SANDY, Utah (Saturday, March 2, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (1-1-1, 4 pts.) kicked off the home portion of its 2024 Major League Soccer campaign with a dominant 3-0 win over visiting Los Angeles Football Club (1-1-0, 3 pts.) in a weather-delayed home opener at America First Field.
With high winds, lightning and snow all affecting the kick time for the midday Wasatch Front kickoff, RSL eventually rode a dominant three-goal first half to earn its first victory of the 2024 campaign as winger Andres Gomez stole the show with a first-half brace inside the first 42 minutes and added an assist in first-half extra time to striker Chicho Arango.
Despite being out-shot and out-possessed by LAFC on the whole 90, Real Salt Lake capitalized on creativity of its wing players and a 150-plus pass advantage over the opposition to claim the full three points in emphatic fashion.
RSL returns home again next Saturday, with a 7:30 p.m. MT kickoff at America First Field against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids, in the first of three 2024 meetings in the fan-created rivalry, won by RSL in 13 of the last 16 years. Tickets are available at www.RSL.com/tickets.
Scheduled to kick off at 12:00 p.m. MT at America First Field, high winds pushed the start back to 2:10, but the play would be delayed once again in just the fourth minute of play, when nearby lightning strikes forced a 62-minute pause. Returning to the field of play, RSL displayed its adaptability on a pitch increasingly under assault by snowfall. The breakthrough came for the Claret-and-Cobalt in the 18th minute, as Diego Luna played an incisive ball to Chicho Arango up the left wing, creating the space for Arango to switch the play across for Andrés Gómez. The ball was played short for Gómez at the edge of the box, when the Colombian cut across the face of his only marker to find himself one-on-one with LAFC’s World-Cup-winning goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the box, showing composure with a clean strike into the left corner for the first goal at America First Field to be scored this year.
Buzzing up and down the right wing with unrelenting pressure, Gómez nearly netted his second of the half just three minutes later. His flair on full display, even in the adverse conditions, Gómez sliced through the LAFC defense with a combination of dribbles to find himself alone with Lloris once again, slotting it into the side netting before the goal was disallowed for offsides.
The second goal would eventually come through Gómez in the 42nd minute as Arango spotted Luna deep in the box, floating a lofted through-ball over the heads of both LA centerbacks and onto the 20-year-old’s feet directly in front of net. Luna’s silky first touch drew the attention of Lloris and both Los Angeles centerbacks as he calmly played a regressive ball back to a charging Gomez, who promptly deposited his second goal of the match with a one-touch strike into the corner.
Taking advantage of an LAFC squad on its heels, Real Salt Lake all but cemented victory with a third of the half when, five minutes into extra time, the RSL attack launched itself forward once again. This time, Luna and Gómez flew up the left wing and through the defense with a beautiful combination of one-two passes. The build-up play created space for Gómez to spot his streaking striker in the box, whipping a ball directly onto his feet. Sliding between two LA defenders, Arango went for placement over power to slot a glancing blow past Lloris for his second goal in as many matches, just seven days removed from the celebration of his 100th professional goal, for which he was honored pre-game.
RSL’s defensive maturity was evident in the second half despite a few threatening moves by Los Angeles as the clock climbed ever-closer to 90 minutes of play. Their most dangerous chance materialized in the 54th minute, as FW Denis Bouanga found himself one-on-one with Real Salt Lake’s Zac MacMath in the box, but could not convert the chance as his strike clattered off the post and back into play. MacMath would go on to tally six saves en route to his first clean sheet of the year. Keeping with tradition, Real Salt Lake’s victory makes it 6-1-0 (W-L-T) in matches requiring the usage of a high-visibility ball due to inclement weather.
RSL 3 : 0 LAFC
GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:
RSL: Andres Gomez, 18th Minute (Chicho Arango): The breakthrough came for RSL in the 18th minute as Diego Luna played an incisive ball to Chicho Arango up the left wing, creating the space for Arango to switch the play across for Anderson Julio. The ball was played short for Julio who then cut across the face of his only marker, leaving him laying in the snow, to find himself one-on-one with LAFC’s World-Cup-winning goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in the box. Showing his composure, Gomez converted the chance with a clean strike into the left corner, the first of the year for Gomez and the first of the campaign at America First Field.
RSL: Andres Gomez, 42nd Minute (Diego Luna): Real Salt Lake made their offensive encore as Chicho Arango played a lofted through-ball to Diego Luna deep in the box. Luna’s first touch in front of goal drew the attention of both LA defenders in the area before he took advantage of the positional vulnerability with a pass backwards to the feet of a charging Andres Gomez - who promptly deposited his second goal of the match past Lloris with a one-touch strike into the corner.
RSL: Chicho Arango, 45+5’ (Andres Gomez): Capping off a dominant half, Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna and Andres Gomez played one-two football up the right wing and around the Los Angeles defenders when the space appeared for Gomez to whip a ball directly onto the feet of Chicho Arango as he charged between the opposition’s center back pairing. In a diving attempt, Arango slotted a glancing blow past Lloris and into the corner for Salt Lake’s third of the half and Arango’s second in as many games.
RSL v LAFC NOTES:
- All-time, RSL is now 8W-2L-6T in its Sandy-based home openers since 2009, and 9W-2L-9T overall including the early Rice-Eccles Stadium days
- Today’s RSL v LAFC game was delayed by precisely two hours pre-match due to inclement weather along the Wasatch Front and resultant fan/player safety concerns, with another 35 minutes delaying a restart after the 4th minute
- RSL has dropped the full three points in only two of its 20 all-time home openers; first to LAFC in 2018, a 1-5 loss that marks RSL’s worst-ever home loss in Club history, as well as last year’s 1-2 setback against visiting Austin FC
- FW Andrés Gómez tallied two first-half goals tonight - doubling his total from last year - and added another assist to the six previous from his RSL career (2023) - Gomez became the youngest player in club history to record three goal contributions in a single regular season game
- Three RSL homegrown players started Saturday, as DF* Justen Glad* & DF Andrew Brody were joined by DF* Bode Hidalgo, who started at right back; Mastroeni made two changes from last week’s 1-1 draw at St. Louis, as Matt Crooks* made his starting XI debut for RSL, replacing Pablo Ruiz at the 10, with veteran Marcelo Silva *starting at centerback in place of available but injured Brayan Vera (ankle)
- Metronomic midfielder Pablo Ruiz came off the bench for RSL today, after starting each of the first two games this season; last year, on August 8 against LAFC, Ruiz suffered a meniscus injury in his right knee in the Leagues Cup Round of 16 match
- FW Chicho Arango again wore the Captain’s armband for RSL for the third time in as many opportunities this season, after being named the Club’s sixth full-time Captain, following in the footsteps of Jason Kreis (2005-07), Carey Talley (2007), Kyle Beckerman (2008-20), Albert Rusnák (2021) and Damir Kreilach (2022-23)
- RSL returns home next Saturday, March 9, at 7:30p MT for the first of three “Rocky Mountain Cup” contests against long-time rival Colorado Rapids at America First Field; tickets remain available at www.RSL.com/tickets for the fan-created Cup, won by the Claret-and-Cobalt in 13 of the last 16 years
LINEUPS:
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Zac MacMath; Bode Hidalgo, Justen Glad, Marcelo Silva, Andrew Brody; Braian Ojeda, Emeka Eneli; Andrés Gómez (Maikel Chang, 74), Matt Crooks (Pablo Ruiz, 73), Diego Luna (Nelson Palacio, 86); Chicho Arango © (Anderson Julio, 90)
Subs not used: Bryan Oviedo, Brayan Vera, Fidel Barajas, Erik Holt, Gavin Beavers
LAFC (4-4-2): Lloris; Campos (Segura, 67); Murillo; Hollingshead; Long; Sanchez © (Ordaz, 88); Tillman; Bogusz (Angel, 76); Atuesta (Duenas, 67); Olivera (Martinez, 76); Bouanga
Subs not used: Romero, Bombino, Rosales
Stats Summary: RSL / LAFC
Shots: 10 / 16
Shots on Goal: 6 / 6
Saves: 6 / 3
Corner Kicks: 4 / 8
Fouls: 16 / 18
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Red (Ojeda, 85); Yellow (Ojeda, 37); Yellow (Arango, 59); 16 Total Fouls
LAFC: Yellow (Attuesta, 35), Yellow (Murillo, 50), Yellow (Bogusz, 68); 18 Total Fouls
