CHICAGO (Saturday, April 20, 2024) - Real Salt Lake (4-2-3, 15 points, T-1st West) converted a three-goal offensive explosion in the first half into three road points at Chicago Fire FC. RSL Captain Chicho Arango led the way with two goals and two assists to extend his goal contribution lead atop the MLS race, now with eight goals and six assists. Tonight’s victory extends RSL’s unbeaten streak to five matches - last losing March 9 vs. Colorado - collecting 11 of a possible 15 points over that span.
Real Salt Lake started the affair with four changes to the lineup, as injuries to a pair of centerbacks thrust fullbacks Bode Hidalgo and Bryan Oviedo into the middle, in front of teenage goalkeeper Gavin Beavers. Additionally, 18-year-old playmaker Fidel Barajas made his second career MLS start, in place of U.S. Olympic hopeful Diego Luna.
RSL’s first quality chance came in the 12th minute. As Arango received the ball on the right side of the midfield, he dribbled through three defenders before earning a foul on the edge of the box. As both teams crowded into the area, jostling for position on the ensuing free kick, Arango attempted to catch Chicago off-guard with a quick curling shot towards the top left corner, electing to take the kick standing rather than run up, sending the offering just wide.
RSL nearly struck in the 16th minute, as MF Braian Ojeda led Alex Katranis down the left wing, playing a long, lofted throughball over the top. The ball was slightly out of reach, however, and as Chicago’s Chris Brady came out to make the catch, he collided with his defender and dropped the ball at the feet of Arango for a point-blank chance that was deflected out of play.
Not totally one-sided though, Chicago created its first real chance of the game in the 21st minute. MF Emeka Eneli lost possession just outside of his own box during buildup as Chris Mueller picked it off and, nutmegging a defender, darted towards into the heart of the box before RSL ‘keeper Gavin Beavers rushed out to squash the danger with a courageous save.
It would not take Real Salt Lake long to reclaim the momentum, though, as it would convert dominance into a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute. As Katranis controlled the ball along the left side, he played a beautiful give-and-go pass to Chicho in the middle, who returned the favor with a long ball down the left wing for Katrinis. Picking his head up, Katranis spotted Andrés Gómez on the far corner of the box, connecting with a pinged pass. Receiving the ball with a clean touch, Gómez danced right to fake out a charging defender before cutting back to his left for a beautiful strike past Brady and into the near-post corner.
Smelling blood, RSL maintained its pressure and pushed for another goal, finding it just nine minutes later. As Matt Crooks and Gómez attempted to play a one-two down the right side, Federico Navarro intercepted the ball and, feeling the pressure, attempted to play it back to his goalkeeper in a panic. Seemling flying in out of nowhere, Arango ran onto the ball, intercepting it directly in front of net, and calmly finishing the one-on-one chance by nutmegging Brady while shooting with the outside of his right foot to put RSL up two.
In what could only be described as a flurry of goals, RSL would collect its third of the half just four minutes later in the 37th minute. Oviedo unleashed a long, curling cross in a corner kick over the pack and towards the back post as an unmarked Arango lost his marker and blasted a powerful header past Brady for his second of the match. With the goal, Arango now leads the MLS Golden Boot race with eight goals.
As play reopened for the second 45 minutes of play, RSL would not simply sit back and defend the lead. Looking to find a third goal in the 52nd minute, Arango dribbled between four defenders, the ball deflecting to Crooks, who then flicked it onto the feet of a charging Fidel Barajas. Two-on-one with just his marker and the keeper to beat, Barajas elected for a low cross-body attempt that went just wide of the far post.
Then, against the run of play, RSL nearly stole another goal A three-man combination down the right side of Barajas, Arango and Diego Luna nearly yielded a fourth for RSL in the 62nd minute. Barajas, racing down the right wing, played it forward onto the feet of Arango, who then played it centrally for Luna with a one-touch low cross. Attempting a one-touch shot of his own just to the right of the penalty spot, the attempt going just wide of the near post.
Pushing hard to prevent Beavers from collecting his first career MLS clean sheet, Chicago nearly got one back in the 87th minute. As Chris Mueller faced up Katranis on the edge of the RSL box, he cut left and flicked a through ball to the feet of Herbers deep on the right side of the box. Without taking a touch, Herbers whipped a ball across the face of goal that made it through all the traffic untouched before landing on the foot of Georgios Koutsias for the easy finish, but the goal was disallowed for offsides.
Placing a cherry atop their dominant performance, RSL added a fourth goal in extra time. Operating in the defensive third, Oviedo intercepted an errant Chicago pass and immediately started the fast break towards goal. Oviedo quickly found Arango on the right wing who then pinged a ball centrally for the run of Luna on the edge of the box. As defenders backed off of Luna, respecting his passing ability and vision, he took ownership of the space - stepping forward into a right-footed shot that curled around a helpless Brady and into the near post side netting. The strike marked the first goal of Luna’s 2024 campaign to go with his five assists, picking up where he left off at the end of 2023 with a run of four goals in five matches.
RSL 4 : 0 CHI
GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:
RSL - 24’ Andrés Gómez (Alex Katranis & Chicho Arango): As Katranis controlled the ball along the left side, he played a beautiful give-and-go pass to Chicho in the middle who returned the favor with a long ball down the left wing for Katrinis to run onto. Picking his head up, Katranis spotted Gómez on the far corner of the box, connecting with a pinged pass. Receiving the ball with a clean touch, Gómez danced right to fake out a charging defender before moving it to his left for a beautiful strike past Brady and into the near post corner.
RSL - 33’ Chicho Arango (Unassisted): As Matt Crooks and Gómez attempted to play a one-two down the right side, Federico Navarro intercepted the ball and, feeling the pressure, attempted to play it back to his goalkeeper in a panic. Seemling flying in out of nowhere, Arango ran onto the ball, intercepting it directly in front of net, and calmly finished the one-on-one chance with Brady to put his squad up two.
RSL - 37’ Chicho Arango (Bryan Oviedo): As Brayan Oviedo stood over the ball for a corner from the right side, the bulk of the traffic circulated around the penalty spot and near post area. Seeing this, Oviedo unleashed a long, curling cross over the pack and towards the back post as an unmarked Arango tracked it down and blasted a powerful header past Brady and into the back of the net for his second of the match.
RSL - 90+3 Diego Luna (Chicho Arango): Operating in the defensive third, Oviedo intercepted an errant Chicago pass and immediately started the fast break towards goal. Oviedo quickly found Arango on the right wing who then pinged a ball centrally for the run of Luna on the edge of the box. As defenders backed off of Luna, respecting his passing ability and vision, he took ownership of the space - stepping forward into a right-footed shot that curled around a helpless Brady and into the near post side netting.
RSL v CHI NOTES:
- Real Salt Lake’s victory extends its unbeaten streak to five matches (3-0-2), collecting 11 of a possible 15 points since a March 9 loss to Colorado. In addition to five consecutive matches unbeaten overall, the victory makes it four consecutive road matches without a loss (2-0-2), collecting 8 of a possible 12 road points, failing to earn a road point only in the Feb. 21 season opener at Miami.
- GK Gavin Beavers’ flawless performance in net for RSL against Chicago marks the first MLS clean sheet of his career, in nine league contests (Beavers tallied one clean sheet in Open Cup play last year at Colorado). His next appearance in net will mark the 18-year-old’s 10th league appearance for the Claret-and-Cobalt.
- Diego Luna’s 93rd-minute strike into the back of the net marks the first goal of his 2024 campaign - his first time on the scoresheet since scoring four goals in RSL’s final five matches of 2023.
- Defender Philip Quinton, acquired yesterday from Columbus Crew SC, was substituted on for Alex Katranis in the 74th minute to make his Real Salt Lake debut. Quinton - who started and played the full 90 for the Crew in last week’s 0-0 draw at RSL - is the fifth RSL player to make his Club debut this year, joining Matt Crooks, Alex Katranis, Fidel Barajas and Noel Caliskan.
- The 4-0 shutout victory is the second consecutive clean sheet produced by the RSL defense, achieved with two different goalkeepers and four different centerbacks. The first featured Zac MacMath in goal with Brayan Vera and Justen Glad, April 13 v Columbus, with the second featuring Gavin Beavers in goal with Bode Hidalgo and Bryan Oviedo occupying the central defense.
- The 4-0 offensive onslaught marks the first time since a 6-0 win at Colorado Rapids on August 25, 2018 that RSL has won a match away from America First Field by four or more goals.
- tonight marks the third time in RSL’s 309 all-time road league matches it scored three first-half goals, first accomplished in May 2014 at Houston,with the last occasion prior to tonight in May 2023 at Colorado.
LINEUPS:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Gavin Beavers; Braian Oviedo; Bode Hidalgo; Alex Katranis (Philip Quinton, 74’); Andrew Brody; Emeka Eneli; Bryan Ojeda (Nelson Palacio, 73’); Andrés Gómez (Diego Luna, 56’); Matt Crooks (Anderson Julio, 82’); Fidel Barajas (Maikel Chang, 82’); Chicho Arango ©
Subs not used: Zac MacMath, Keller Storlie, Zavier Gozo
Chicago Fire (4-2-3-1): Chris Brady; Arnaud Souquet; Carlos Teran; Rafael Czichos; Chris Mueller; Hugo Cuypers, Xherdan Shaqiri © (Koutsias, 28’); Fabian Herbers; Kellyn Acosta; Allan Arigoni; Federico Navarro (Gimenez, 46’; Barlow, 60’)
Subs not used: Spencer Richey, Jonathan Dean, Wyatt Omsberg, Mauricio Pineda, Andrew Gutman
Stats Summary: RSL / CHI
Shots: 16 / 12
Shots on Goal: 7 / 5
Saves: 5 / 3
Corner Kicks: 5 / 5
Fouls: 11 / 16
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Andrés Gómez (Yellow, 31’), 11 Total Fouls
CHI: Kellyn Acosta (Yellow, 15’), 16 Total Fouls
