After last week's victory on the road versus Vancouver Whitecaps, the men in claret and cobalt returned home to America First Field to face off against Saint Louis City SC once again. This is the fourth time these teams have faced off against one another, with the series being tied with both sides having a win and a draw. This matchup has yet to have much history because Saint Louis is a newer team to the MLS with only one full season under their belt. Last time out, these two teams were deadlocked at 1-1, and both teams will be looking to secure all three points from this game.
Pablo Masteroni’s starting eleven: Zac MacMath in goal, Alexandros Katranis and Andrew Brody as the outside backs, Justen Glad and Brayan Vera as the center back pair, Braian Ojeda and Emeka Eneli lineup in the midfield, Bode Hidalgo and Matt Crooks as the wingers, Chicho Arango holding it down as the attacking midfielder, and lastly Anderson Julio as the lone striker. Head Coach Masteroni didn’t make many changes from last time out, with the only change being Matt Crooks coming in for injured Fidel Barajas. Another key note to point out is Andres Gomez and Diego Luna are back from international duty and make the bench for this game, which was controversial as many thought they should be starting.
Bradley Carnell’s starting eleven: 2023 Goalkeeper of the year Roman Burki in goal, Tomas Totland and Anthony Markanich as the outside backs, Tim Parker and Joshua Yaro are the chosen center back duo, Njabulo Blom and Christopher Durkin lineup in the midfield, Celio Pompeu and Indiana Vassilev are the wingers, Aziel Jackson as the attacking midfielder, and Joao Klauss as the striker up top. Head Coach Carnell made a notable four changes to his starting lineup, with the likes of Samuel Adeniran and Joakim Nilsson missing out on the starting eleven versus Real Salt Lake, Nilsson missing out because of an injury.
The first half of this match was very interesting with nothing exciting happening. Well unless you exclude the beautiful goal that Indiana Vassilev had in the 3rd minute of the game. Indiana found himself out wide picking up the ball without any pressure being applied; simply, he took on outside back Alexandros Katranis and did two step overs and calmly curled the ball into the far post of Zac MacMath's goal, leaving MacMath frozen. This goal gave Saint Louis a needed early one-goal lead on the road. As I said, nothing super exciting to point out from the first half as it was slow from both teams. Real Salt Lake was being patient and waiting for their moment to get on the scoresheet. While early in the game, it was noticeable that many Saint Louis players
were struggling due to the elevation. The first half would end with Saint Louis still having the goal advantage over Real Salt Lake, but stats-wise the game was pretty even with both teams having 5 shots. But the standout stat was Salt Lake controlling possession, having 56% of ball possession to Saint Louis’s 44%. Once again, Pablo Masteroni heads into the locker room with his team down at halftime. Can Real Salt Lake turn it around?
The second half was underway, and it took a minute for both teams to get going again, with the first shot of the half being at the 60th minute by Saint Louis player Joao Klauss. More notable events were the introductions of Andres Gomez in the 57th minute and Diego Luna in the 67th minute being subbed into the game. But in the 69th minute, Alexandros Katranis received the ball in Saint Louis's side of the field barely past the half line. A little stutter move was just enough to get him past Azeil Jackson to play the ball to the feet of Chicho Arango, who would turn and shoot outside the eighteen-yard box, witnessing his shot finding the bottom right corner of Roman Burki’s goal. A beautiful effort from Chicho leveled the game 1-1 for Real Salt Lake, giving them some hope to take control of this game.
The game even at 1-1, a huge notice was Saint Louis losing their grip on this game quickly. To add to that, in the 84th minute, Real Salt Lake was gifted a penalty kick after Andres Gomez's cut-back pass deflected off the arms of two Saint Louis players, with the penalty being given after the ball bounced up and hit the arm of Tim Parker. After the penalty was verified by VAR, captain Chicho Arango stepped up to take the penalty kick. Chicho would calmly convert from the spot as his little stutter step threw off Roman Burki. Real Salt Lake now has taken control of this game and ripped it right out of the hands of Saint Louis. To put the icing on the cake in the 90th minute, after thirteen minutes of added time were announced, Chicho Arango once again involved in a goal brought down the ball and laid it off to Diego Luna. Luna took a beautiful touch to beat his defender and laid off the ball to Chicho. Chicho was once again staring down Roman Burki and took a one-touch shot that zoomed past Burki into the bottom left corner this time. Chicho completed his hat trick to give Real Salt Lake a commanding 3-1 lead! Salt Lake dominated the second half having 7 shots with 4 of those being on target and then also controlling possession again with 56% possession. Saint Louis was nowhere to be seen in the second half, and Salt Lake took advantage.
Once again back to back weeks, Real Salt Lake put an end to another team's undefeated season, this time coming back down one goal and beating Saint Louis 3-1. Catch Real Salt Lake's next match on April 6th versus fourth place Minnesota United as they face off at Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Player Spotlight:
Cristian “Chicho” Arango - The Colombian striker is in the best form of his short Real Salt Lake career; after six games this season, Arango has scored 5 goals. With the hat trick, he moves to 2nd place in the golden boot standings behind Lewis Morgan, who has 6 goals. In the last two games, Chicho has played as the attacking midfielder, and his game has evolved to a whole new level playing behind the striker position. He’s not only scoring goals but also playmaking and picking up assists, as he now has 4 assists. The significance of Arango being in great scoring form is that for years Salt Lake has been searching for a consistent goal scorer, and finally, that striker has arrived. I fully expect Chicho to keep up this form and challenge for, or even win, the golden boot this season!
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