 loss at Colorado on July 20, the July 24 MLS All-Star Game against the Liga MX All-Stars and the 2-1 Leagues Cup win over Atlas – or injury (just 41 minutes played Aug. 24 in 0-2 loss to San Jose, without even dressing in 2-0 Aug. 31 win over New England). Chicho then played a full 90 minutes in the 1-4 loss at Houston prior to serving a yellow card accumulation suspension in the 3-2 victory over FC Dallas on Sept. 18.

Chicho – no longer the League’s Golden Boot leader, his 17 goals now two back of D.C. United’s Christian Benteke (19) and tied with both LAFC man Denis Bouanga and Miami’s Luis Suarez, despite the Colombian’s scoring drought from July 6 – present – did play the final 45 minutes of an 0-3 loss at Houston in RSL’s second Leagues Cup group stage match.

The RSL Captain has four games remaining to re-enter the Golden Boot push and raise his name back up in the Landon Donovan MVP discussion, contributing to 29 of RSL’s 60 goals this season. The 28-year-old now has 116 goals in his professional career, which started in his native Colombia and includes stops in Portugal and Mexico alongside a stellar MLS record of 60 goals in 98 games across all competitions for RSL and LAFC. Since last July, Chicho has 27 goals and 15 assists in just 45 appearances across all competitions for RSL, which missed his presence late in the season and in the playoffs last year in Houston due to a nagging hamstring injury.

The incendiary striker enters Saturday at Austin just one goal shy of breaking Alvaro Saborio’s single-season RSL goal record of 17, set in 2012, while his assist back on June 19 saw the RSL Captain join Albert Rusnák and Jeff Cunningham as just the third RSL player in 20 seasons with a 10g / 10a campaign.