HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, June 30, 2023) – Real Salt Lake (7-7-6, 27 pts., 6th West) rides extended momentum following back-to-back Major League Soccer road wins ahead of a weekend visit to Toronto FC (3-7-10, 19 pts., 14th East) at BMO Field Saturday during MLS Matchday 22. Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s side was unbeaten in six games during the month of June – four wins, two draws, with the 12 RSL goals scored by seven different players. Dating back to April 8, RSL is unbeaten in 16 of its last 19 (10 wins, six draws), a run which includes a Club-record nine consecutive road results – as well as a six-game overall unbeaten run – across both MLS and U.S. Open Cup play, including advancement to the late August Open Cup Semifinal in Houston.Â
Saturday’s road kickoff between RSL and Toronto FC begins at 5:30p MT on the Apple MLS Season Pass w/ Blake Price and Paul Dolan (ENG) & Alejandro Figueredo and Luis Gerardo Bucci (SPN) & Olivier Brett and Patrice Bernier (FRENCH); for local coverage, tune in at 4:30p MT for KSL Radio pre-game w/ David James & Jay Nolly via www.KSLSports.com / 1280 AM / 97.5 FM and www.KSLNewsRadio.com / 1160 AM).Â
For just the second time since May 6, RSL did not play a midweek match ahead of the weekend, which sees RSL visit “The Six” for the first time since 2018. All-time, RSL has just one win and two draws in eight MLS visits to the shores of Lake Ontario, along with a CONCACAF Champions League draw in 2010. The two sides drew 2-2 a year ago in Utah, TFC striking late to cause RSL two dropped home points amidst a 10-game unbeaten run in Sandy.Â
RSL arrives in Toronto looking to extend an active six-game unbeaten run – four wins, two draws since a May 31 home loss to LA Galaxy – as well as its Club-record nine-game road unbeaten streak, one which includes three consecutive MLS road wins.
THREE-MONTH RUN STABILIZES SEASON
Since April 8, RSL has now recorded 10 wins, three losses and six draws in its last 19 games across multiple competitions, securing a berth in the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final four, the 109-year old tourney resuming on August 23 in Houston. During the recent slate of schedule congestion across MLS and Open Cup action, RSL boss Pablo Mastroeni and staff have used 26 different players, prior to an America First Field return next Saturday, July 8 against Orlando, a game expected to mark new Designated Player Chicho Arango’s Claret-and-Cobalt debut, and possibly that of new U-22 MF Nelson Palacio. Tickets for all upcoming RSL contests are available at www.RSL.com/Tickets.
DRAMATIC GOALS OF THE MATCHDAY
Last weekend, RSL rode second-half goals from FW Danny Musovski (79’) and DF Justen Glad (98+) to overcome an 0-2 halftime deficit and earn a 2-2 home draw with Minnesota United. The Glad equalizer – at 97:34, the latest equalizer in RSL’s 19-year history – was elected this week by MLS fans as the “Goal of the Matchday,” Glad with the left-footed slam under the bar on a Diego Luna delivery, with Braian Ojedarewarded with the hockey assist on his 60-yard diagonal to Luna. The Glad heroics arrived on a night that saw the Homegrown RSL Academy product honored pregame for 200 career reg. season appearances with the Utah side. Musovski’s goal marked his sixth in the last 14 contests, to go with four assists, in a match that featured the return of three international players –Ojeda (Paraguay), FW Anderson Julio (Ecuador) and FW Jefferson Savarino (Venezuela) – as well as DF Marcelo Silva and the fourth consecutive start for USA U-20 starlet Luna.Â
Two weeks ago in Washington, D.C., RSL saw a 69-yard goal from Ruiz – one which garnered worldwide highlights and MLS Goal of the Matchday 20 honors – as well as a game-winner from Musovski.
In the midweek 3-1 win at St. Louis between the DCU victory and the MIN draw, RSL scored first for the seventh time in its last 10 games (a pair of 0-0 draws, as well as the 2-2 v MIN), as 19-year old playmaker Diego Luna scored his first-ever MLS goal, off assists from Danny Musovski and Pablo Ruiz, while a dummy from Captain Damir Kreilach opened up space for Luna to bury a curler from the corner of the 18-yard box. Despite an equalizer from West-leading St. Louis, RSL captured its first back-to-back MLS wins in 13 months when Kreilach scored twice in the second half, with both goals coming off Luna assists – his first in MLS – along with helpers from both Andrew Brody and Maikel Chang.
