Daniel Obinyan
With merely three games left in the regular season, Mark Lowry’s Real Monarchs stand right on the tantalizing precipice of history renewed and, for the individuals involved, legacy unencumbered
History is afoot at Zions Bank Stadium, the like of which has seldom been seen in years.
It tickles the fantasy.
The Real Monarchs have failed to qualify for every single playoff section in the MLS NEXT Pro era, and are yet to appear in any postseason round at all since 2019, but Mark Lowry’s side now find themselves merely three games away from a first playoff appearance in more than six years.
So close you can touch it.
“This group has a little more of those characteristics — grit, determination, togetherness, effort — than last season’s group, and those are the things that win you games,” Lowry vibrantly enthused in a recent interview. “Which is why [I believe] this group will get across the line [this time] and make the playoffs, because there is just that more steel, grit, and determination to them.”
The Monarchs head coach was bullish on his current side and their qualification prospects this year. The heartbreak of last season’s ‘decision day’ capitulation left a lingering sting, but this year, Lowy’s history chasers are in pursuit of their own legacy.
In the service of that, Lowry’s men ensured there were no lingering hangovers from the preceding 1-2 shock away to Sporting Kansas with an efficient showing in a convincing 2-1 triumph of their own the following weekend at home against Ventura County, in a crucially consequential ‘4th v 5th’ matchup to put the Claret-and-Cobalt in pole position to get over the line.
The next assignment for Lowry’s side now lies imminently in a tricky away date against LAFC 2 at Titan Stadium, where victory could all but surely guarantee a place in the NEXT Pro playoffs.
The Monarch's destiny lies in their own hands
Three games left, Lowry’s men stand right on the precipice.
History beckons.
Remaining fixtures
The conclusion of Friday night’s affair against LAFC 2 will leave Lowry and Co. with just two games left until the end of the 2025 regular season, as shown below:
Saturday, September 27th: Away vs North Texas SC (9th West)
Sunday, October 5th: vs Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 (5th West)
Run in and implications: a tabular advantage
The season’s late stage bears gifts, and it would seem en masse, for the Monarchs, who continue to occupy fourth in the West table and remain even more strongly placed now for postseason contention. The race for qualification remains hotly congested — only five points separate fourth to ninth place, with merely three rounds of matches to go — but Lowry and company now stare down the fixture barrel with a trio of final games against teams all currently below the Claret-and-Cobalt in the standings.
First serve: LAFC 2
When the Monarchs first locked horns with the California outfit earlier this season, in late April, at America First Field, Lowry’s side were beneficiaries of an unfortunate own goal, which put them in front before an eventual equalizer from the visitors forced penalties at the end, which culminated in a 7-6 shoot-out defeat for the home side. The second meeting, in August, and also at America First Field, fared little better in a regulation-time 0-1 defeat for the Claret-and-Cobalt. As such, Friday will represent the third meeting between both sides already this season, with the Monarchs still reeling from defeats in the last two encounters.
Both teams have enjoyed relatively equal levels of form over the last five matches, but the ongoing good news for the Monarchs head coach will be the continued availability of star players Aiden Hezarkhani and Marcos Zambrano, the latter of whom netted the decisive goal with a confidently taken penalty in the victory against Ventura County last time out.
But that constitutes merely the beginning.
Striker Jesus Barea continued his prolific goalscoring campaign with the opener in last weekend’s win (now taking him to eight goals as the team’s top scorer), and the recent equally encouraging uptick in form of several others across the team means Lowry possesses the enviable advantage of having the manager’s best team and players all readily available and at his disposal ahead of this week’s crucial contest and heading into the concluding weeks of the year.
The Monarchs boss might also find encouragement — in relation to his team attacking — in the fact that, with 53 goals conceded, head coach Junior Gonzalez’s LAFC 2 statistically possess the third most porous defense across all the teams in the Western Conference. Both sides will also be relatively buoyed by different sets of results last time out, with the Monarchs’ triumph over Kansas unequally matched by the Black-and-Gold’s 3-5 defeat away to Portland Timbers 2 in their most recent outing.
Two teams with significantly contrasting season fortunes and landscapes. Friday will put both sets of prospects to an intriguing examination.
Individual leaders
Goals: Barea: 8 / Hezarkhani: 6 / Dillon: 4 / Zambrano: 4 / Wolff: 3 / Mesalles: 3 / Sandoval: 3
Assists: Mesalles: 4 / Hezarkhani: 3 / Wolff: 3 / Touray: 3 / Moisa: 3
Watch Lowry’s side continue their push for playoff legacy against LAFC 2 this Friday, September 19, at 8:00 PM MT, with broadcast available via Apple TV - MLS Season Pass.
