ST. LOUIS, Missouri (Sat., Oct. 17, 2026) – Real Salt Lake (10-14-6, 36 points, 10th West / 17th MLS Shield) secured a dominant 3-1 victory on Saturday against rival Sporting Kansas City (6-4-20, 30 points, 15th West / 30th MLS Shield). The rare road win - RSL’s first since March 7 and its second of 2026, snapping a 13-game winless streak away from home - was powered by Designated Player Morgan Guilavogui’s first-ever RSL brace, while an early first-half goal from RSL Golden Boot leader Sergi Solans secured a critical three points with only four 2026 regular-season matches remaining.
RSL Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni and staff made no changes to the starting lineup following Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against San Jose at America First Field.
Tonight’s match opened with Sporting’s Taylor Calheira sending a left-footed shot that sailed to the right of the goal in the seventh minute, keeping the game level.
Real Salt Lake responded just minutes later when Uruguayan international Juan Manuel Sanabria found midfielder Noel Caliskan in an intricate passing sequence in the box, the ball finding Guilavogui, who rocketed a right-footed shot from the left side of the six, burying the chance and giving RSL an early 1-0 road lead. The goal marked Guilavogui’s first in more than two months, having last found the back of the net on August 19 against FC Dallas.
Just two minutes later, Guilavogui quickly created another opportunity when he found the ball at the top of box, sending it to Solans on the left, who slotted a right-footed shot home, quickly doubling Salt Lake’s lead in the 14th minute and leaving the crowd at Sportling Park speechless. Solans has now scored 12 MLS goals for the Club during the 2026 campaign, with 16 across all competitions during his rookie season.
In the 26th minute, Sporting’s $18 million man André Luiz broke away, battling two RSL defenders down the pitch before sending the ball to Calheira on the left, who slotted the ball home, cutting the RSL lead in half.
In what proved to be the defensive play of the match, 22-year-old defender Kobi Henry headed the ball off the goal line in the 53rd minute following a poor giveaway from the back to prevent the KC equalizer.
The Caliskan-Guilavogui connection struck once again in the 61st minute, when Caliskan pushed up the left side before passing back to Guilavogui, who finished his late run into the box with a right-footed shot to record his first career RSL/MLS brace and extend Real Salt Lake’s lead to 3-1.
Kansas City attempted to respond when Calvin Harris blasted a 67th-minute shot that hit the post, ultimately banging away.
In the 91+ minute, RSL Captain and goalkeeper Rafael Cabral prevented a last-ditch attempt on goal by Sporting’s Ian James, maintaining the RSL lead and ending the match with an electric 3-1 victory on the road.
Real Salt Lake now returns home to America First Field to host U.S. Open Cup Finalist St. Louis City SC next Saturday, October 24, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. at America First Field. Tickets for the match are available here.
GOAL-SCORING SUMMARY:
RSL 3 : 1 SKC
RSL: Morgan Guilavogui (Noel Caliskan, Juan Manuel Sanabria) 11’: Sanabria found Caliskan, who sent the ball up to Guilavogui, the midfielder rocketing a right-footed shot from the left side of the six yard box, burying the chance and giving RSL an early 1-0 lead on the road. The goal marks Guilavogui’s first in more than two months, having last notched a goal on August 19 against FC Dallas.
RSL: Sergi Solans (unassisted)14’: Guilavogui quickly created another goal opportunity, when he found the ball at the top of box, sending it to Solans on the left to slot a right-footed shot home, quickly doubling Salt Lake’s lead in the 14th minute. Solans has now scored 12 MLS goals for the club during the 2026 campaign, and 16 overall.
SKC: Taylor Calheira (André Luiz) 26’: Luiz made a breakaway, splitting two RSL defenders down the pitch before sending the ball over to Calheira on the left, who slotted the ball home, upping the deficit to only one goal behind the Claret-and-Cobalt.
RSL: Morgan Guilavogui (Noel Caliskan, Stijn Spierings) 61’: The Caliskan-Guilavogui connection struck again in the 61st minute m, when Caliskan pushed up the left before passing back to Guilavogui, who finished to record his first RSL brace and extend Real Salt Lake’s lead to 3-1.
NOTES FROM RSL 3 : 1 SKC
- RSL secured its first road win since March 7 at Atlanta, a span of 13 games winless away across both MLS and Leagues Cup action
- With the early goal, RSL has now improved to 58 wins, 12 losses and 23 draws when scoring first in five-plus years under Pablo Mastroeni
- Tonight’s road win at Kansas City extended RSL’s unbeaten streak against its MLS Cup 2013 rival to six games, while improving to 6-1-2 (W-L-T) against KC, dating back to Oct., 2022.
- In Mastroeni’s 218-game RSL coaching career, the Club has dropped back-to-back games just 25 times, now winning 37 matches and drawing 19 in games following a loss.
- With four games remaining in the 2026 MLS season, RSL remains on the outside looking in, multiple points outside of the ninth and final wild card seed in the West.
- RSL hosts two home games in the final stretch of the year in pursuit of its sixth consecutive playoff berth and its 16th in the last 19 seasons, with Open Cup Finalist St. Louis arriving next Saturday, along with the LA Galaxy arriving on the November 7 “Decision Day” in Sandy.
- Following the St. Louis game next weekend, RSL travels to Austin on Wed., Oct. 28 and on to San Jose on Sat., Oct. 31 in its final two road matches of the year, both critical to RSL’s playoff potential.
LINEUPS:
Real Salt Lake (5-4-1): Rafael Cabral ©; JuanMa Sanabria, Kobi Henry, Philip Quinton, Luc de Fougerolles (Sam Junqua, 84’), Dominik Marczuk (Zach Booth, 63’); Saba Lobjanidze (Aiden Hezarkhani, 77’), Stijn Spierings, Noel Caliskan, Morgan Guilavogui (Alex Katranis, 85’); Sergi Solans (Ari Piol, 77’)
Subs not used: DeAndre Yedlin, Colin Guske, Dusan Zagar, Mason Stajduhar
Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni
Sporting Kansas City (4-4-2): Stefan Cleveland; Jansen Miller, Jacob Barlett, Emir Karic, Wyatt Meyer; Kwaku Agyabeng (Jake Davis, 62’), Zorhan Bassong © (Ian James, 73’), André Luiz, Calvin Harris (Ruben Ramos Jr., 87’); Stephen Afrifa (Capita, 62’), Taylor Calheira
Subs not used: John Pulskamp, Ethan Bartlow, Seymour Reid, Shapi Suleymanov, Jayden Reid
Head Coach: Raphael Wicky
Stats Summary: RSL / SKC
Shots: 10 / 13
Shots on Goal: 3 / 8
Saves: 5 / 1
Corner Kicks: 7 / 5
Fouls: 14 / 10
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Luc de Fougerolles (Yellow Card - 45+1’)
KC: Calvin Harris (Yellow Card - 74’)
KC: Jacob Bartlett (Yellow Card - 76’)
RSL: Zach Booth (Yellow Card - 90+1’)
RSL: Stijn Spierings (Yellow Card - 90+1’)
KC: Jansen Miller (Yellow Card - 90+2’)
