Welcome back to storylines.
The Claret-and-Cobalt are back again, and for the final time in its 2024 MLS domestic campaign, it's another quick turnaround match week.
RSL return to footballing action yet again on Saturday with a trip to PayPal Park to take on the San Jose Earthquakes, before a two-week international break, followed by a home end-of-season fixture against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the team’s final game before the commencement of its post-season affairs. And in what promises to provide yet another thrilling climax to the MLS regular season.
Pablo Mastroeni’s men head into Saturday’s contest on the back of an arduous, grinding result last time out in their last game, a goalless stalemate against Minnesota United at home at America First Field.
Two final regular-season games yet provide the opportunity for more domestic success as well as more collective and individual greatness in the team’s quest for a return to winning form and to build some positive momentum ahead of the beginning of playoffs. In light of this, in this edition of storylines, we discuss some of these most compelling narratives to bear in mind in this final bout of the campaign.
Storylines
- Records, campaigns, and yet more records: RSL’s final games of the domestic season present further opportunities to put the icing on the cake on what has already been a record-breaking season, whilst resolving its on-the-pitch and form issues in the process.
- Chicho’s final chance at immortality: The opportunity for more collective greatness also brings with it a final chance for one man’s crowning and becoming. A conclusive chance at eternal Claret-and-Cobalt glory.
Where to Watch
You can catch RSL vs San Jose on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass right here
Kickoff is at 8:30 p.m. MT on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024.
The Deep Dive
- Records, campaigns, and yet more records: RSL’s final games of the domestic season present further opportunities to put the icing on the cake on what has already been a record-breaking season, whilst resolving its on-the-pitch and form issues in the process.
RSL, as has so often been noted this season, and for all its late-season struggles, have enjoyed a largely successful, record-breaking campaign this year, certainly by its own standards up until this point. Of this, there can be no doubt.
Embodiments and evidences of the team’s impressive and nigh never-before-achieved feats this season all exist in both collective and individual achievements earned throughout the squad.
Club captain Chicho Arango, alongside fan favorites Diego Luna, Anderson Julio, Emeka Eneli, Braian Ojeda, and the recently departed Andrés Gómez, amongst others, have all primarily led the charge for the Claret-and-Cobalt in a campaign that has seen the team qualify for a postseason berth for the fourth straight year under Pablo, and 14th time in 17 years, in impressively early fashion - with four games to spare.
Now, admittedly, the club’s late-season results and showings have no doubt left a bit more to be desired, but the team's form and performances from earlier in the season have deservedly provided a needed cushion - and, dare this author say, allowance - for its late-season struggles, and perhaps deservedly so.
In what has been a season generally rife with positives, nonetheless, RSL’s ongoing campaign represents the clubs eighth 50-point season in club history, and first since 2019, and with its final two regular season games, first against San Jose, before Vancouver, arrives the opportunity for yet another leaf in the cap of a highly successful campaign by all existing general metrics.
A win in both the team’s final games would move it up to 59 points, establishing a new grand point-tally record accrued throughout its regular-season campaign, surpassing the 57 points accrued back in 2012, whilst a draw and a win would equal the long-standing record.
RSL’s record of 62 goals scored this season as well makes it the third top scoring team in the West, and fourth in the entire country, and now also newly represents its highest-scoring season in history, eclipsing its previous most prolific season back in 2013 during which its then iteration scored 57 goals across a span of 34 games.
The chance of even more distinction on the horizon, and a compelling conclusion to its regular season affairs, should expectantly provide more source of inspiration and motivation to a team admittedly struggling a bit for form this late in the season, with playoffs only just around the corner.
RSL have enjoyed only two wins in its seven games since the domestic season restart at the end of August, with a further two losses and three draws summing up the remainder of its results.
Encouragingly, however, Wednesday night’s home stalemate with Minnesota did feature a significant defensive improvement evidenced by the shutout and clean sheet earned, but perhaps at the price of more offensive assurance and imposition.
RSL’s head coach spoke at length last weekend about the importance of gradual, but continuous improvement. The midweek game showed a glimmer of such advancements in terms of its rearguard reassurances. Pablo and his coaching staff will next now surely be aiming to reconcile offensive efficiency with defensive imperviousness ahead of the team's final domestic games and with an eye towards its post-season responsibilities.
- Chicho’s final chance at immortality: The opportunity for more collective greatness also brings with it a final chance for one man’s crowning and becoming. A conclusive chance at eternal Claret-and-Cobalt glory.
In continuance of a collective record-breaking campaign, club captain Chicho Arango, as has so often been emphasized this season, yet remains on the precipice of more individual acclaim this season as the jewel in the crown of the Real Salt Lake sporting project.
RSL’s imperial protagonist exploded into light from the beginning to the middle of the season during which he amassed an impressive 17 goals and 11 assist throughout the domestic campaign as one of the front runners for the MLS Golden Boot award.
As such, the 29-year-old still remains a solitary goal away from breaking the club’s single season goalscoring record of 18 goals set all the way back in 2012 by club legend Alvaro Sabario.
The Colombian forward has experienced a recent goal drought as of late, having not found the back of the net since scoring in the team’s 5-2 win against Atlanta United back on July 6. Despite the duck, however, RSL’s captain has come close on numerous occasions to breaking his lean spell in front of goal in recent games, perhaps most especially during midweek against Minnesota, finishing the contest with a total of four shots, with an impressive three of them being on target, efforts Pablo praised and encouraged will pay off eventually,
“The only way to get out of a scoring slump is to keep shooting and one of them is going to go in [eventually],” RSL’s head coach explained in the press conference after the Minnesota result.
"I think he’s doing a really good job of working defensively for the group, but also putting himself in positions to score a goal and I think [the Minnesota goalkeeper] Sinclair’s save against him in the second half was a top stop and could have easily been a goal. So again, there’s only one way to do it [break his duck], and it’s to just keep working through it.”
Despite recent temporary frustrations, RSL’s talisman has no doubt enjoyed a magical 2024 campaign thus far, by all accounts and certainly compared to measured pre-season predictions from before the campaign’s conclusion, and the proceeding final two games offer a final opportunity to etch his name permanently and stand-alone into the Claret-and-Cobalt history books.
Saturday night in the Bay Area will present the first of those opportunities.
It could well happen this weekend, and one thing’s for sure at least, when it does arrive, you most certainly would hate to miss it.
For the penultimate time in the MLS regular season, the Claret-and-Cobalt go on the march again. Best not to get left behind.
Get behind us for this final lap, and may the odds, as they typically seem to be, be most ever in our favor.
