After Luis Silva scored his fifth goal of the season on Saturday night, converting a penalty in the 50th minute to give RSL a 2-0 lead in a match that went on to finish in a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids, nobodies smile was broader than Joao Plata. The Ecuadorian winger normally takes penalties for RSL and had converted both of his attempts this season. However, Plata already netted one goal in the match and Silva had scored in three straight matches. So instead of stepping over the ball himself, he passed the opportunity along to Silva.
He coolly converted and later added his second goal of the match, giving him five goals in his last four games.
It was a just reward for Silva’s efforts on the night, but also went a long way in emphasizing the club’s belief in the 28-year-old forward.
“I think that faith, not only his faith but us having faith in him. Sticking with him when he was a bit frustrated. Putting him perhaps in uncomfortable situations early on, in a position that he wasn’t extremely comfortable in. But we saw something in him and he’s repaying us now over the last couple of games with goals,” Real Salt Lake Head Coach Mike Petke said after Silva’s two-goal performance on Saturday. “Before that, right from the start he showed why he’s valuable for us. I said it every game what he does, the combination play, dragging defenders out, but now he’s putting the ball in. He’s earned it and I’m extremely happy for it.”
Early in the season, Silva was used as a wing or central midfielder. Back in MLS after a year with Tigres in LigaMX, working his way back into a rhythm of consistent time, he was in and out of the lineup through the first few months. Eventually, he earned his way into the starting lineup and quickly showed a camaraderie with the three attacking players who generally started underneath him – Albert Rusnák centrally with Plata and Jefferson Savarino on the wings.
That chemistry showed in their on-field production, even if Silva wasn’t piling up goals and assists in the process. Petke consistently praised his work rate and combinations he created while forcing opposing center backs to leave their positions to defend him further up the field and in wide areas, creating space for others to get into the attack.
It became standard practice each week for Petke to explain how valuable a center forward can be when he’s not scoring if those other, less tangible forms of productivity help contribute to the team’s objectives.
Then, RSL faced Manchester United. Silva scored his first goal for the Claret-and-Cobalt in that match on July 17 and it was like a lightswitch changed and his confidence soared.
In his previous three matches, he managed 10 shots but didn’t have a goal to show for it. In the three that followed, he had one goal and one assist with 10 shots. Over the last four, though, he has exploded for five goals and one assist while taking 14 shots, putting eight of them on target.
Not coincidentally, the team is finding success with their newfound striker. In the last nine matches, RSL has gone 5-1-3 and after a pair of convincing home wins over San Jose and Colorado, has sprung back into the playoff conversation.
“The mentality of the team, you can tell it has gotten a lot better,” Silva said. “We are having fun and we are enjoying it. We just have to keep this up. It is not over. We could still make that playoff run and that is what we are looking for.”
Like Plata, who played with Silva in Toronto before both went separate ways and converged with RSL during the 2015 season, Silva’s other teammates have been enthused by his recent re-emergence as a goal-scoring threat.
“Even before he went on this little goal-scoring streak, Luis was doing all the right things. That’s off the field, in the weight room, on the training field and in games,” defender Tony Beltran said. “He brings such quality to us and he links up so well with Joao, with Albert, with Sava. I’m really happy to see the goals flowing for him because he deserves it.”
Added Plata, who himself has five goals and two assists in the current stretch of nine matches of good form for RSL, “I love Luis so much and he’s been a great player for us and he’s been helping the team a lot and I’m very happy for him. I think it’s a big thing for us. He’s been doing good things for us and I think that’s important. But the most important thing is that the team wins and gets the three points.”
With his goals on Saturday, he matched Jeff Cunningham for the club record with goals in four consecutive league matches. When RSL returns to the pitch on September 9 against Vancouver, he has a chance to break that record. And while he is focused on helping the team succeed in all aspects, that scoring mark isn’t on his mind.
“I really don’t pay attention to that. Right now, my mindset is to keep the team together, help them win in anyway, assist, make unselfish runs, scoring goals. That is my mindset right now,” he said. “All of the other things are just going to come.”
