‘We Can Compete, We Can Win.’ - Pablo Mastroeni on SiriusXM
There are several storylines and dynamics that often define a team - or any collective of individuals for that matter - but perhaps even more so, as it pertains to sports and its industry, ones with championship ambitions. RSL Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni maintains that his team embodies all of the qualities required to not just contend for a title, but to find a way to win it all.
The rest of us, as supporters, need only do one thing - BELIEVE.
“... And I think a little bit along the way we lost our mentality [a bit], where the media started speaking highly of us, and as is normal in life you might then start to want to become more of an individual as opposed to being part of a team. So we’ve dealt with a bit of that in these tough moments of the season,” Pablo explained in a recent interview with MLS pundits Brian Dunseth and Keith Costigan on SiriusXM FC (Ch. 157) earlier this week.
“But I think now over the past six games, we’ve really dialed back in and gotten back to being the honest, hard-working team that we typically are. We’re a team that works hard on both sides of the ball, and we’re a team that never quits. And if we can get those three things right, with the quality that we have and the new players who’ve joined us, we can compete for the cup, we can win.” [Believe].
Stories, plotlines, narratives - the likes of which typically surround and sometimes even stand to characterize the best teams. The Claret-and-Cobalt certainly have enjoyed its own fair share of it all throughout the season. More than most - at the very least - finishing sixth in the overall Supporters Shield race, despite having just the 20th-ranked payroll out of 29 teams..
Postseason qualification, for the fourth consecutive year under Pablo’s guidance, leadership and culture, was achieved near the end of September off the back of a lively and some might say volatile summer transfer window, the Club’s busiest ever. An unexpectedly vibrant opening half of the campaign saw RSL atop the West for nearly four months, highlighted by historic feats of skill and bravery built upon the quality and exertions of several of the team’s emerging and already-established talents. Stumbles on either side of the summer window, injuries, suspensions, and new-player integration culminated in a new Club-record single-season points total (59), along with a continental footballing berth to the 2025 Champions Cup for the first time in close to a decade.
The Playoff sky looks bright.
Indeed, as far as storylines go, RSL’s 2024 campaign surely makes for an anthology. An unyielding collection and series of seemingly never-ending twists and turns that left supporters themselves all thoroughly, positively bemused. Such has been the nature and consistency of the 2024 team’s unfolding plots throughout the season.
And yet some might argue this still doesn’t tell the whole story. The reasons are numerous, and the stories behind it all even more exhilarating. But amidst all the highs and lows of the year, beneath the surface of the team’s successes, RSL’s campaign, perhaps most compellingly, has been defined and affected by its varying and evolving team dynamics all throughout the season, something Pablo and his coaching staff have worked tirelessly on all year. During the Dunny/Costigan interview, RSL’s boss shed some light on the impact and dynamics of the locker room, as well as nuances of maintaining expectations and standards, plans, and preparations heading into the team’s 2024 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs opener on Tuesday night at America First Field.
“Yes, that’s something we’ve been kind of juggling and figuring out for a few weeks now. I think when players leave, especially players that have played important roles on the team, you lose their character in the locker room, and their understanding and familiarity with their teammates, which all allow for that connection on the field,” Pablo explained.
“And by losing a player like (Andrés) Gómez, something both he and the club wanted to do [move to Europe], so it was a great development for everyone involved, there were ramifications on how it affected the team. And then when you bring new players in, they have to now adjust to the culture, never mind just soccer because you know what you’re going to get from a soccer perspective. But it’s also about how they integrate as teammates and getting them up to speed in terms of the team mentality and what the expectations are because those are different from their last club, so now you’re trying [and working] to get everyone on the same boat.”
RSL truly enjoyed a record-breaking start to the campaign which, whilst being doubtless evidence of the team’s collective application and dedication, still owed a significant portion of itself to the individual performances of fan favorite and former attacker Gómez. The Colombian winger shone throughout the early parts of the year, racking up 13 goals and nine assists between February and July as part of a fearsome front three, alongside Captain Chicho Arango and RSL All-Star midfielder Diego Luna.
But alas, all good things must surely come to an end, and in the middle of the summer, the club and player acquiesced to a transfer that saw the 22-year-old former Millonarios forward depart the Wasatch Front for pastures anew at Rennes in France (where Andrés just scored his first goal, a game-winner, in his first start for the Ligue 1 side on Friday, Oct. 25).
RSL, for its part, subsequently went on to enjoy a dynamically positive transfer window, acquiring a record five summer signings concurrently, culminating in the busiest-ever transfer window in club history.
Attackers Diogo Gonçalves,\\ Lachlan Brook,\\ and Dominik Marczuk were all brought in to provide ample depth and coverage from the loss of Gómez, alongside forward Benji Michel and defender Javain Brown. But the loss of the fan-favorite Colombian still seemed to cast a brief shadow, combined with the influx of five new players into the team, leading to a change in dressing room dynamics, all of which conspired to contribute to a downturn in form upon the resumption of the team’s domestic season campaign coming out of Leagues Cup at the end of August.
“It’s interesting because when we were in such a good run of form, you could close your eyes and pick the team. It was Andrés on the right, Chicho up front, Crooksy in the 10, and Luna on the left, with Ojeda and Emeka behind them, and we were flying,” Pablo said.
“... However, when we ran into that stretch in the middle of the season, we started to see fatigue set in, and adversity from emotional reactions [and key departures], and I think moments like that really challenge you as a coach to find the solution because if you keep doing the same thing, you'll keep getting the same results and we weren't winning at the time.”
“So for me, it was about getting back to who we are as a team and being the best team on both sides of the ball.”
“And [with the new signings], finding the right combination of players that work well with each other and when you get Dominik, Lachlan, Javain, Diogo, and Benji, you gotta start really thinking not just about how they can integrate into the team, but also help us in real-time.”
The Utah side’s stellar first half of the campaign - racking up an impressive 12 wins in its opening 25 MLS matches between February and the end of July - preceded an equally less-than-impressive regular-season restart - with all five of its new signings working to fully acclimatize themselves within the team. However, an eventual, if gradual surge near the twilight of the season, lent itself to a record of six games unbeaten including three wins, three draws, and a Decision Day comeback with a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps to conclude the regular season. As games intensified and lights brightened, RSL starlet Diego Luna shone as the team’s most consistent performer.
A sign of positive, gradual improvement.
With RSL now set to embark on its near-annual postseason duties en route to potential MLS Cup glory, Pablo has tipped the 21-year-old Luna alongside the recently emerged Emeka Eneli, two of the team’s standout players of the year, as the young players with the potential to lead the team into a glorious new age.
“I think with Diego, it’s been awesome for me as a coach as well [to work with him], so as much as it’s cool for Diego, it’s so awesome for me to continue learning how to communicate effectively [with him] and players of the younger generation. And Diego is very unique in that he comes from a street-balling background, but he’s also one of the smartest soccer players [I’ve worked with]. He’s a fantastic young man who has come up trumps during important times of the season last year and now this year, and I think he will be destined for greatness. He’s a player who’s got the right mindset, plays with a chip on his shoulder, is super-talented, and is now adding [more] goals and assists to his game which is what makes an attacking player an attacking player,” Pablo shared.
“And then Emeka Eneli for me, [simply put], is a player you build your team around. He is super intelligent and hardworking, and grateful every day in training for the opportunity he has. And I’m probably the hardest on Emeka than I am any other player on the team but only because I know how great he can be, and having played that same position I see all the little things that I wasn't great at, but that Emeka is just top level at. So I press him every day [to be the best], and what he’s done for this team is unbelievable considering his lack of experience [relative to most of his teammates], and so for me, I think he’s a national team caliber player and another player who’s been such an important cog in what we’ve been able to achieve this year."
RSL’s head coach was particularly effusive in his praise for Luna and Eneli, and it’s easy to see why. RSL’s young duo have both proven to be two of the most important members within the team, now almost guaranteed first names on Pablo’s starting roster, and part of the solid foundation upon which RSL’s general success in 2024 has been built. 25-year-old Eneli, now in his second year at the Club, began the season as the team’s starting right back on opening day before reinventing himself as one of the best holding midfielders in the country for much of the campaign in the heart of RSL’s midfield alongside Paraguayan international Braian Ojeda.
21-year-old Luna, himself in his third season at the club, is currently enjoying the best season of his young professional career to date, functioning as the primary creative hub within the team throughout the campaign, leading to a career-high eight goals and 12 assists in 31 regular-season appearances.
As far as postseason storylines go, 21-year-old Luna and 25-year-old Eneli certainly rank highly this season, doubtlessly establishing themselves at or near the top of the list of prodigy success stories now at the Club. And on Tuesday, the plot that is the Claret-and-Cobalt 2024 campaign thickens and approaches a brand new postseason chapter with the team set to take on its biggest challenge yet, a mouthwatering Audi MLS Cup Playoff, Round One, best-of-three clash at home against Minnesota United FC, an occasion Mastroeni relishes as a stern test of his side’s championship caliber and credentials.
“Minnesota have been one of the best teams [in the league] in probably the last month-and-a-half to two months. I think they’ve given up only three goals in seven games, so they’ve been really dialed into being stingy defensively, but also have enough attacking talent and a strong group that can make a difference at any point,” Pablo explained.
“And so again, I think at this point of the season where goals are going to be harder to come by, we need to be able to balance the ability to control the game with the ball, but also be threatening with the gaps that might open up to be able to exploit it. We’re going up against a team that’s organized and experienced and have been in a great run of form, so this is going to be a challenge for us. And I think we learned a lot from our last game against them as far as how we want to play and being more vertical in the way we want to attack … so I think it’s going to be a fantastic matchup. I feel really good about where we're at and we just got to continue to do the little things right on both sides of the ball [like in recent games] to have a chance to go through.”
Amongst other things, RSL’s manager also spoke in detail about the acclimatization of new addition Diogo Gonçalves over recent weeks. The 27-year-old Gonçalves arrived on the Wasatch Front at the start of August amidst much acclaim as the club’s newest ‘designated player.’ The former Copenhagen playmaker has enjoyed a measured, yet successful start to life in the Claret-and-Cobalt, with two goals and an assist in six starts and nine total appearances during the twilight of the campaign, most recently making a start in the 2-1 reversal win over the Vancouver Whitecaps on Oct. 19.
“Diogo, I think, is probably one of the most technical players right now in the league with the things I see from him on a day to day. He’s fast, good with either foot, and is also probably the best finisher in the team, with Chicho,” Pablo explained.
“He’s just got a great soccer brain… but the biggest difference with him is that here in MLS it’s a much more physical and transition-heavy league so there’s not going to be as much control of a game as there is maybe in Europe, where teams maybe drop off into a three-quarter or mid-block press. So I just think it’s going to take some time for him to adapt, but I liken it to Hany Mukhtar, who came here from the same league Diogo came from and struggled in his first year before then winning MVP in his second. So, I have high hopes and aspirations for Diogo… once he gets going I think he’s going to be a top player. And then alongside Chicho, Luna, and Crooksy, I think we’ll have quite a formidable frontline attack.”
Storylines, plots, narratives. ’Tis certainly has been a season fraught with it all. Spellbinding matchups and enthralling contests, goalscoring heroics, superstar performers, young prodigies, and more.
And Tuesday presents the opportunity for even more. RSL head into its opening playoff match of the year with the realities of its contemporary successes in its rear and the promise of yet more potential triumphs on the horizon. Believe.
Get behind RSL one more time. One team for glory, and honor, and immortality.
Your team, your house, your Claret-and-Cobalt. The time is now.
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