HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, July 19, 2024) – Dynamic Real Salt Lake playmaker Diego Luna will now join Homegrown DF Justen Glad amongst the 30 players selected for next week’s 2024 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target. Luna and this weekend’s Rocky Mountain Cup competitor Moise Bombito of Colorado were today named as replacements for unavailable players for the MLS side facing the best of Liga MX at Lower.com Field on Wednesday at 6:00p MT (MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+).
At just 20 years old, Luna is the youngest player on the MLS All-Star roster and represents the second player / third selection from Real Salt Lake on the 2024 roster, joining defender Justen Glad and replacing suspended RSL Captain Chicho Arango. For the Utah side, Luna and Glad are the first Claret-and-Cobalt All-Stars since 2021 (Damir Kreilach), and this year’s match is the first with multiple RSL selections since 2015 (Nick Rimando, Tony Beltran). The 2024 selection marks the first-ever All-Star honors for either player, as well as Arango’s first All-Star selection.
Now in his third season with RSL, “Moon Boy” Luna has exhibited a breakout campaign with five goals and a career-best 12 assists in 22 regular-season matches with the Club. Luna’s 12 assists are tied for the third-most in MLS this season, trailing only fellow All-Stars Luciano Acosta of FC Cincinnati (17) and Inter Miami CF’s Lionel Messi (13). The dynamic young playmaker signed a long-term contract extension with Real Salt Lake earlier this year in March, after receiving his first senior call-up with the United States Men’s National Team in January this year.
RSL 2024 MLS ALL-STAR MINI-BIOGRAPHIES:
MF Diego Luna
1st MLS All-Star Selection (3rd MLS Season)
Coach’s Selection
Country of Birth: United States
Born: September 7, 2003 (Age 20)
• RSL playmaker Diego Luna is just 3 g/a away from joining Captain Chicho Arango (17 goals / 11 assists) and dynamic winger Andrés Gómez (12 goals / 9 assists) in the 20+ goal contribution club this season. Should Luna add three goal contributions in the remaining 10 matches of 2024, RSL would be the first MLS side since 2018 with three players at 20+ goal contributions in a single campaign.
• Luna – now with five goals / 12 assists this season – provided three assists in a single game on July 6 (5-2 win) for the second time this season, something that has occurred just four times in RSL’s history. In addition to Diego’s triple-assist match back on March 2 at home against LAFC (3-0 win), Pablo Ruiz accomplished the feat in 2023, with Fabian Espindola back in 2012 the first RSL player to secure three assists in an MLS match.
• With both Chicho (17 goals) and Andrés Gómez (11 goals) securing double-digit goal totals this season, RSL has a pair of 10+ scorers in a single season for the first time since 2021 (Kreilach, 16 goals; Rusnák, 11 goals). Should Luna (five goals), Julio (six goals) or another player reach double-digits, RSL would also have a 10+ goal-scoring trio for the first time ever.
DF Justen Glad
1st MLS All-Star Selection (11th MLS Season)
Voted In by Fans, Players, Media
Country of Birth: United States
Born: February 28, 1997 (Age 27)
• Glad has been an integral part of Real Salt Lake’s Supporters’ Shield charge in 2024, the Club’s Homegrown poster boy having started all 15 matches in which he’s appeared for the club this season.
• The Homegrown defender is now playing in his 11th overall season with RSL, having made his debut in 2015. Glad has appeared in 230 games for the club, the sixth-most overall, playing 20,006 minutes while adding 13 goals. Glad could soon surpass both Chris Wingert (20,216) and Tony Beltran (20,652) in career minutes played, and would trail only Club icons Kyle Beckerman (29,940) and Nick Rimando (33,078) in the category.
• The longest-tenured player on the current Real Salt Lake squad, Glad has gone on to set countless club records throughout this career, including being the first Homegrown to don the Captain’s armband, as well as the first to reach both the 100- and 200-games played milestones. Last season, Glad became the first Homegrown to be named Real Salt Lake’s Most Valuable Player, as voted by his locker-room peers.
The 2024 MLS All-Star roster by position and selection mechanism:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Roman Bürki (St. Louis CITY SC / Coach’s Selection), Hugo Lloris (LAFC / Coach’s Selection), Maarten Paes (FC Dallas / Voted in)
DEFENDERS (9): Jordi Alba (Inter Miami CF / Voted In), Rudy Camacho (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake / Voted In), Aaron Herrera (D.C. United / Voted In), Thiago Martins (New York City FC / Coach’s Selection), Steven Moreira (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection), Luca Orellano (FC Cincinnati / Coach’s Selection), Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati / Voted In), Keegan Rosenberry (Colorado Rapids / Coach’s Selection), Moise Bombito(Colorado Rapids / Coach’s Selection)*
MIDFIELDERS (11): Luciano Acosta (FC Cincinnati / Voted In), Sergio Busquets (Inter Miami CF / Voted In), Mathieu Choinière (CF Montréal / Coach’s Selection), Evander (Portland Timbers / Coach’s Selection), Ryan Gauld (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Coach’s Selection), Héctor Herrera (Houston Dynamo FC / Commissioner’s Pick), Robin Lod (Minnesota United FC / Coach’s Selection), Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC / Coach’s Selection), Darlington Nagbe (Columbus Crew / Commissioner’s Pick), Riqui Puig (LA Galaxy / Voted In); Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake / Coach’s Selection)**
FORWARDS / WINGERS (8): Cristian ‘Chicho’ Arango (Real Salt Lake / Voted In), Christian Benteke (D.C. United / Voted In), Federico Bernardeschi (Toronto FC / Coach’s Selection), Denis Bouanga (LAFC / Coach’s Selection), Juan ‘Cucho’ Hernández (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami CF / Voted In), Luis Suárez (Inter Miami CF / Voted In), Diego Rossi (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection)
*replaces Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati / USA Olympic absence)
\\ replaces Chicho Arango (Real Salt Lake / MLS suspension)
The MLS All-Star Game presented by Target and MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T at Lower.com Field will be available to watch in more than 100 countries and regions in English, Spanish, and French on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app. Fans can subscribe to MLS Season Pass now through the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com.
Tickets for the MLS All-Star Game presented by Target are on sale at MLSSoccer.com/All-Star or by clicking here.
