FARO, Portugal (Monday, Jan. 26, 2026) – On the first day of the third week of its 2026 preseason, Real Salt Lake again emerged with a 2-1 victory over a Danish SuperLiga side by a 2-1 scoreline, following up Thursday’s win over Randers with today’s win over Brøndby.
RSL Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni made just two changes to the starting XI from late last week, inserting veteran two-way MF Pablo Ruiz and an unnamed trialist into the lineup from the start. In the game’s 10th minute, RSL struck first, with Ruiz winning the ball at midfield and springing USMNT World Cup hopeful Diego Luna into space down the right side, with Luna’s precise cross finding said trialist alone atop the six-yard box for the opener.
Shortly after RSL squandered another point-blank chance to double its lead, Brøndby equalized in the 24th minute, as former Atlanta United man Bartosh Slisz pounced on an errant pass from RSL GK Rafa Cabral, looping the surprise turnover into the back of the net from 20 yards out.
RSL made one substitution at halftime, as young centerback Kobi Henry replaced long-time RSL homegrown Justen Glad in the middle of the new-look back three. Ten other substitutions occurred in the game’s 60th minute for the Utah side, which scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 82nd minute. Second-year defender Sam Junqua collected a ball inside his own half before sending a long looper up the left flank, finding an onrushing Alex Katranis, who let the ball bounce twice before one-timing a lefty blast through the legs of former RSL ‘keeper Gavin Beavers, now in his second year at the Danish club.
RSL Academy product Luca Moisa – a teenager now on an MLS contract – made his 2026 preseason debut, as did second-year striker Ari Piol, who arrived in camp a few days ago following his Asian Football Confederation U23 Cup performances with Australia.
RSL newcomer Stijn Spierings – signed Sunday – and late 2025 addition Victor Olatunji, just arrived from his Nigeria home –should be available when RSL plays its third and final match of the 2026 Atlantic Cup against MLS Western Conference rival FC Dallas on Friday at 4:00a MT, the match unavailable for streaming. Slight injuries to Emeka Eneli (knee), Jesus Barea (quadriceps) and Griffin Dillon (hamstring) hope to be rectified in time for the trio to be available for selection Friday, prior to RSL’s weekend transatlantic return to Utah.
GAME NOTES:
22nd RSL season in Major League Soccer kicks off Feb. 21 at Vancouver
RSL owns longest active playoff qualification streak in Western Conference (5 consecutive years)
Perennial postseason qualifier has seen RSL advance in 7 of last 8 seasons (2020) and 15 of last 18 years (2015, 2017 other exceptions)
RSL also appeared in The Atlantic Cup in 2024
- Five current players – Justen Glad, Alex Katranis, Diego Luna, Zavier Gozo, Pablo Ruiz – also part of that squad
Captain and GK Rafa Cabral played every minute of all 40 RSL games in 2025 across multiple competitions
- Cabral named 2025 Most Valuable Player by his teammates
USA starlet Diego Luna earned 2025 RSL Golden Boot with 10 goals / 7 assists across all competitions
- Also named to Concacaf Gold Cup Best XI for his U.S. performance w/ 3 goals + 2 assists
- World Cup hopeful Luna led Mauricio Pochettino’s 2025 U.S. side in games (17), minutes and assists
- Two-time MLS All-Star (2024, 2025) and 2024 MLS Young Player of the Year
28-year-old homegrown centerback Justen Glad is RSL’s longest-tenured player, now preparing to kick off his 12th season
- Ranks 3rd overall in Club history in games / starts / minutes, trailing only Club legends former USA stars Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman
18-year-old Attacker Zavier Gozo starred last Fall for USA U-20 side at FIFA World Youth Championships
- Joined by RSL teammate Marcos Zambrano in Chile-based tourney as well
- Gozo scored 4 goals and added 3 assists while making 20 consecutive MLS starts from late-April to mid-Sept
- Utah-born-and-raised Gozo matriculated from RSL Academy to 2nd-team Real Monarchs in recent years
Another Utah native – 21-year-old winger Zach Booth – arrived in early January on loan from Excelsior Rotterdam after 5+ seasons in Europe
Several other homegrowns have joined RSL in Portugal this preseason, rising through the Club ranks since their mid-teenage years
- Griffin Dillon, Luca Moisa, Aiden Hezarkhani, Juan Gio Villa, Omar Marquez
Two of Thursday’s starters – DF Ruben Mesalles and MF Griffin Dillon – enter the first-team conversation after very strong 2025 campaigns with Real Monarchs, RSL’s reserve squad
- Mesalles – who also started Monday – was a college draft pick in December, 2024, out of Duke University
- Utah native Dillon came up through the RSL Academy, spent two seasons at Univ. of Maryland, then returned to the Club as a professional
Newcomer DF Lukas Engel joined team for flight to Portugal after transfer last week from Middlesbrough (England)
- Former Danish youth international was teammates with DeAndre Yedlin at FC Cincinnati last year via loan
- Engel appeared in 41 games for Cincinnati across all competitions in 2025
Polish winger Dominic Marczuk also spent final 2 months last year on loan at Cincinnati with Engel
- Former Polish Youth Player of the Year arrived in Utah in August 2024
Two RSL players – Nigerian FW Victor Olatunji & Australian FW Ariath Piol – joined preseason camp this weekend
- Olatunji was awaiting his passport at U.S. embassy in Nigeria
- Piol appeared in 3 group stage games at AFC U-23 Cup as late-game substitute; did not appear in last Saturday’s elimination match against S. Korea
- Piol’s 2026 MLS medical evaluation conducted Wednesday in Utah, traveling Thursday to Lisbon
Multiple other players could be added to RSL’s first-team roster prior to the beginning of the 2026 Major League Soccer season
- With the 2026 FIFA World Cup break beginning on May 25, 15 League matches will be played prior to the hiatus
- Upon season resumption on July 20 after the Cup Final, 19 League matches as well as the annual Leagues Cup tourney against Mexican Liga MX powers will be played ahead of the Nov. 7 “Decision Day,” with the 2026 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs occurring from Nov. 21 – Dec. 19
Players, coaches and staff arrived last weekend in Lagos, Portugal, in the Algarve region, where the Claret-and-Cobalt had spent a portion of the 2024 preseason. Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s side will play three games over 13 days in the back half of January as part of the annual Atlantic Cup tourney, with the first two matches against legendary Danish sides Randers FC (a 2-1 win on Thursday) – once home to former RSL striker Yura Movsisyan – and Spierings’ former side Brøndby (Monday, Jan. 26), a club also connected to David Blitzer’s Global Football Holdings.
RSL will conclude its Iberian peninsula experience against fellow MLS Western Conference foe FC Dallas on Friday, Jan. 30, before competing its 24-hour door-to-door travels, returning to Utah late on Sun., Feb. 1
After spending the first week of February back in Utah, the Claret-and-Cobalt then wrap up its 22nd preseason slate with two games in Southern California, facing off against newly-transferred DF Kobi Henry’s former USL Championship side, Orange County SC (Sat., Feb. 7), as well as MLS Cup 2024 champions LA Galaxy (Fri., Feb. 13), the latter match being played outside of Palm Springs, Calif.
RSL then kicks off its 2026 Major League Soccer campaign on Sat., Feb. 21 at B.C. Place, home of the reigning Western Conference champion, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, one week prior to the Claret-and-Cobalt’s 2026 home opener at America First Field against long-time rival Seattle Sounders FC on Sat., Feb. 28. Both of RSL’s February games kick off at 5:30p MT, with season ticket and four-game packages NOW AVAILABLE at www.RSL.com/tickets.
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