HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, Sept. 19, 2025) – Real Salt Lake (10-15-4, 34 points, 10th West / 20th Shield) travels to face LAFC this Sunday in a quick turnaround from Wednesday’s 1-4 loss at America First Field, now seeking to make up for dropped home points in a 7:00p MT Major League Soccer regular-season match at BMO Stadium against West rival LAFC (13-7-8, 47 points, 5th West / 13th Shield). This highly-anticipated weekend contest concludes a critical three-game week following last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Kansas City, as RSL remains in pursuit of a coveted 2025 postseason qualification slot, the Claret-and-Cobalt sitting one point behind 9th-place San Jose despite one fewer game played, with five remaining on the season.
Sunday’s contest is available via Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, with Keith Costigan and Maurice Edu (ENG) on the call, as are Alejandro Figueredo and Tony Cherchi (SPN), while also broadcast nationally via Fox Sports 1, with Josh Eastern and Tony Meola. Iconic 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 in his 21st season as RSL’s Spanish radio home on both 102.3 KDUT FM / 106.3 FM KBMG.
Sunday’s trip to LAFC comes one day prior to Zavier Gozo’s FIFA Youth World Cup departure to represent the United States U-20 side in Chile, the 18-year-old Utah native providing both assists in last weekend’s 2-1 win over Kansas City and a highlight-reel golazo in Wednesday’s loss. Gozo’s athletic, acrobatic, twisting aerial overhead volley cut LAFC’s two-goal lead in half in the 76th minute, earning SportsCenter Top 10 recognition as the #1 overall highlight from Wednesday’s world of sports.
RSL arrives at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles – where it earned a 1-1 draw last year in its most recent visit on a Brayan Vera equalizer from distance – without the services of newly-acquired striker Victor Olatunji, whose late red card Wednesday will render him ineligible for this match.
The Diego Luna goal in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Kansas City gave the 22-year-old MLS All-Star a Club-best ninth goal on the current MLS season, to go with five assists. Luna also provided one goal in RSL’s Leagues Cup trio of matches, his 10 goals across all competitions this season eclipsing his previous career-high of eight goals, set last season. RSL has now scored first in 19 of 34 matches played in MLS reg. season, Leagues Cup and Champions Cup this year, recording nine wins and four draws against six losses when drawing first blood. The July 26 comeback home win against San Jose marks the lone victory recorded in 2025 when conceding first.
Last Saturday’s 2-1 win snapped a three-game losing streak for RSL, its longest since August, 2023; since former USMNT star and MLS veteran Pablo Mastroeni seized the Claret-and-Cobalt head coaching reins in August, 2021, RSL has dropped consecutive games just 16 times in 176 matches during the Mastroeni era, winning 30 and drawing 15 in games following a loss, a mark that will be tested again Sunday.
Game Notes for Sunday’s RSL @ LAFC Match Available Online
The Adobe PDF version of the 2025 RSL Game Guide in advance of Sunday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and LAFC 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 now plays three of its remaining five contests away from home, with Sunday’s trip to LAFC bracketing two home games on Sept. 27 v Austin and Oct. 4 v Colorado with two other road games: the penultimate weekend on Oct. 11 at Seattle in a match rescheduled due to the Sounders’ recent Leagues Cup advancement, and at St. Louis for MLS “Decision Day” on October 18. Following Sunday’s trip to Southern California, RSL will look to seize home momentum – where it boasts six wins and two draws against just three losses since June 1 – looking to pursue a Western Conference playoff spot for the fifth consecutive season. Tickets are available at www.RSL.com/tickets.
RSL now puts its 8-9-3 (W-L-T) home mark on the Wasatch Front thus far this year in MLS, Champions Cup and Leagues Cup matches on the line against Open Cup finalist Austin FC on Sept. 27, while also looking to recapture the Rocky Mountain Cup on Oct. 4 against Colorado. A year ago, RSL amassed a 12-3-4 (W-L-T) record at home, where the Club has traditionally enjoyed a fortress-like record of success, winning nearly 70% of games and averaging just under two points per game in parts of 17 seasons across all competitions at what is now America First Field.
The 3-1 victory at San Diego on April 26 marked Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s 100th career coaching win across all competitions for the two Rocky Mountain Cup competitors, RSL (2021-present) and Colorado (2014-17). The former U.S. World Cup stalwart has now amassed 106 wins, 119 losses and 80 draws across all competitions for the Utah/Denver-based sides. Last June in Kansas City, Mastroeni earned his 50th win across all competitions with RSL in a wild 4-3 road decision, with the 2-0 reg. season win over LA Galaxy on April 5 marking his 50th MLS victory with RSL. Since August, 2021, his arrival in Utah, Mastroeni’s all-time RSL coaching record is now 69-63-44 (W-L-T).
During each of Pablo’s previous three full seasons at the RSL helm, the Club has increased its annual point total (47 in 2022, 50 in 2023 and 59 last year), while increasing its Western Conference table position as well (7th in 2022, 5th in 2023 and 3rd last year). The 2025 campaign features RSL’s pursuit of a Conference-best fifth consecutive postseason berth, a seventh in the last eight seasons and its 15th in the last 18 years.
Last year saw RSL advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs for a fourth consecutive occasion, the sixth time in seven seasons (2020 the lone exception), and for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons since first qualifying in 2008 (2015, 2017 the other outliers). The 2024 MLS regular season reached an all-time high of 59 points for RSL, which finished third in the Western Conference and sixth overall in the then-29-team MLS Shield race, while also establishing a new all-time scoring high of 65 goals.
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