RSL Seeks Second Road Win of Season with 6:30p MT Kickoff Against Western Conference Foe;
Tickets Remain Available at www.RSL.com/tickets for May 13 / 16 Home Matches at America First Field
HERRIMAN, Utah (Thursday, May 7, 2026) – Real Salt Lake (6-3-1, 19 points, 6th West / 8th Shield MLS) hits the road this weekend, traveling to face FC Dallas (4-3-4, 16 points, 7th West / 11th Shield MLS) at Toyota Stadium in Frisco (6:30p MT kickoff), available on Apple. Despite an all-time 2-14-8 (W-L-T) road record at Dallas, RSL has earned results in four of its last five visits to North Texas, last winning in 2021, drawing in 2022, 2024 and 2025, and losing in 2023.
Veteran RSL DF Sam Junqua once called FC Dallas home, appearing in 56 league regular-season and playoff games during the 2023/24 seasons, starting 37 matches and scoring three goals. For Dallas, current FW Anderson Julio previously played four full seasons with RSL from 2021-24, playing 111 reg. season contests and scoring 25 goals, matching Diego Luna for the 10th-most goals all-time in a Claret-and-Cobalt kit. Julio also appeared in another eight playoff matches, scoring once.
Saturday’s RSL contest on Apple TV features Christian Miles and Kacey Smith (ENG) on the call, as well as Raul Guzman (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.
Last weekend, RSL snapped its two-game losing streak with a dominant first-half performance against visiting Portland, as USA World Cup hopefuls Zavier Gozo (10th minute) and Diego Luna (28th minute) each found the back of the net against the Timbers. Uruguayan international Juan Manuel Sanabria assisted on both goals, while rookie Sergi Solans also tallied an assist. French-born playmaker Morgan Guilavogui was also dangerous on the attack, slamming a long-distance shot off the crossbar and seeing multiple breakaways snuffed out. Holding mids Noel Caliskan and Stijn Spierings also saw dangerous attacking opportunities saved in an impressive performance by Timbers ‘keeper James Pantemis.
GAME NOTES for Saturday’s RSL @ FC Dallas Match Available Online
The Adobe PDF version of the 2026 RSL Game Guide in advance of Saturday’s contest between Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas 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 has been sensational this season, with three goals and four assists through 10 matches in 2026. Five of the seven 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, but tied for the second-most in the League’s 31-year history, despite just playing 10 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 193 matches during the Mastroeni era, winning 33 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.
Away from home, RSL is now 1-2-1 this year, 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 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 19 points through its first 10 matches (one point behind 2011), buoyed by a now-imperfect 5-1-0 mark at home, where RSL also boast 11 consecutive sellouts dating back to last August.
During the first 10 MLS matchdays of 2026, RSL has seen 20 different starters, with eight different players making 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 last Saturday’s Portland win, RSL has now recorded a 51W-10L-19T record when scoring first during the 193-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.
Mastroeni welcomes two new coaches to his bench in 2026, with third-year assistant Anthony Pulis elevated and Jamal Campbell-Ryce (Real Monarchs assistant, 2024/25; former EPL / EFL player) and Frédéric Brillant (former NYCFC player, former Utah Royals FC assistant) joining RSL. GK Coach Mirza Harambasic remains on staff along with lead Video Analyst Rob Rogers, the group looking to attain the heights of 2024, when RSL delivered its Club-best campaign of 59 points from 34 games and 65 goals scored.
