RSL Finishes Second Three-Game Week of Season with 7:30p MT Kickoff at America First Field;
Tickets Remain Available at www.RSL.com/tickets for Colorado Visit Prior to World Cup Hiatus
HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, May 15, 2026) – Real Salt Lake (7-4-1, 22 points, 4th West / 6th Shield MLS) remains home to close out this week, hosting Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids (5-7-1, 16 points, 9th West / 15th Shield MLS) Saturday at America First Field in Sandy (7:30p MT kickoff), available on Apple. RSL looks to extend the momentum from Wednesday’s 3-0 home victory over Houston, the result avoiding a 20th back-to-back loss in 195 matches during the Pablo Mastroeni era and improving RSL to 14 wins and two draws against just four losses in its last 20 home games, dating back to June 1, 2025.
Saturday’s contest is the second of two home games this week, RSL splitting last weekend’s road loss at Dallas and the midweek Houston visit, now preparing for Saturday, the first of two Rocky Mountain Cup tilts in 2026. At home in 2026, RSL boasts an impressive 6-1-0 (W-L-T) mark thus far at America First Field in Sandy, now outscoring opponents 16-7, with the 0-2 Miami loss in late April the lone home setback thus far. RSL has scored two or more goals in each of the six home wins and in eight of the last 11 contests, with Miami again serving as the lone home exception.
Saturday’s RSL contest on Apple TV features Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth (ENG) on the call, as well as Jorge Perez-Navarro and Marcelo Balboa (SPN). Long-time RSL voice David James and former MLS goalkeeper Jay Nolly will call the game for KSL Sports Radio (1160 AM / 97.5 FM), with Nelson Moran now in his 22nd RSL season as RSL’s Spanish radio voice on KBMG Latino 106.3 FM.
GAME NOTES for Saturday’s RSL v Colorado Match Available OnlineÂ
The Adobe PDF version of the 2026 RSL Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and Colorado can be found HERE. Media members looking to receive the document as an attachment or have further questions are asked to please contact RSL Communications via email at RSLcommunications@RSL.com.
RSL Academy homegrown and Utah native Zavier Gozo scored his first professional brace Wednesday, providing the second and third goals in the 3-0 win, with assists credited to DeAndre Yedlin, Stijn Spierings, Rafa Cabral and Sam Junqua. Gozo has been sensational this season, now with five goals and four assists through 12 matches in 2026. Five of the nine goal contributions have been of the game-winning variety (two GWG, three GWA), the most in Major League Soccer this season. Gozo’s five game-winning goal contributions are not just the most in MLS this year by a teenager, but also tied for the second-most in the League’s 31-year history, despite just playing 12 games thus far. In 2013, Diego Fagundez tallied eight GWCs in 31 games for the New England Revolution, while Gozo is now the fifth teenager in MLS history to notch five combined game-winning goals/assists, joining Fagundez and Freddy Adu (2005), Jozy Altidore (2007) and Alphonso Davies (2018).
RSL’s ability to rebound from losses demonstrates its record of resilience during the Pablo Mastroeni era. Since the former USMNT star and MLS veteran seized the Claret-and-Cobalt head coaching reins in August, 2021, RSL has dropped consecutive games just 19 times in 195 matches during the Mastroeni era, winning 34 and drawing 16 in games following a loss. Earlier this season, RSL bounced back from the 1-0 loss at Vancouver and won 2-1 the next match against Seattle, also rebounding from the recent LA Galaxy loss with a dominant 2-0 win over Portland. Following Saturday’s home match against Colorado – its last prior to the summer World Cup break – RSL wraps up the first half of the 2026 season with a May 23 match at Minnesota (2:30p MT kickoff, Apple TV). The Claret-and-Cobalt then resume MLS action on Wednesday, July 22 at West power LAFC, finally returning home for Leagues Cup matches on August 4 against Tigres (Liga MX).
With the Saturday loss at Dallas, RSL is now 1-3-1 this year on the road, winning 3-2 at Atlanta on March 7 and drawing 2-2 at San Diego on March 22, with rookie FW Sergi Solans seeing his two-game road scoring streak snapped at LA Galaxy two-plus weeks ago. Despite the back-to-back losses in late April against visiting Miami and at LA Galaxy, this year’s RSL start marks its second-best in 22 seasons, with RSL amassing 22 points through its first 12 matches (one point behind 2011), buoyed by a now-imperfect 6-1-0 mark at home, where RSL also boast 12 consecutive sellouts dating back to last August.
During the first 12 MLS matchdays of 2026, RSL has seen 21 different starters, with Polish international Dominik Marczuk making his first appearance in the XI on Wednesday. This year has seen eight different players make their Club debuts, with MF Stijn Spierings and his March 14 heroics adding his name to a 235-player list that saw yet another RSL Academy product – MF Griffin Dillon – appearing for the final 45 minutes of the 3-2 road win at Atlanta on March 7. Newly-acquired Designated Player Morgan Guilavogui joined Uruguayan World Cup hopeful wingback Juan Manuel Sanabria and veteran DF Lukas Engel in making their RSL debuts in the 2-1 win over Seattle on Feb. 28, with the trio of RSL Academy men MF Luca Moisa and MF Zach Booth joining rookie FW Sergi Solans in donning the Claret-and-Cobalt crest for the first time in the Feb. 21 opening-day loss at Vancouver.
Scoring first again this weekend could be critical for RSL’s success, as the 2025 campaign saw the Utah side win just once in come-from-behind fashion (July 26 at San Jose), as it did in the March 14 win over Austin FC. With Wednesday’s Houston win, RSL has now recorded a 52W-10L-19T record when scoring first during the 195-game Mastroeni era, with all but one of 13 RSL victories last season coming when taking the 1-0 lead. Seven of the 10 losses under Mastroeni when taking the 1-0 lead since August, 2021, came during last year’s 2025 campaign.
Should RSL qualify for yet another 2026 postseason berth this November, RSL would extend its West-best active playoff streak to six consecutive seasons (Orlando enters 2026 with six straight in the East), the Claret-and-Cobalt advancing to the postseason in seven of the last eight seasons and 15 of the last 18 years, its near-perennial placement missing out only in the 2015, 2017 and 2020 campaigns.
