Real Salt Lake Aims to Improve Playoff Seeding At Home Against Minnesota Wednesday

HERRIMAN, Utah (Tues., Oct. 1, 2024)** – Real Salt Lake (14-7-10, 52 points, 3rd West MLS) winds down its 2024 Major League Soccer regular-season slate Wednesday night at home against Minnesota United FC (13-12-6, 45 points, 8thWest), the second match of yet another three-game week ending on Sat., Oct. 5. Wednesday’s 7:30p MT kickoff is available via Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, as Tyler Terens & Kyndra de St Aubin (ENG) provide the call, as will Diego Pessolano and Daniel Chapela (SPN).

Saturday, RSL earned a valuable road point at Austin FC, drawing 2-2, as early second-half goals by MF Matt Crooks and MF Diogo Gonçalves gave RSL a 2-0 lead at Q2 Stadium. Concessions to the home side in the 81st and 89th minute doomed RSL to settle for just the lone point in a very tight West race for home-field advantage in the postseason, improving its 2024 road record to 4-4-8 / 20 points, and extending the current unbeaten streak to three matches.

RSL has already 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. The ongoing campaign represents 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 six points in its final three matches to establish a new all-time Club record for points in a season, surpassing the 57 accrued in 2012.

This is already the highest-scoring season in Real Salt Lake’s 20 MLS years, with 62 goals through 31 matches, eclipsing the 57 scored in 2013. RSL needs three goals in its final two home games beginning Wednesday to set a new all-time Club home mark and break the 2018 mark of 38 goals on home soil.

Real Salt Lake v Minnesota United FC – MLS Matchday 36

America First Field – Sandy, UT

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 – 7:30p 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 seven 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 … 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 …

RSL welcomes Minnesota to Sandy on Wednesday and then celebrates 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 a road win at San Jose Saturday, RSL – currently 4-4-8 / 20 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 …

HOMEGROWN LEGEND GLAD REWRITES RSL RECORD BOOKS ::

2024 MLS All-Star and Homegrown DF Justen Glad – the RSL Academy poster boy now in his 10th MLS season, all with RSL – started his ninth consecutive match Saturday in Austin, after previously missing seven straight starts due to an ankle injury suffered in an early June training session … That appearance was his 271st across all competitions in his Club history, also ranking fifth all-time in RSL’s MLS regular-season history (238 games), while his 231 starts allowed the Tucson, AZ native to surpass both Tony Beltran and Chris Wingert, moving Glad into 3rd place all-time… in the 60thminute back on April 13 at home against Columbus, Glad moved into FIFTH all-time on RSL’s MLS minutes played ranker, surpassing Club legend Javier Morales at 19,286 … With 15 minutes played Wednesday against Minnesota, Glad will move into 3rd place in the Club’s MLS minutes ranker (20,653 and counting) as well, with only the legends Nick Rimando (369 starts, 33,069 minutes) and Kyle Beckerman (337 starts, 29,940) exceeding Glad’s RSL reg. season services.

LAMENTING DROPPED POINTS IN RECENT LATE DRAWS ::

While RSL remains on track to potentially eclipse the 57 points amassed in 2012, needing six points in its final three matches to establish a new 20-year high for the Club’s MLS reg. season body of work, recent collapses have seen the Claret-and-Cobalt drop points important to its playoff positioning … A pair of 2-0 leads at Austin Saturday and at home against Portland on Sept. 21 are the most recent examples, while RSL also failed to protect a 2-0 lead back on May 11 at LA Galaxy, conceding a very late stoppage-time equalizer on the last kick of the game …

Earlier this season, RSL was able to extract points late from losing positions as well, scoring three unanswered in the final half-hour to force a 3-3 finish at Dallas in late May, a few weeks after erasing a 2-0 deficit at home to Colorado in an eventual 5-3 win … RSL did equalize at the death at Seattle for a 1-1 draw at Lumen Field just three days after the Dallas heroics …

Scoreless draws at home against a heavily-rotated Columbus team and on the road at Montreal also jump off the schedule as opportunities lost to bolster points in a season that has seen RSL lose just six road games in three competitions this season, while on the verge of setting a new home standard in Sandy, where the team has historically won 70% of its matches in the last 15 seasons.

DOMINIK & DIOGO KEEP IT ROLLIN’ – CROOKS, CHICHO & LUNA FINDING FORM ::

Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Austin featured goals from MF Matt Crooks – his third of the season coming on a rebound of a Chicho Arango shot – and MF Diogo Gonçalves converted a penalty kick to find the back of the net for a second consecutive match.

Winger Dominik Marczuk, a 20-year old Polish youth international, has started in three consecutive matches, banginghome his debut goal back on Sept. 21 against Portland 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 Sept. 18 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.

That 3-3 draw with Portland also saw both Captain Chicho Arango (one assist) and starlet Diego Luna (his sixth goal of the year) find the scoresheet for the first time since July 6, a nine-game / 72-day span.