SANDY, Utah (Saturday, March 22, 2025) – Real Salt Lake (2-3-0, 6 points, 11th West MLS) was unable to capture back-to-back wins, falling 0-1 in front of a near-capacity crowd of 19,650 at America First Field.
Real Salt Lake suffered its second consecutive home loss of March, with tonight’s setback coming on the heels of last week’s 2-1 win at Houston, while RSL fell at home 1-3 two weeks ago to expansion San Diego.
RSL Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni was forced to make four changes to the starting 11 from last week’s group, due to international absences of playmakers Diego Luna (USA) and Dominik Marczuk (Poland). As a result, Pablo Ruiz and Forster Ajago were thrust into the starting lineup to create opportunities for the Claret-and-Cobalt. RSL Captain Emeka Eneli was also absent due to back spasms suffered Friday, replaced tonight by Nelson Palacio.
The Claret-and-Cobalt battled through a rough start to the night against FC Dallas, keeping tight lines and making it difficult for Mastroeni’s men to find space up the middle. Just as RSL began to connect between the midfielders and forwards, FW Ari Piol was adjudged to have made a dangerous tackle. The referee subsequently issued a red card after VAR notified him of the challenge, leaving the hosts with 10 men for the remaining 70 minutes.
A contrasting start from last week at Houston with a 43- second goal, Mastroeni’s team found itself down a man early and having to restructure the formation to combat Dallas’ man advantage. Matters only seemed to worsen on the Wasatch Front in the 33rd minute, as DF Brayan Vera was called for a penalty after pulling a Dallas player down in the box. Momentum was surely in the hands of the away team, when star goalkeeper Rafael Cabral stopped a Luciano Acosta penalty attempt from 12 yards away. The Brazilian shot-stopper asserted himself in front of the home crowd against the former 2023 MLS MVP winner with one of his quintet of saves on the night.
Nonetheless, just seconds before the halftime whistle, seven minutes into stoppage, FC Dallas found the first and only goal of the night after a deflected cross found Acosta behind an RSL centerback, heading it home from inside the 6-yard-box, giving the visitors a crucial 1-0 lead just before halftime.
RSL’s attack was unable to flourish for the remainder of the game, leaving Forster Ajago lonely up top with little action on the ball. Playing a man down for the majority of the match ultimately threw Mastroeni’s tactics out the window, as the team was fighting to find chances but was also focused on not conceding a second goal.
GK Rafael Cabral was the standout performer on the night, making multiple crucial saves to minimize the damage. This defeat leaves Real Salt Lake near the bottom of the Weat table with 6 points after 5 games played in the 2025 MLS season.
Next up for RSL is an away trip at Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field next Saturday, March 29. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 PM MT, with tickets for RSL’s next home match on April 5 against LA Galaxy (2:30p MT kickoff) available here.
RSL 0 : 1 DAL
GOALSCORING SUMMARY
DAL: Luciano Acosta (Unassisted) 45’+7’: DF Shaq Moore delivered a deflected cross from the far right side of the 18-yard-box into FW Luciano Acosta, who headed it into the net from inside the 6-yard-box to put Dallas in the lead.
NOTES FROM RSL 0 : 1 DAL
- Saturday’s defeat marks RSL’s second successive MLS home loss and third defeat in all competitions at America First Field this season. A year ago, RSL dropped just three of its 19 home matches in multiple competitions.
- Tonight’s 23rd-minute red card was RSL’s first since a Brayan Vera ejection last September against Minnesota, one of only two red seen all of 2024 (Braian Ojeda on March 3 v LAFC).
- RSL GK Rafael Cabral remains the lone player to start in all seven games and play every one of 630 total minutes this season across multiple competitions.
- Next weekend’s match at Minnesota sees RSL arrive at Allianz Field in St. Paul, where RSL drew 1-1 in the second leg of the teams’ 2024 Audi MLS Cup Playoff series, losing in a PK shootout tiebreaker after 120 minutes
- RSL Homegrown Justen Glad - who trails only Club legends Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman amongst minutes played, despite being just 28 years of age - wore the Captain’s armband tonight for the first time this year, in place of MF Emeka Eneli (back spasms / day-to-day; expected back next weekend at Minnesota). Glad has served as the RSL captain several times in the last few seasons.
LINEUPS
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Rafael Cabral; Philip Quinton, Justen Glad ©, Brayan Vera, Sam Junqua (Alex Katranis, 66’); Braian Ojeda, Nelson Palacio (Lachlan Brook, 66’); Diogo Gonçalves, Pablo Ruiz (Tyler Wolff, 46’), Ari Piol; Forster Ajago (Kobi Henry, 81’)
Subs not used: Mason Stajduhar, Javain Brown, Bode Hidalgo, Griffin Dillon
Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni
FC Dallas (4-2-3-1): Michael Collodi; Shaquell Moore, Sebastien Ibeagha, Osaze Urhoghide, Marco Farfan; Ramiro, Sebastian Lletget (Lalas Abubakar, 90’+3’); Patrickson Delgado (Katlego Ntsabeleng, 46’), Luciano Acosta, Léo Chú (Logan Farrington, 66’); Petar Musa
Subs not used: Antonio Carrera, Pedrinho, Show, Enzo Newman, Kaick da Silva Ferreira, Bernard Kamungo
Head Coach: Eric Quill
Stats Summary: RSL / DAL
Shots: 9 / 15
Shots on Goal: 2 / 5
Saves: 4 / 2
Corner Kicks: 4 / 6
Fouls: 15 / 15
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Ari Piol (Red card - 23’)
RSL: Pablo Ruiz (Yellow card - 25’)
DAL: Petar Musa (Yellow card - 27’)
RSL: Pablo Mastroeni (Yellow card - first half)
RSL: Mirza Harambasic (Yellow card - first half)
RSL: Forster Ajago (Yellow card - 68’)
RSL: Brayan Vera (Yellow card - 74’)
DAL: Logan Farrington (Yellow card - 74’)
RSL: Philip Quinton (Yellow card - 75’)
DAL: Ramiro (Yellow card - 89’)
DAL: Sebastien Ibeagha (Yellow card - 90’+3’)
DAL: Luciano Acosta (Yellow card - 90’+6’)
