HERRIMAN, Utah (Fri., Oct. 4, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (14-7-11, 53 points, t-3rd West MLS) winds down its 2024 Major League Soccer regular-season slate Saturday night in the Bay Area at San Jose Earthquakes (6-23-3, 21 points, 14th West), the third and final match of yet another three-game week. Saturday’s 8:30p MT kickoff is available via Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, as Nate Bukaty & Devon Kerr (ENG) provide the call, as well as Carlos Mauricio Ramirez and Martin Zuniga (SPN).
RSL arrives in San Jose this weekend looking to exact revenge for a 2-0 Earthquakes win at America First Field in Utah back on August 24, the Claret-and-Cobalt’s first match following an extended hiatus after its Leagues Cup elimination 19 days earlier. The full three points available Saturday at PayPal Park are extremely valuable to RSL in a very tight Western Conference race for a top-four finish and home-field advantage in the MLS Cup Playoffs. RSL’s 2024 road record is currently 4-4-8 / 20 points, and a win Saturday would allow RSL to complete its second-highest road point total in 20 MLS seasons, trailing only last year’s 28-point mark.
Wednesday, RSL drew 0-0 with visiting Minnesota as GK Zac MacMath and the RSL rearguard collectively managed its first clean sheet since August 31. The point earned midweek extended RSL’s active unbeaten run to four games; however, the streak started with a Sept. 18 win and has seen RSL draw in three consecutive contests, failing to win at least once in back-to-back home matches for the first time in 15 months.
Homegrown DF Justen Glad started yet again and played the full 90 minutes, the 27-year-old moving ahead of Tony Beltran and into third-place all-time on the Club’s MLS minutes ranker, his 20,797 minutes played trailing only RSL legends Kyle Beckerman (29,940) and Nick Rimando (33,048). With appearances in the Club’s final two reg. season games – Saturday at San Jose and Decision Day, Sat., Oct. 19 at home against Vancouver, Glad will surpass Javier Morales and move into the Club’s top five in MLS games played all-time. Last week in Austin, the Tucson native moved past Morales, Beltran and Chris Wingert into third all-time in MLS games started (now 232 and counting).
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 five points in its final two 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 32 matches, eclipsing the 57 scored in 2013. RSL needs three goals in its final home game on Sat., Oct. 19 against Vancouver to set a new all-time Club home mark and break the 2018 mark of 38 goals on home soil.
Real Salt Lake @ San Jose Earthquakes – MLS Matchday 37
PayPal Park – San Jose, California
Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024 – 8:30p 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 10 points currently occupying seeds 2 through 9 in the West playoff race, chasing first-place LA Galaxy (18-7-7, 61 points / 32 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 is now tied for third place on 53 points with Seattle, with two matches remaining …
RSL and Seattle are each two points ahead of Houston (51 points) and three on top of Colorado (50 points) in the race for a top-four seed …
RSL celebrates the return of former Captain Damir Kreilach and Vancouver on the Oct. 19 Decision Day, the match coming out of another FIFA international window the weekend of Oct. 12 … America First Field in Sandy is where the Claret-and-Cobalt have excelled this season, with 10 wins and three draws against just three losses in MLS action, in addition to an 11th home win in the August Leagues Cup tourney …
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 …
LAMENTING DROPPED POINTS IN RECENT DRAWS
While RSL remains on track to potentially eclipse the 57 points amassed in 2012, needing five points in its final two 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 last 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 – like the one Wednesday against Minnesota – earlier in the year against a heavily-rotated Columbus team and on the road at Montreal in mid-June 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 …
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 … Two games remain to improve upon the 2W-3L-3T record from July 20 – present in 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 …
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, banging home 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 …
YET ANOTHER BOUNCEBACK RESPONSE REGISTERED DURING MASTROENI ERA ::
RSL’s 3-2 win Sept. 18 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 135 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 135 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-34T 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 …
