Last week Salt Lake went on the road to face off against Minnesota United where they came out with one point in a 1-1 draw. Pablo Masteronis men return home to the America First Field with the visitors being reigning MLS Cup champs Columbus Crew. Wilfried Nancy’s team is expected to have lots of rotation because they faced off against Liga MX team Tigres during the week in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Real Salt Lake currently sits fourth place in the Western conference right behind Minnesota and the Columbus Crew are sitting at fifth place in the Eastern conference. This game should prove to be a great battle between two great sides.
Lineups:
Pablo Masteroni’s starting eleven:
● Goalkeeper: Zac MacMath
● Outside backs: Andrew Brody and Alexandros Katranis
● Center backs: Justen Glad and Brayan Vera
● Midfielders: Braian Ojeda and Emeka Eneli
● Wingers: Diego Luna and Andres Gomez
● Attacking midfielder: Matt Crooks
● Striker: Chicho Arango (MVP candidate and Captain) Wilfried Nancy’s starting eleven:
● Goalkeeper and Captain: Evan Bush
● Center backs: Malte Amundsen, Rudy Camacho, Philip Quinton
● Attacking wing backs: Will Sands and Max Arfsten
● Midfielders: Aidan Morris and Sean Zawadzki
● Attacking midfielders: Alexandru Matan and Taha Habroune
● Striker: Jacen Russel-Rowe First half: The first half was a bit of a tug-of-war battle between both sides. In the 35th minute, goalkeeper Evan Bush went down with an injury after a collision with Diego Luna. Guatemalan goalkeeper
Nicolas Hagen subbed in for him. Although Salt Lake was the better side, creating plenty of chances to gain the lead over the Crew, with one of the best chances coming in the 45th minute when Matt Crooks played a perfect ball to Andres Gomez. Gomez couldn’t capitalize though, as he couldn’t get any contact on the ball to direct it towards goal. Although Columbus Crew did have the possession advantage with 58% to Salt Lake’s 42%, they just couldn’t find a footing in this game. The press from Real Salt Lake played a key part in keeping Columbus quiet. Salt Lake was also staying composed and getting plenty of numbers back whenever the Crew tried to counter into the attack. Masteroni and Nancy were having a great coaching battle, which was great to watch. But neither team could find the back of the net. Although Salt Lake was putting in a great game attacking-wise, the Crew were holding in there. Both teams would head to the locker room with the game deadlocked at 0-0.
Second half:
This game was a stalemate, and neither team could break through and get a goal even in the second half. Of course, Salt Lake kept up the press and attack in the second half, continuing to let shots fly left and right with the likes of Chicho Arango being eager to get on the scoreboard again. Although Columbus Crew's defense was leaky throughout the whole game, goalkeeper Nicolas Hagen played a key role in keeping this game leveled at 0-0. With Hagen coming in late in the first half, he had a fantastic performance, making 5 saves and stopping shots from Chicho Arango and Andres Gomez. But for Real Salt Lake, an impactful sub that occurred in the 71st minute was when Fidel Barajas subbed in for Diego Luna. New signing Barajas brought that needed energy to Salt Lake versus Columbus; he came in and made an instant impact, being very confident on the ball and tormenting the Crew’s defense. Being on for 19 minutes and getting 2 out of 3 shots on target, for only being 18 years old, he’s making a good impact early in his Salt Lake career. Head Coach Pablo Masteroni is going to have to find a way to fit Barajas into the starting eleven.
But as I said, this game was a stalemate and ended 0-0. Columbus escaped with a point after making ten changes to their lineup, with the likes of Darlington Nagbe and Patrick Schulte being rested and Cucho Hernandez being suspended. This, for sure, is going to be a game that is looked back on, as Salt Lake could’ve stolen three points from the depleted reigning champs squad. But the Claret and Cobalt hit the road next to play the Chicago Fire on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
Player Spotlight:
Nicolas Hagen (Columbus Crew):
The Guatemalan fan favorite, who is seen as the third-choice goalkeeper for the Columbus Crew, came into this game for injured backup keeper Evan Bush. Bush was having a great game, making 3 key saves before being subbed off for Nicolas Hagen. Hagen, in my opinion, put in a man of the match performance, not allowing the attacking presence of Real Salt Lake to faze him. As I already pointed out, he made 5 saves to keep the game level and helped the Columbus Crew escape with a point. He is only 27 years old, and this performance could potentially help him get a move to another club where he can play a bigger role rather than being the 3rd string goalkeeper at the Crew.
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