During Real Salt Lake General Manager Craig Waibel’s 11 seasons in Major League Soccer, he did his best to get under the skin and into the minds of opposing forwards. When he faced off with Yura Movsisyan, he didn’t know how to do either.
Years later and after stints in Denmark and Russia, little has changed for Movsisyan and MLS defenders are still struggling to find a way to slow the 28-year-old goalscorer.
In the month of June, Movsisyan started three matches for Real Salt Lake. He scored in each of them as RSL went 2-0-1 in those three matches. That stat line speaks volumes as Real Salt Lake endured a rigorous May schedule to emerge as contenders in the Western Conference due in large part to the production of the club’s explosive forward trio of Movsisyan, Juan Manuel Martinez and Joao Plata.
Now, Movsisyan leads Real Salt Lake with six goals and his stellar June performance has him among five finalists for the Etihad Airways MLS Player of the Month honors.
“The goals were coming. It was a matter of when and now it’s a matter of continuing to produce those opportunities, like we have, throughout the season,” Waibel said. “Strikers are confidence players and right now he knows when he hits it, he knows it’s going to hit the back of the net.”
Movsisyan was RSL’s marquee transfer in the winter, coming over on loan from Spartak Moscow. Now in his second tour in the Claret-and-Cobalt, he came with high expectations after exploding on the international scene with Randers in Denmark and Krasnodar and Spartak in Russia. Although he had just two goals through RSL’s first 10 matches, he made a clear early impact as Salt Lake went 5-3-2 in those matches.
Now with a newfound offensive rhythm for him and his attacking partners, Movsisyan is delivering on his own lofty expectations.
“It’s just hitting the back of the net. The chances that he has been creating for himself, as well as his teammates, throughout the season speak for themselves,” Waibel said. “So it’s really just Yura getting a rhythm in front of net.”
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