SANDY, Utah (Friday, July 5, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (11-3-7 / 40 points / 2nd West) remains at home for the second of two games this week, now hosting Atlanta United Saturday night following Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Houston. These back-to-back home games kick off a five-game July as RSL seeks to remain in both MLS Supporters Shield and Western Conference top-seed contention. Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team will look to improve upon its 7-2-1 / 22-point home mark thus far in 2024. Kickoff Saturday in Sandy is at 7:30p MT, available on Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, with Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth (ENG) and Diego Pessolano and Daniel Chapela (SPN) on the call from America First Field.
RSL – now three points shy of LAFC, but three points ahead of the LA Galaxy in the race for Western Conference supremacy – follows up this week’s home games with a three-game road week starting on July 13 to Portland, a week that also sees trips to LAFC (July 17) and Colorado (July 20) prior to the 2024 MLS All-Star Game in Columbus (July 24), featuring both Captain Chicho Arango and Homegrown Justen Glad.
Wednesday, RSL saw dynamic young Colombian Andrés Gómez lead the charge, scoring a first-half equalizer and assisting on goals by both Diego Luna and Braian Ojeda. Gómez is now top-10 in MLS with both 11 goals and nine assists, while Luna has added four goals and nine assists on the year. Ojeda’s game-winner marked his first goal in 63 games with RSL since arriving in late summer 2022.
Real Salt Lake v Atlanta United – MLS Matchday 25
America First Field – Sandy, UT
Saturday, July 6, 2024 – 7:30p MT
STREAK SNAPPED
Back on June 22, RSL lost an MLS match for the first time since March 9, falling at home 0-1 to the LA Galaxy in a match marred by Chicho Arango’s head injury just 16 minutes into the game. RSL’s 15-game MLS unbeaten run established a new record for the Club’s longest single-season streak in team history – while also matching the Portland Timbers (2013, 2018) and Colorado Rapids (2016) for the second-longest in MLS regular-season history (FC Dallas’ 19 games unbeaten in 2010). In RSL’s 20-season history, RSL also enjoyed a 16-game run from 2013 into 2014 (including a 12-game single-season run in 2014), and a Club-record 18-game unbeaten streak from July 2010 to April 2011 (2010 includes a 14-game single-season run, RSL’s previous best).
ATTACKING ROLLERCOASTER FOR RSL
RSL suffered two shutouts in mid-June, blanked at Montreal in a 0-0 result and in the Galaxy loss eight days later. Between the two, however, RSL rebounded to score four goals on the road for the second time (April 20 at Chicago) this season June 19 in Kansas City, while scoring three last time out against Houston. The scoreless draw at Montreal was RSL’s second of the season (also posting a disappointing 0-0 at home against a rotated Columbus side on April 13), while the donut against the Galaxy was just the fourth shutout suffered by RSL this season (Feb. 21 at Miami in a 2-0 loss). Conversely, RSL has also scored five goals in a game twice this year, both at home; first on May 18 in the 5-3 comeback against Colorado, and two weeks later on June 1 in the 5-1 over Austin FC, RSL’s last home appearance prior to the Galaxy disappointment.
With both Chicho (16 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 Julio (six goals) or another player reach double-digits, RSL would have a 10+ goal-scoring trio for the first time ever.
RSL’s 43 goals scored this year ranks second in MLS (Miami, 50) but leads the West along with LAFC’s 43. RSL no longer boasts the best goal differential in MLS this season, at plus-18, with both surging LAFC and Miami now at plus-19. Only three other teams have amassed double-digit goal differentials so far in 2024, as Columbus (plus-18), Cincinnati (plus-11) and LA Galaxy (plus-13) join RSL and LAFC / Miami.
DEFENSIVE VOLATILITY FOR RSL
The clean sheet logged at Montreal June 15 did mark the Club’s sixth of the year in 21 MLS reg. season games, with veteran GK Zac MacMath notching four of those six. Prior to conceding three June 19 in Kansas City, RSL had allowed just two goals in its previous 270 minutes played, at Seattle (1-1 draw) and v Austin (5-1 win) prior to the scoreless draw in Quebec. However, RSL has now allowed three goals on three different occasions in the last month or so, starting with May 18 at home against Colorado and then again on May 25 against Dallas.
