HERRIMAN, Utah (Thursday, June 13, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (9-2-6 / 33 points / 1st West) resumes its 2024 MLS campaign on the road this weekend at CF Montreal (4-7-5 / 17 points / 12th East) Saturday evening, looking to extend its first-place lead atop the MLS Western Conference and stretch its overall unbeaten run to a Club-record-tying 14 games, as Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team seeks to improve upon its 3-1-5 / 14-point road record – one which also includes an active eight-game road unbeaten run – thus far in 2024. Kickoff Saturday in Quebec is at 5:30p MT, available on Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, with Joe Tolleson and Greg Sutton (ENG), Moises Linares and Pablo Marino (SPN) and Frederic Lord and Vincent Destouches (FRN) on the call.
First-place RSL now enters the second half of its 2024 campaign – RSL’s 20th in Major League Soccer, now celebrating its 29th season – looking to capitalize on its best start in Club history, with 33 points from 17 matches from Feb. 21 until now. With a win Saturday in Montreal, RSL would exceed the point totals but match wins for its 2010 (34 pts) and 2013 (33 pts) iterations, each of whom registered its 10th wins of the season in MLS game No. 18.
RSL Captain Chicho Arango leads the MLS Golden Boot race with 16 goals in 17 games, adding nine assists to keep pace with Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, as each boasts a League-leading 25 goal contributions this season. Arango arrives in Montreal needing just one goal to match RSL’s single-season scoring record (Alvaro Saborio, 2012), also needing just one assist to become the third RSL player ever to accumulate 10+ goals and 10+ assists in a single season, joining Albert Rusnák (11g/11a in 2021) and Jeff Cunningham (16g / 11a in 2006).
RSL – led by Arango and his 16 goals / 9 assists in 17 MLS games thus far, three ahead of D.C. United’s Christian Benteke in the MLS Golden Boot race – returns to MLS action with an active 13-game unbeaten run (eight wins, five draws) dating back to March 9 at home. During the current MLS run, RSL has outscored opponents 31-14, scoring first in seven of the 13 matches and hammering home five game-winning goals in the final 15 minutes of matches as well as two extremely late stoppage-time equalizers.
In the Club’s last match back on June 1, RSL thrashed Austin FC, 5-1, as both Arango and FW Anderson Julio each scored twice in the first half for a 4-0 halftime lead, just the third time in RSL history it scored four goals in a half. Arango – who opened the day with a stunning 63-yard goal from beyond midfield – completed his hat trick midway through the second half, the Colombian Captain’s second three-goal performance of the season, making him just the second player in RSL history with multiple hat tricks (two in 35 MLS reg. season games played; Saborio owns three in 127 games).
Saturday’s road trip to Montreal is followed up by a midweek jaunt to Kansas City, the pair of away matches completing a mid-April to mid-June span that sees the Claret-and-Cobalt playing eight of 12 away from home. The Montreal and Kansas City trips on June 15/19 wrap up the circuitous gauntlet, RSL finally returning home on June 22 to host the LA Galaxy, one of three Western Conference teams within five points of RSL.
Real Salt Lake @ CF Montreal – MLS Matchday 20
Stade Saputo – Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Saturday, June 15, 2024 – 5:30p MT
2023 Records: Real Salt Lake (14-12-8, 50 pts, 5th West MLS); CF Montreal (12-17-5, 41 pts, 10th East MLS)
WE’RE GOING STREAKING
The active 13-game MLS unbeaten run establishes itself as RSL’s second-longest single-season MLS streak (one shy of the 14-game streak set in 2010 and breaking the previous runner-up of 12 games to open 2014) and the Club’s fourth-longest overall in RSL’s 20-season history, exceeding last year’s 11-game streak across three competitions … RSL also boasts a 16-game run from 2013 into 2014, and a Club-record 18-game unbeaten streak from July 2010 to April 2011 (reg. season only). For the first time ever, RSL now owns back-to-back seasons with unbeaten runs of nine games or longer. With results at Montreal / Kansas City on June 15 / 19, RSL would establish a new single-season unbeaten streak record.
CAPTAIN CHICHO EXTENDS GOLDEN BOOT LEAD
RSL Captain Chicho Arango awoke from a rare slumber this season with his second hat trick of the year in the Club’s last game, rebounding from the late May Dallas / Seattle back-to-backs that marked the first time in 2024 that the Colombian sniper had not scored or assisted in consecutive matches.
When he does score or assist – as he has in 12 of 17 MLS matches this year – RSL owns eight wins and three draws (May 11 brace at LA Galaxy wasted, with the Claret-and-Cobalt failing to score at Miami Feb. 24 and April 13 v. Columbus) against just one loss, with Chicho’s assist on an Emeka Eneli goal back on March 9 coming in the home defeat to Colorado.
Chicho also provided a three-goal explosion in a 21-minute span in the Utah side’s come-from-behind 3-1 home win over St. Louis on March 30, the Club’s first hat trick since September 1, 2018 (Damir Kreilach). Chicho’s three-goal performances are just the seventh and eighth of RSL’s now 631-game MLS history, the Colombian joining Alvaro Saborio (three hats – two in 2012, one in 2013), along with Robbie Findley (2009), Javier Morales (2014) and Kreilach (2018). Former Captain, head coach and current Club director Jason Kreis also had a hat trick, albeit in the 2005 U.S. Open Cup.
Arango now has three hat tricks in his MLS career – his first was for LAFC in late 2021 against Dallas – and now boasts 115 goals as a professional, including 59 goals in 92 games across all competitions since arriving in MLS for LAFC and RSL. Since appearing on the Wasatch Front last July, Chicho boasts 24 goals and 11 assists in 35 MLS reg. season appearances for the Claret-and-Cobalt, with those numbers increasing to 26 goals and 13 assists in 40 RSL games across all competitions (incl. Leagues Cup, Open Cup, Playoffs).
CARDIAC COMEBACK KIDS CREATE CHAOTIC
Last time out at home, RSL improved to 6-1-1 on Utah soil, with another amazing comeback on May 18 in a 5-3 win, the second of three Rocky Mountain Cup tilts this year against Colorado. For just the fourth time in the Club’s 630-game history, RSL rebounded from an 0-2 deficit to earn the full three points, riding 2-goal / 1-assist performances from both Captain Chicho Arango and winger Andrés Gómez to defeat the Rapids 5-3 before a standing-room only crowd of 20,728. Another capacity crowd is expected Saturday, with tickets available at www.RSL.com/tickets.
With the latest equalizer in the Club’s 20-year annals Wednesday night in Seattle, as Colombian winger Andrés Gómez settled a bouncing ball in the box and slammed home his eighth goal of the year in the 90+9 minute to see RSL rescue points late for a third consecutive match. On the heels of both an 0-2 comeback on May 18 at home and an 0-3 comeback at Dallas on May 25, Wednesday’s dramatic draw in Seattle improved RSL to 3-1-5 / 14 points away from home this season with eight consecutive road results, dropping only the Feb. 21 opener at Miami.
IRON MAN NO MORE
Two RSL players – MF Emeka Eneli (1465) and FW Chicho Arango (1433) – have played nearly every minute of the Club’s 17-game MLS season so far in 2024, with second-year man Eneli substituted out twice in the last two Saturdays at Dallas and against Austin for the only times. DF Andrew Brody (1312) did not start on three occasions this season, but has appeared in every match.
Three players have appeared in 16 league games, missing just one game this season – Anderson Julio, Braian Ojeda and Andrés Gómez – while Justen Glad, Diego Luna and Fidel Barajas have each appeared in 15 of 17 MLS contests thus far, with a heavily-congested month concluding Saturday against Austin. Due to caution accumulation, Matt Crooks was forced to miss Saturday’s home match, as he received his fifth yellow card of 2024 late in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Seattle.
