RSL Clinches Playoff Berth, Draws Portland 3-3 

SANDY, Utah (Saturday Sept. 21, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (14-7-9, 51 Pts, 2nd West) drew Portland Timbers at home 3-3 in a high-scoring thriller that saw four second-half goals. Earlier in the night Austin FC’s loss to Houston clinched RSL’s fourth consecutive playoff berth and its 14th in the last 17 years. Notably, two recent signings, AM Diogo Gonçalves and AM Dominik Marczuk each scored their first career RSL goals on the evening.

RSL came out hungry in front of yet another sold-out crowd (20,778) under the lights at America First Field, Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s squad looking to clinch the playoffs for the 6th occasion in 7 years and to avenge a previous July 13 defeat at Portland. It wouldn’t take long for the sparks to fly as recent signee, 20-year-old winger Marczuk collected his first goal on American soil since joining RSL on August 14 with a beautiful 10’ strike, service compliments of the red-hot striker Anderson Julio. Fan confidence was sky-high, RSL boasting a 34W-4L-10T mark when scoring first during the three-year / four-season Mastroeni era.

Pressing for another with a fierce crowd at its back, starlet Diego Luna found himself in perfect position to capitalize on a failed Timbers clearance in the 22nd minute, his sixth goal of the campaign. Continuing to assert its collective will, RSL nearly poured it on with a third as Julio chipped the Portland ‘keeper before the movement was called offsides. Heading to the locker room with a 2-0 lead, RSL was equally dominant on the scoresheet, enjoying a 1.6 to 0.1 expected goals (XG) advantage in addition to a lead in shots (5-3), shots on goal (3-1) and corners (3-1).

Coming out for the second half, dynamics flipped when Portland got on the board at the 62’ mark following a sloppy corner kick. Then, with Portland lining up a threatening 76’ free kick, MLS leading goal contributor Evander showed his quality with a world class free kick goal off the underside of Gavin Beavers’ crossbar to square the affair at 2-2. Electrifying the standing-room only crowd, RSL conjured magic with what seemed to be another patented late winner at 92+ as summer signee Diogo Gonçalves earned his first RSL/MLS goal with a beautifully-struck goal, well-worked on assists coming from substitutes Chicho Arango (his 12th of the season) and Andrew Brody.

The comeback was short-lived, however, as the Timbers’ Jonathan Rodriguez equalized just two minutes later. The two sides would battle for the remainder of 10 stoppage time minutes before the final whistle blew with the teams remaining all knotted up, RSL finishing with the clear advantage in possession (52%), shots (19-9), passing volume (454-410) and passing accuracy (81.3%-78.3%).

Real Salt Lake travels this weekend to face Austin FC next Saturday, Sept. 28, with streaming available through an MLS Season Pass subscription on Apple TV. To access more news, schedules, rosters and more, visit www.RSL.com.

GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:

RSL - 10’ - Dominik Marczuk (Anderson Julio, Alex Katranis): With RSL dominating momentum and possession early, the Claret-and-Cobalt began an attack as Alex Katranis played Anderson Julio into a one-on-one matchup on the left wing. Facing up his marker, Julio attacked head-on, first dragging his man to the end line before juking back inside to create space. Spotting favorable numbers in the box, Julio then floated a perfectly-weighted ball over the only central defender in the area and onto the feet of Marczuk. Taking one touch to control the ball and another to consume space back across the face of goal, the two touches were all he needed to shift the goalkeeper’s momentum as he shot back against the movement of the play to fool the entire Timbers defense and earn his first goal on American soil.

RSL - 22’ - Diego Luna (Alex Katranis): With RSL flooding the attacking third on the hunt for a second, Katranis controlled on the left wing before playing a deadly one-two with Luna on the edge of the box that unlocked a flick-on into the box for Julio. The pass slightly overzealous, Julio and Katranis both launched themselves forward as the goalkeeper came out to attempt a clearance. Under intense pressure, the clearance was ineffective as it careened directly to the feet of Luna around the penalty spot, the 21-year-old attacking midfielder able to confidently convert the chance with a low, driven one-time shot off his right foot.

POR - 62’ - Antony (Unassisted): After conceding a corner to the Timbers, Evander placed the corner at the penalty spot to connect with Eric Miller. Pushing his header towards the back post. The ball bounced through the mixer, landing at the feet of Antony in a congested RSL box, the Brazilian winger’s shot attempt able to trickled back across the face of goal inside the far post.

POR - 76’ - Evander (Free Kick): Winning a threatening free kick on the left side of the attacking third, MLS leading goal contributor Evander took the responsibility. Evander perfectly struck a high, curling shot to the back post as a helpless Gavin Beavers watched it glance off the underside of the crossbar and into the roof of the net.

RSL - 90’ - Diogo Gonçalves (Chicho Arango, Andrew Brody): Substitute Andrew Brody rushed forward to retain the ball for his side with a risky header, quickly advancing before shuffling it to Arango in the middle of the attacking third. Spotting the run of Gonçalves, Arango laid it off for his #10, the Portuguese maestro taking one touch before ripping a low, powerful shot at the near post with his preferred right, the pace proving too much as it soared past a diving Maxime Crepeau and into the back of the net. The goal is the first of Gonçalves’ MLS/RSL career, joining Marczuk as the second recent RSL signee to tally their first goal on the evening.

POR - 90+2’ - Jonathan Rodriguez (Migeul Araujo, Antony): Just two minutes after the jubilation of claiming a stoppage-time 3-2 lead, the Timbers streaked down the right wing on a quick counter. Antony ran down a lofted through ball from the midfield all the way to the endline before playing a regressive pass back to Miguel Araujo near the elbow of the box. Araujo wound up and cranked a first-touch bending cross to the back post where Jonathan Rodriguez was waiting on the shoulder of an RSL defender. Perfectly positioned, Rodriguez connected squarely with a thundering downward header at the near post, his equalizing shot forcing the teams to split the points..

NOTES FROM RSL 3 : 3 POR

• Real Salt Lake, with Austin FC’s loss to Houston Dynamo, clinches its fourth consecutive playoff berth, its sixth in the last seven seasons, and the 14th in 17 years. This marks the first streak of four consecutive playoff berths for RSL since the Club’s streak of seven straight campaigns from 2008-2014.

• Two recent signings, Diogo Gonçalves (8/9/24) and Dominik Marczuk (8/14/24) each earn their first career RSL and MLS goals. Marczuk, with an assist in Wednesday’s victory over Dallas, has now earned his first RSL goal and assist within 72 hours of each other. The additions become the 108th and 109th players in RSL’s 20-year history to find the back of the net in the Club’s 644 all-time MLS reg. season contests.

• DF Alex Katranis (5) earns a pair of assists for the first time this season, bringing his total goal contributions this year to eight.

• FW Chicho Arango and MF Diego Luna each earn goal contributions to snap individual droughts. Prior to the Arango assist, the MVP contender had not tallied a goal or assist since July 6 in a 5-2 win over Atlanta. Luna, with the assist, snapped a streak of nine matches in which he failed to appear on the scoresheet. Arango, without a goal, remains tied with Alvaro Saborio at 17 goals for the franchise single-season record. Arango has not scored since that same July 6 match.

• 24-year-old midfielder Noel Caliskan earns his second starting nod of the 2024 season and his first since March 9, completing 26 passes and a key pass at a 90% accuracy rate in 65 minutes. Caliskan made two starts and four total appearances for Portland in 2023, tallying a single MLS assist, while also tallying a goal and two assists in a 4-3 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup loss to RSL in Portland.

• After snapping an eight-match sellout streak with a near-capacity crowd of 19,436 on Wednesday, America First Field was full once again with a standing-room-only crowd of 20,778, the Club’s ninth SRO crowd in its last 10 matches and the 11th in 15 games across all competitions.

LINEUPS:

Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Gavin Beavers; Justen Glad ©; Brayan Vera; Philip Quinton (Javain Brown, 62’); Alex Katranis (Andrew Brody, 82’); Noel Caliskan (Braian Ojeda, 65’); Emeka Eneli; Dominik Marczuk; Diego Luna; Matt Crooks (Diogo Gonçalves, 65’); Anderson Julio (Chicho Arango, 61’)

Subs not used: Zac MacMath, Maikel Chang, Lachlan Brook, Bode Hidalgo

Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni

Portland Timbers (4-2-3-1): Maxime Crepeau; Migeul Araujo; Kamal Miller; Claudio Bravo (Eric Miller,, 46’); Juan Mosquera; Evander ©; Antony; Eryk Williamson (Diego Chara, 79’); David Ayala (Cristhian Paredes, 54’); Santiago Moreno (Jonathan Rodriguez, 54’); Felipe Mora (Mason Toye, 54’)

Subs not used: Zachery McGraw, Finn Surman, James Pantemis, Marvin Loria

Head Coach: Phil Neville

Stats Summary: RSL / TAC

Shots: 19 / 9

Shots on Goal: 4 / 5

Saves: 2 / 1

Corner Kicks: 6 / 3

Fouls: 18 / 11

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:

RSL: Matt Crooks (Caution - 90’)

TAC: Eryk Williamson (Caution - 48’)

TAC: Kamal Miller (Caution - 55’)

TAC: Evander (Caution - 57’)

RSL: Alex Katranis (Caution - 72’)