Led by eight-time Ballon’ d’Or winner Lionel Messi, Miami held off Real Salt Lake and scored two goals less than three minutes apart in the second half to snap the host’s six-match unbeaten run with a 2-0 win in front of 21,512 fans at America First Field in Sandy.

Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suarez each scored for Miami (5-1-3, 18 points), the reigning MLS Cup champions that collected its first shutout since a 0-0 draw March 14 with Charlotte FC.

Photographer Derick Fox was at the match for Salt City Soccer. Here’s a look at his view of the historic contest that drew the fourth-largest crowd in RSL history.

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Real Salt Lake kept rolling behind two of its biggest stars to start the 2026 season — one expected, the other perhaps not so much.

Diego Luna had a goal and two assists, and Sergi Solans added an assist to go with his first professional brace as Salt Lake improved to 5-1-1 with a 4-2 win Saturday night over San Diego FC in Sandy, Utah.

Morgan Guilavogui also scored his first goal in MLS play in the win, which saw both Luna and Solans named to Team of the Matchday’s starting XI by MLS for Week 8.

They’re the fourth and fifth goals of the season for Solans, a rookie who played collegiately at UCLA and Oregon State before opting to sign a professional contract — and now leads RSL’s Golden Boot race seven matches into the season.

Photographer Uriel Bento was there for Salt City Soccer. Here are some of the best photos he captured.

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SANDY — The Utah Royals are on a roll.

Mina Tanaka scored the lone goal in the Royals’ 1-0 win Friday night over the visiting Chicago Red Stars.

The deciding moment came off a penalty kick in the 74th minute for Utah, which won back-to-back for the first time since winning three-straight last September.

Utah (2-1-2, 7 points) out-shot the visiting Stars 27-3, and goalkeeper Mia Justus made a single save to collect the squad’s first shutout of the season.

One week after the Royals’ first win, 2-1 on the road at NWSL newcomers Boston Legacy FC, they did it again with a dominant show of 57% possession, 10 shots on target, and a 14-1 advantage on corner kicks.

Utah’s NWSL side planted a flag in the offensive third and never let up, with attackers Cece Delzer, Cloé Lacasse, Kiana Palacios and substitutes Courtney Brown, Brecken Mozingo and Alexa Spaanstra all joining Tanaka with moments of success going forward.

Photographer Derick Fox was at the match for Salt City Soccer. Here are some of his favorite photos.

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Utah’s biggest uprising came when it mattered the most.

Utah Uprising FC, the professional women’s indoor soccer team launched early this season, capped its expansion campaign with a 10-4 win over reigning champion Chicago Mustangs in Sunday’s WMLIS championship at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

After a 10-0 regular season, Utah rolled to a 19-1 win over Fort Wayne in the semifinals as part of championship weekend of Women’s Major League Indoor Soccer, an eight-team indoor league with teams from New Jersey to Phoenix split into two conferences.

In the championship final, Hannah Lee had a hat trick (and an assist, for good measure) to lead Utah, and Dominique Estrada added two goals and two assists.

“All season long, we felt like we were overlooked and underestimated — never really given recognition we thought we deserved,” said Estrada, the Copper Hills High alum who played at SLCC and Westminster before a pro career with Club León in Mexico. “But as a team, we proved ourselves time and time again. This is something we all wanted more than anything!”

McKenzie Evans-Tostado supplied two goals and four assists for Utah, which jumped out to a 6-3 lead at halftime and never looked back en route to the grand prize and $25,000 in prize money presented by the league.

Watch the final below via the MLIS YouTube channel.

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From front to back, starters to bench, World Cup-aspirational superstars to role players, there’s something different about Real Salt Lake this year.

Just take a look at the goal scorer from Sunday’s 2-2 draw with San Diego FC, a point on the road that felt like it could have been more by striker Victor Olatunji’s own words.

But with all due respect to Olatunji, who scored the equalizing goal in the 85th minute to help RSL (3-1-1, 10 points) escape Snapdragon Stadium with a much-deserved point, the subject of this newsletter is on Salt Lake’s other goal scorer.

That would be Sergi Solans, the 23-year-old rookie who scored for the second time time in four matches to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute.

Olatunji, who scored his first goal in just over 40 minutes as a substitute while h recovers from a dramatic eye injury suffered in training a few days before the Feb. 21 season opener at Vancouver, has been everything RSL wanted of him when it brought him to Major League Soccer for the final eight matches of last season and he scored four goals with an assist.

The only thing lacking has been health and fitness — though the 6-foot-3 Nigerian international striker seems to be running that up well enough, too.

But in his absence, head coach Pablo Mastroeni and his staff had to rely on young, sometimes unproven (or at least, inexperienced) players to fill a few gaps. And has been discussed in this space before, the kids are all right.

“This group feels special, and we believe that we can be a great team in this league,” Mastroeni said after Sunday’s draw, the club’s fourth straight result that included wins over Seattle, Atlanta, and Austin.

“It’s taken a lot of hard work, and it’s going to take more hard work and belief,” he added. “But the kind of football we’re playing, the way we’re playing at home or away from home is really special. The onus is on us to really maintain that level.”

That onus is on everybody — not just stars like Olatunji, Diego Luna, Zavier Gozo or backstop Rafael Cabral. It extends up and down the roster.

But the roster is capable of the shared pressure.

“Straight off the bat, I think we can say that we’ve got a bunch of guys who are committed to the team, committed to the goal, and committed to the drive,” Luna told Apple TV before Sunday’s match. “We’ve got nobody with big egos on our team, and I think everybody is on the same path with what’s to come.”

It also extends across the organization.

RSL’s developmental pipeline through the Real Salt Lake Academy in Herriman has been well document, and indeed, it was on full display in San Diego with four homegrown players in the Starting XI for a fifth consecutive week in Gozo, Justen Glad, Griffin Dillon and Aiden Hezarkhani.

But just as impressive has been the club’s developmental pipeline from a source that many in MLS had considered to be outdated: college soccer. And Solans is just another example of collegiate players who have found a breakout freedom in MLS, a list that includes Emeka Eneli, Jasper Löffelsend, Jesus Barea and others.

What’s unique about Solans is after RSL selected him with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft, the Spanish native used the league’s new regulations to return to UCLA for another year before signing his first professional contract.

It’s paid off for “Trialist 22” (if you know, you know).

“Our coaching staff, along with Kurt Schmidt, Tony Beltran and the scouting department, spends all their time working with the college draft,” Mastroeni said. “I think it’s a real credit to the club and the guys that are in the war room, scouting these guys during the season and making the decisions. Kurt and Tony lead the charge, but it’s the whole department and our coaches observing and communicating with our guys.

“I wish I could say that I had more impact on that. But there are some really important people who spend a lot of time there, and I think that’s why we are able to grab these gems of players. And I think Sergi is a case in point, one of the players who is a diamond.

“He’s been awesome for us.”

So, too, has Olatunji. The journeyman striker who scored 10 goals in 57 appearances at his previous stop at Sparta Prague made his second appearance off the bench since his just-before-season eye injury — one which he described as “everywhere was dark,” he told Mattey Casey before his return — wearing protective eyewear and providing an immediate jolt.

He’s been prescribed the goggles for two months. But if he keeps scoring with them on, he might have to adjust the terms.

“I mean, why not?” he said with a laugh. “Why not?

“I think the team has been fantastically doing well,” he added. “I don’t have bad energy, with the way they were playing before I came back. I think they were playing incredibly fine, and the dressing room is top. The way we relate, we communicate, it’s 100% good for the team.”

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Lara Prašnikar will be hard-done to forget her first.

The Utah forward who tallied her first NWSL career goal in the Utah Royals’ 2-1 loss to the San Diego Wave on Sunday in the club’s home opener in Sandy, Utah won’t soon forget it, even with the bitter result.

Prašnikar scored her first goal in the Royals’ new “Swarm” kit when Madison Hammond launched a long ball across the penalty box in the 67th minute, Cloé Lacasse centered it towards Kiana Palacios as a San Diego player stepped in front of her, and the ball landed at Prašnikar’s feet for a one-touch strike that momentarily equalized the two sides.

Prašnikar is the first Slovenian to score a goal in NWSL player.

“It means a lot,” she said after the match. “It’s been a hard way to come here, and to hard first couple of games without a goal. But here I am, and I’m happy to help the team.

“I think I was at the right place at the right time,” Prašnikar added. “I was just happy to get a touch on the ball … I think it was in the perfect moment, when we scored. We could’ve kept on going, but then the red card happened and momentum was lost.”

The goal equalized for Utah, but the lead wouldn’t last as the Royals (0-2, 0 points) eventually dropped 3 points at home in a shorthanded manner.

Dudinha gave the Wave (1-1-0, 3 points) an early lead, taking advantage of a misplayed backwards pass in the 17th minute to strike inside the bottom left corner for the 1-0 advantage.

The Royals (0-2, 0 points) were 0-18 when trailing at halftime since returning to Utah before the 2024 NWSL season, including 0-9 during last year’s 6-13-7 campaign that finished 12th in what was then a 14-team league.

But Utah didn’t quit. Lacasse tried to time a long ball into the box from Kameron Simmonds toward Palacios in the 67th minute.

But when a Wave defender stepped in front of the Mexican international, Prasnikar was open at the top of the box to finish for her first goal since joining the NWSL last year.

Tatumn Milazzo drew a second yellow card with 10 minutes to play that left the Royals shorthanded, and Lia Godfrey put away the go-ahead goal in the 86th minute to help the Wave take full points.

The Royals hit the road again Wednesday to face the Washington Spirit at Audi Field (5 p.m. MT, Victory+) before traveling to NWSL newcomer Boston Legacy FC on Saturday (10 a.m. MT, ESPN2).

Photographers Uriel Bento and Gina Fox were at Sunday’s match for Salt City Soccer. Here are some of their favorite pics.

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SANDY, Utah — Real Monarchs fought back twice and goalkeeper Max Kerkvliet kept the squad unbeaten through three games with a 2-2 draw against LAFC2 and a 5-4 shootout victory Sunday at America First Field.

After Jacob Machuca’s 22nd-minute goal gave LA a 1-0 halftime lead, Antonio Riquelme equalized just after the hour mark, putting back a rebound off Rubén Mesalles’ attempt in the 61st minute for his second goal of the season.

Marius Omotoye Aiyenero scored again for LAFC2 as the visitors were keen to collect all 3 points for the first time in 2026.

But Jesús Barea flicked a ball over his defender that found forward Lineker Rodrigues, and the Brazilian international by way of Marshall University ripped a 90th-minute equalizer that helped force a shootout.

In the extra session, Marcos Zambrano, Barea, Rodrigues and Riguelme all found the back of the net before Kerkvliet saved an attempt in the final round and Felix Ewald clinched the second point that boosted the Monarchs to 1-0-2 with 7 points on the short season.

Quotable from manager Mark Lowry:

“I think there’s a collective maturity to this group. Because of what happened during preseason, there were a lot of our players that got opportunities with the first team — and they were able to stay there. There’s been less of this movement of players on a daily basis. You’re always going to have injuries or visa things. But we’ve gotten to spend that time together, and you grow and trust each other. I think that’s been a big part of this year.

“There’s some individual maturity. But it’s more of a collective maturity about the group because they’ve spent more time together now.”

Photographer Uriel Bento was at Sunday afternoon’s match. Here’s a look at the story of the game, through his lens.

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Former Utah Royals draft pick Ally Sentnor has scored plenty of sensational goals for club and country since she was drafted with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NWSL college draft out of North Carolina.

Her match-winner Saturday afternoon was right up there with some of the better goals Royals fans have seen over the past three years.

It was just against her former club.

Sentnor scored the decisive game-winner in the 69th minute as the Kansas City Current took all 3 points from Utah Royals FC with a 2-1 win in an NWSL season opener for both clubs at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Croix Bethune also scored for the Current (1-0, 3 points), which rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit provided by Utah’s Tatumn Milazzo.

Kansas City out-shot the Royals (0-1, 0 points) 18-12 on the afternoon, including 5-4 in shots on goal in the win that marked the 18th-straight home result. That’s the third-longest home unbeaten streak in NWSL history.

“It was a great effort from the team,” Utah coach Jimmy Coenraets said. “We just feel like it needs to be a 90-minute effort.”

For 45 minutes, it couldn’t have been much better.

Last year’s NWSL Shield winners scored plenty of goals, and certainly attempted to attack in force to open Saturday’s season opener.

With two-time reigning NWSL MVP and Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga sidelined with injury, the Current struggled initially to find chances in front of goal.

Utah took advantage, out-shooting Kansas City 5-1 in the first 30 minutes. That set the stage for Milazzo to cap a storybook return from an ACL injury with a goal in the 35th minute to put the visitors in front first.

“I just saw a little opening, and stuck my head in, hoping I timed it well and wasn’t offsides,” said Milazzo, who noted the team was working on set pieces during Friday’s training in Kansas City when she scored with a header. “Then I think I blacked out.”

The moment was even bigger because “she wasn’t starting until about 24 hours ago,” Coenraets added.

“She had to step up to the challenge,” he said.

“Seeing her score that goal is a statement that she is one of those players who will do whatever is needed to do,” Coenraets added. “I think she’s a player who is eager to contribute to the team’s performance.”

It was a storybook moment for Milazzo, the 27-year-old who joined the Royals on a two-year deal in 2025 before missing the entire season with an ACL injury before scoring the franchise’s first-ever goal against the Current.

Utah was patient with Milazzo, allowing her to recover from in-season surgery and a lengthy rehab under the team’s medical staff before removing her from the season-ending injury list March 11.

She returned during the team’s preseason slate at the Coachella Valley Invitational in California, and started at outside back for Saturday’s regular-season opener.

That left her available to start Saturday’s season opener, when Cloé Lacasse took a corner kick from former BYU star Brecken Mozingo — one of five before the break for Utah — and whipped a stunning ball toward the penalty box that connected with Milazzo’s head for the go-ahead goal midway through the first half.

“It was super tough; coming here and getting hurt the first week was pretty devastating,” Milazzo said. “But it gave me pretty good perspective … and I got to watch the game from a different point of view, knowing I wouldn’t be in (last) year.

“I think I was waiting of this day for a year now,” she added. “It felt like a long time, but also like five seconds.”

The Royals patiently picked their opportunities in the final third, putting two of their seven shots on frame and holding Kansas City to just three total shots en route to the 1-0 halftime lead.

But the Current went into the locker room to re-focus and reset, then came out to “just play soccer,” Bethune told ION after the match.

“We saw what they were giving us, and re-evaluated,” she added. “We came out and raised the level.”

Bethune equalized in the 57th minute, taking a pass from Kayla Sharples to score her first goal since a $1 million trade from Washington on her 25th birthday, and moments before the U.S. international was substituted off.

That gave all the moment to Kansas City, and Sentnor — the former Utah Royals draft pick traded to the Current last summer for $600,000 in intra-league transfer funds and a generous sell-on fee — put the hosts ahead with a stunning goal in the 69th minute.

For 45 minutes, a team without a playoff appearance — in either of their bifurcated histories in the NWSL — was hanging with one of the best teams in the league.

The next step revolves around a 90-minute game.

“It’s not the same Utah that it’s been forever,” said Madison Hammond, the sixth-year NWSL veteran who joined Utah on a two-year deal in December. “We’re ready.”

Utah returns home Sunday, March 22 to host the San Diego Wave at America First Field (5 p.m. MT, Victory+).

Listen to postgame comments from head coach Jimmy Coenraets, goal-scorer Tatumn Milazzo, and fellow Royals debutant Madison Hammond below and on Spotify.

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Editors’ note: This recap was originally published at KSL.com. It has been reprinted here with permission from the author.

SANDY — If his first five or so minutes in an MLS match are any indicator, Real Salt Lake’s newly signed Dutch midfielder is going to be alright, alright, alright.

Late substitute Stijn Spierings scored the match-winner goal in the 88th minute as Salt Lake rallied to take all 3 points with a 2-1 win over Austin FC on Saturday night at America First Field.

Before he replaced RSL Academy alum Griffin Dillon in his debut start after the 81st minute, Spierings took a moment to visualize himself going toward goal, taking a shot, and finding the back of the net.

He knew he wanted to shoot. To score, as well. But at least put himself in those positions.

Within seven minutes, he had manifested that visualization — arguably the most impressive seven minutes and roughly four touches in Salt Lake history, never looking up before taking a single touch to score his first match-winner.

“I guess I have to believe in it,” he said of manifesting the shot with which he didn’t look up.

Even more impressive, because Stijn insists he’s not a natural goal scorer. In 29 appearances at his former club in Denmark, he scored just two goals. So don’t get used to it? Or maybe do, he joked.

“I know myself, and know it’s not really part of my game to score a lot of goals,” he said. “But I know myself, and I can tell you this probably won’t happen every week.”

On this week, it was good enough.

RSL talisman Diego Luna and center forward Victor Olatunji returned to the lineup following a pair of injuries, but as substitutes. Luca Moisa, the 17-year-old homegrown who started the club’s first three matches, was also available only from the bench.

That left a young side available, with previous starters Pablo Ruiz and Utah native Zach Booth healthy scratches.

It also opened up space for Dillon, the former Corner Canyon standout, to earn his first career start in MLS play alongside young stars Aiden Hezarkhani and Zavier Gozo, along with Designated Player Morgan Guilavogui.

Dillon played through the 81st minute, when the newly signed Spierings made his formal RSL debut as a substitute. Luna and Olatunji also made their season debuts as second-half subs.

But Austin struck first in the 18th minute, when Jon Bell rose up like a salmon to meet a ball from Facundo Torres that put the green-clad visitors up, 1-0.

Noel Caliskan pulled one back five minutes later, putting a cross into the box after a give-and-go with Juan Manuel Sanabria that caromed off Austin center back Oleksandr Svatok into his own goal for the equalizer.

“That was Noel Caliskan identifying the moment,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said. “His level of soccer understanding continues to impress me.”

Salt Lake lofted some 24 shots, including eight on goal, searching for the go-ahead goal. But each was parried by Brad Stuver made seven saves and the Austin defense held firm until Spierings received a pass through traffic from Justen Glad that the former Brøndby midfielder scored inside the left post to seal the win.

While at Brøndby, he played with former Real Salt Lake goalkeeper and academy product Gavin Beavers. In fact, Beavers was the only player with whom he spoke about a potential move to RSL — and the Nevada native had only positives to say about it.

If nothing else, he’s already scored more goals than two of the three clubs with which he played in France. But the fit in MLS and Salt Lake seems natural.

“This is my fourth country outside the Netherlands,” Spierings said. “Maybe the language is a bit easier; I’ve been in France, and I don’t want to talk bad about France. But it’s a big, big difference.”

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At the expense of making sweeping generalizations about a club after just three games, Real Salt Lake’s success in 2026 appears to have a type.

And that type revolves around its youth (at least, for now).

Aiden Hezarkhani scored a goal for the second-straight week, rookie Sergi Solans added his first professional, and Real Salt Lake improved to 2-1-0 with a 3-2 win over Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Zavier Gozo also scored for Real Salt Lake, the Utah native’s first of the year after his breakout four-goal, three-assist campaign last season.

Aleksei Miranchuk had a brace for Atlanta, which fell to 0-3 a year after struggling to a 5-16-13 campaign.

But the story around Salt Lake’s 3-point trip to the Big Peach revolved around the club’s youth, which continues to break out and prove that, in the immortal words Pete Townshend, the kids are alright.

Yes, there was the touch of Designated Player striker Morgan Guilavogui, who made his first start in RSL’s quickly iconic Grid City kit in the ATL and provided an exceptional assist and showed that he should be on track for double-digit set-ups in his first season in the league.

But the continued ascent of Hezarkhani and Gozo, as well as a SuperDraft pick who didn’t come through the club’s academy but took a chance on MLS after a standout college soccer career far from home, shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Not every top MLS prospect comes through the academy system. College soccer still has a place in the game, and Real Salt Lake has found success in the American university system as much as anyone.

Take the rookie Solans, who was selected with the 30th overall pick of the 2025 MLS SuperDraft by Salt Lake in a draft-day trade for $50,000 in general allocation money to the LA Galaxy in exchange for the rights to the Spanish native.

Instead of signing immediately with the club, Solans elected to return to college for one more year. The 22-year-old product of Spain’s Girona FC academy who initially played at Oregon State then returned to UCLA and scored a team-high 16 goals with six assists in 19 matches en route to All-American second-team honors and a program record-breaking third hat trick in the Big Ten Tournament final.

That same nose-for-goal was on display in the 23rd minute, when Guilavogui found space in transition, picked out Solans streaking ahead of him, and found the back of the net en route to an air guitar-strumming, dashing slide towards the corner flag for the rookie’s first professional goal.

“I was thinking about my family, about my friends back home,” said Solans. “It was a hard moment, because a lot of things went through my mind. But it’s something to be proud of.”

Solans also pointed in celebration toward teammate Juan Manuel Sanabria, the 25-year-old Uruguayan World Cup hopeful who is just 2 years older than the rookie. The two Spanish speakers connected quickly, and Sanabria — whose pro career took him to Atletico Madrid, Zaragoza and Atletico San Luis before signing with Salt Lake through the 2029-30 season — couldn’t be happier for the youngster whose own path took him through the American university system.

“You deserve it,” Solans recalled of Sanabria’s words in his head. “That’s your job, but you deserve it.”

RSL returns home to training in Herriman before Saturday’s Matchday 4 kickoff against Austin FC (7:30 p.m. MDT, Apple TV).

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HERRIMAN, Utah — Since the early days of Real Salt Lake’s academy — when the youth development pipeline started on a campus in Casa Grande, Arizona, before moving to the suburbs on the western edge of Salt Lake City — the club knew it had a path for competing in Major League Soccer.

It wasn’t always going to be the multi-million dollar signing from Europe, whether by aging start or rising wunderkind. RSL might not always attract a breakout figure from the World Cup to come to the hills of the Wasatch Front.

But somewhere in that now-Herriman factory, there would be stars.

It’s still early in the 2026 campaign, but some of those potential stars are starting to shine.

In each of the past two weekends, Real Salt Lake has seen five homegrown academy alums graduate to the first team, a group that includes regulars Justen Glad in defense and Zavier Gozo in the attack, but not also includes midfielders Aiden Hezarkhani, Luca Moisa and Zach Booth.

Hezarkhani even scored his first goal with the first team in last Saturday’s 2-1 win over Seattle — and it shouldn’t be his list, head coach Pablo Mastroeni firmly believes.

“I think Aiden is a really technical, dynamic player; he is an attacking weapon,” Mastroeni said this week before the club departed for Saturday’s road match with Atlanta United (5:30 p.m. MT, Apple TV). “When we talk about development, everyone wants a timeline. But it’s when their self-belief is commensurate with the self-belief of everyone around them.

“I think Aiden has had some really good performances. But I think we have yet to see the best of Aiden Herzarkhani.”

That environment of trust where young players can thrive doesn’t just extend to credit to the youth. At 29, Glad has slipped from the stages of “rising young star” to entrenched starter, a center back who can play on the right side of Salt Lake’s new back-three and find space going forward on set pieces and in transitional moments.

The longest tenured RSL player now in his 13 season, the Arizona native signed his inaugural first-team contract in 2014, debuted with Real Salt Lake a year later, and has amassed more than 270 first-team appearances since then.

And he doesn’t think Hezarkhani or any of other teenagers are anywhere close to their ceiling as they seize the opportunities for first professional minutes.

“I think the young guys are hungry, they’re taking things into their own hands, and they have a maturity to play at the high level,” Glad said. “They got their opportunity, and they’ve been crushing it. It’s fun to see the next generation coming up.”

The breakthrough of so many young players at once isn’t just a nod to their own talent and work ethic. It’s also a tribute to the environment around Real Salt Lake.

Veterans like Glad, goalkeeper Rafael Cabral, midfielder Pablo Ruiz and others have created an environment where youth can thrive — often mixing in first-team selections with those from the third-division Real Monarchs in individual training sessions.

Newcomers to the squad like Uruguayan World Cup hopeful Juan Manuel Sanabria, newly signed Designated Player striker Morgan Guilavogui, and versatile defender Lukas Engel have added to the squad, as well as rookie forward Sergi Solans.

With RSL regulars Diego Luna (knee), Victor Olatunji (eye) and DeAndre Yedlin (hamstring) opening the season on the mend, it’s opened up time and competition for new faces eager to seize their moments. Stijn Spierings, the 29-year-old midfield signing from Danish club Brøndby could make his RSL debut as early as Saturday after making the trip to Atlanta.

But it’s one thing to offer competition. It’s another to take it.

That’s what this group — perhaps regardless of the overall talent or final ceiling on the club’s 2026 season, Mastroeni noted. The veteran manager said he already sees a group that will “compete,” “help each other,” and “put the team first” as its foundation.

“If we can build that and that can be our identity, with more talented players and that team mentality, I think we can be a top team in the west,” he added. “That’s what these first few games say to me. It’s all there; now we’ve just got to keep getting results while these guys are getting in.”

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SANDY, Utah — Real Salt Lake may be back to making its home stadium a fortress, but at the very least, you can’t win ‘em all if you don’t win the first.

Check, and check.

The Claret-and-Cobalt got goals from homegrown 18-year-old Aiden Hezarkhani and second-year forward Ari Piol to stretch the club’s home unbeaten streak to 17-straight against the Sounders.

RSL (1-1-0, 3 points) took its first win of the year in a match that featured five Salt Lake academy alums, while Seattle (1-1-0, 3 points) drew a loss after last week’s 2-0 home win over Colorado.

Photographers Tyler Staten and Derick Fox were at the rainy, windy home opener on the final day of February for Salt City Soccer.

Here’s a look at the match, through the lens:

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SANDY, Utah — Another version of Zavier Gozo probably could have (would have? should have?) taken the shot.

But there was the Real Salt Lake breakout star of 2025, sprinting towards a long ball played over the top from defender Philip Quinton less than three minutes into the second half of RSL’s home opener Saturday against Seattle.

The 18-year-old cut slight inside to his left, blitzed past the Sounders’ defense, pounced head-first into the penalty area with only Sounders goalkeeper Andrew Thomas in front of him.

And just before he got to the six-yard box, Gozo laid off a deft touch with his right foot directly into the path of Ari Piol that put RSL up, 2-0 in the 47th minute.

It was Piol’s second career goal in MLS play, his first match-winner as Salt Lake went on to hold off the Sounders 2-1, and his first since March 8, 2025.

“It was a well-executed ball from Philip and a fantastic run,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said. “But the best thing about that play was the decision Gozo made.

“That, to me, says a lot about his growth as a younger player,” he added. “Before, I think he would’ve tried to leather that when he had his teammate. That, for me, is the best aspect of that play. But it was well done from Philip, as well.”

RSL didn’t just put its own stamp of approval on a 14-win, 3-draw unbeaten run at home against the Sounders that dates back to November 2012. They did it by putting the RSL Academy seal across the victory.

In addition to Gozo’s assist, fellow RSL Academy product Aiden Herzarkhani scored his first career goal in his second MLS start (first at home). The 18-year-old from Irvine, California who made his MLS debut last year after signing a pro contract in the summer of 2024 had six goals and four assists in 21 appearances for Real Monarchs, and seems ready to take the next step while being an opportunity to fill in for an injured-and-otherwise core of veterans that includes Diego Luna, Victor Olatunji, Deandre Yedlin, Emeka Eneli and Juan Jose Arias.

“We got, you know, a couple of teenagers out there, and you look across the field and you have probably one of the most experienced, most quality groups in the league,” Mastroeni said of Seattle, which finished fifth in the West in 2025.

“It’s really easy to make excuses as to why you don’t win games,” he added. “The one thing that i can tell you is that group in there won’t ever make any excuses.”

RSL started three players age 18 or younger Saturday night, the second-straight match it started as many teenagers — in addition to fellow homegrowns Zach Booth (22) and Justen Glad (29), who is now the oldest homegrown player in MLS history (just kidding … maybe).

But the training and preparation of the RSL Academy was on full display, including in Aiden Hezarkhani’s first goal. The 18-year-old scored his debut goal for the first team when he slid home a composed, left-footed finish from Juan Manuel Sanabria to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.

Moments earlier, fellow homegrown Luca Moisa — still just 17 years old (until April) — won a loose ball near the top of the penalty area, found Sanabria on the left side, and set up the go-ahead goal.

From the academy training ground to a debut goal in front of 20,660 fans at America First Field — with a touch from a Uruguayan international in between — the journey of the ball into the back of the net was almost emblematic of Salt Lake’s pathway of “winning together through development.”

“It was a great ball,” Hezarkhani said of Moisa’s secondary assist. “And I think that’s something that I just expect from Luca after playing with him for quite a bit now.

“It’s no surprise to me that he’s had these great performances, and he’s kind of shining under the light.”

Beyond the academy, Hezarkhani logged 36 appearances including 28 starts for Real Monarchs the past two seasons in MLS NEXT Pro. That overlaps well with Moisa’s 25 starts in 38 appearances for Mark Lowry’s side, including an MLS NEXT Pro Playoff loss to Minnesota United 2 last fall.

“It was good because you play sometimes against first-team players that come down with other teams, and you get to add training experience with our first-team players,” Hezarkhani said. “It helps you take that first step into the first team, and not feel out of place.”

And for the record: the next season of Real Monarchs, which signed 11 full-time players ahead of the 2026 season, kicks off MLS NEXT Pro play Sunday at 3:30 p.m. MST against North Texas SC at Zions Bank Stadium.

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SANDY, Utah — There are two eras of Utah Royals FC, and only a few members of the NWSL club’s current organization who recognize them both.

The first is the Royals 1.0, which went from announcement to inaugural match in roughly 90 days back in 2017 before dissolving three years later when the rights were sold to a Kansas City ownership group.

The return of URFC, often called Royals 2.0, came three years after that, when Real Salt Lake co-owners Ryan Smith and David Blitzer exercised a unique purchase option to re-launch the team as an expansion club alongside California’s Bay FC.

And the two couldn’t be much different, either. Just ask Kate Del Fava.

The Royals 1.0 rookie who debuted in the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup prior to moving to Kansas City may be the perfect example of the two club’s unique-but-shared history, especially after Utah paid the Current $75,000 in allocation money for the former No. 12 overall pick out of Illinois State in the now-defunct college draft of 2020.

From former owner Dell Loy Hansen to the Smith-Blitzer partnership to current ownership under the family of former Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller and Miller Sports and Entertainment, the clubs almost feel completely different.

“This time around, it just feels like one club, one Utah, one community,” said Del Fava, the club’s all-time appearance leader. “It feels like the women’s side is just as invested in as the men’s side, taken just as seriously, and they’re just as proud to have us here representing the state.

“It’s really cool to see that growth in the last six years.”

For a prime example of the growth of the once-troubled club six years ago to the present, look no further than the launch of its most recent kit.

The third jersey, a black-theme shirt nicknamed “Swarm,” acts as an expression of Utah’s Beehive State identity, worker-bee mentality, and a celebration of unity, industry and shared purpose that define both the state and the Royals’ community.

Every kit has a story. And for the Utah Royals, the Swarm kit is a story of parts coming together to form something greater than their own sum.

That was on full display when the all-black kit with gold accents and a red “Queen Bee” word mark on the back collar was publicly unveiled for the first time to a group that Miller Sports and Entertainment president Michelle Smith called “part of our swarm” Thursday night at America First Field.

The group included season-ticket holders, corporate sponsors like the newly named SME Industries that will serve as the relaunched club’s first-ever lower-jersey-back sponsor, and players and coaches from college programs around the state.

In addition to Del Fava and team captain Paige Monaghan Cronin, RSL players Zavier Gozo, Zach Booth and Tyler Wolff also joined the celebration — another sign that the story of the new Royals’ Swarm is one of unity and cohesion, even between two clubs that share an ownership group.

“Our intention is to always try to tell something about our community,” said Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals president John Kimball, who was the MLS club’s first employee more than 20 years ago. “We gave it to Nike, and our group did a good job of working on some of the themes we wanted until — in conjunction with them — we came up with this amazing kit.

“We’ve got a bunch of really cool kits coming, and I’m really excited about this launch. It’s one I’m going to wear on a consistent basis … I don’t know if there’s another jersey in the league that compares to it. But we’re also going to start that trend of having amazing kits going forward.”

But more than anything, the club wants to tell a story — with its branding, with its player, and even with the shirt on their own backs.

“It’s important that we have a story,” Kimball said. “And if we can get emotion and passion behind it like with Swarm, and create a concept, that’s really our intention.”

The organization used a new kit launch as a storytelling mechanism with Real Salt Lake, including recently in painting the fabric of the state of Utah across the Beehive (2023), Peak Utah (2024) and Grid City (2025) kits before the most current “Switchback” shirt.

URFC ventured down the kits-as-stories road with the Great Salt Lake kit a year ago, when the club partnered with America First Credit Union on a $10,000 donation to the Great Salt Lake Trust for local conservation efforts.

Thursday’s launch was a similar investment by the club — not only financially, but time, energy, passion and creativity — towards treating the women’s team with the same designs as its MLS counterpart.

“Our intention with bringing the women’s team back under the Blitzer organization was for them to be equals,” Kimball said.

“They even eat lunch together, sitting in the same lunch room, the same tables, same interactions with each other; we built a $3 million facility for (the Royals) in Herriman. We wanted to send a message to the league, to female athletes, to the players themselves that is the way they will be treated when they come here to Utah. We take it very seriously.”

Kimball likened the current days of the Royals to Real Salt Lake in 2004, when the MLS club was playing out of Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah and attracting somewhere around 5,000 fans in the then-45,000 capacity stadium for American college football.

“It’s not like we haven’t done this before,” Kimball said. “But what we need is your attention, we need social media, we need our community to step up and support these amazing women. What they are doing is phenomenal.

“We’re on the most solid footing that we’ve ever been on as a club right now,” he added. “With the Millers backing us and what they’re doing, it’s going to be amazing. You’re going to see investment in the team, on the field, in the building. That’s what we need — and then we’ve got to get wins. That’s our focus, to make sure we put a competitive team on the field.”

Players have noticed, too.

“It’s really cool to see how invested the ownership is,” Del Fava said after speaking on a panel with Smith, teammate Brecken Mozingo, head coach Jimmy Coenraets and Royals sporting director Kelly Cousins. “Everybody’s just one family, one Utah-connected group, and it’s really cool to see.”

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Sure, there were plenty of issues with the attack and Real Salt Lake’s old nemesis — the finishing touch in the final third — could have been more clean in its 2026 MLS season opener Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

But with as many as six players featuring in a lineup that had as many as six players with question marks for a variety of reasons 48 hours before kickoff, Pablo Mastroeni injected a youth movement into his side — and opted to focus on the positives of a 1-0 loss to the reigning Western Conference champion Whitecaps.

Thomas Müller was a problem (who predicted the win before kickoff), but not the undoing, as Aziel Jackson — better known as “AZ” — separated the two sides with his 57th-minute strike that ultimately proved to be the difference on the score sheet.

But debuting a new formation on the road, and without stars like talisman playmaker Diego Luna and striker Victor Olatunji (who were both injured in a Wednesday training session) or designated player Morgan Guilavogui (due to visa procurement issues), was never going to be easy.

So how do you rate a group that started two teenagers and five RSL Academy homegrowns, including 17-year-old Luca Moisa getting his first MLS minutes in central midfield and Aiden Hezarkhani in his inaugural first-team start?

“I think every game has to be taken into context, and … we had literally a day prep going into this game,” Mastroeni said. “Starting with that alone, it was a fantastic performance — especially being on the road against last year’s Western Conference champs. I couldn’t be more proud of the effort.”

Those three RSL starting debutants, which also include Eden native Zach Booth in his first game since returning to his home state on loan from Eredivisie side Excelsior, were of particular note.

Salt Lake’s most recent SuperDraft pick Sergi Solans also made his first-team debut Saturday night in the loss, when the 230th player in RSL history replaced Booth in the 59th minute.

“There was some really good quality amongst that,” Mastroeni said.

A loss is a loss, and RSL didn’t earn 3 points from a difficult road trip. But rather than moral victories, the club is taking silver linings from an otherwise difficult position — lessons it can learn as early as next week to avoid repeating similar mistakes in the club’s home opener Saturday against Seattle (5:30 p.m. MT, Apple TV).

Call them building blocks, the first of a 34-match schedule through the fall that includes a month-long summer break for the FIFA World Cup in North America.

“Obviously, we have to learn from the things we’ve done wrong,” Hezarkhani said. “But I think we can see the glass half full and focus on what we’ve done well — and focus on that.”

Quality that came, primarily, from the local ranks. Salt Lake’s lineup included five players from the standout RSL Academy — adding center back stalwart Justen Glad and winger Zavier Gozo to the mix — and two players born in the Beehive State.

Moisa, in particular, showed reasons why those within said Academy have been high on the 17-year-old midfielder from Las Vegas who signed a professional contract with the club when he was just 14.

On one occasion, he delivered a pinpoint switch across the field to Alex Katranis, who slipped a pass to Ariath Piol for a goal that was called back on review. The few hundred fans that watched Moisa a year ago, when he started 17 of 19 appearances for Real Monarchs with two goals and four assists, have been impressed by Moisa.

The rest of the Salt Lake soccer fanbase reasons why Saturday night.

“I think he fully deserved it after a strong preseason,” said former Monarchs teammate Hezarkhani of Moisa, who was fourth on the team with 25 completed passes with an 86.2% completion rate. “I thought he played really well; he played like himself, which is what we’re all asking for. We got to see the real Luca out there today, and he was class.”

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HERRIMAN — Real Salt Lake’s final full training session of the 2026 preseason wrapped up with essentially a walk-through in about 30 minutes Thursday at the team’s training facility, which may speak to the club’s commitment to Saturday’s season opener.

After a longer-than-expected offseason, a series of major acquisitions (including new designated player Morgan Guilavogue), and a preseason campaign spent tweaking its 4-3-2-1 base formation into something that resembles more of a 3-4-2 going forward, Pablo Mastroeni’s side is ready to unveil the new lineup against reigning MLS Cup runners-up Vancouver Whitecaps FC (5:30 p.m. MST, Apple TV).

Well, mostly.

“There are going to be some new faces out there,” Mastroeni said before traveling to British Columbia on Friday. “What I’m encouraging is for the guys to be brave, and really express themselves.”

The club added 27-year-old Guinean international Guilavogui from his native France, Uruguayan left winger Juan Manuel Sanabria from Atletico San Luis and defender Juan Jose Arias on loan from Colombia power Atletico Nacional, and Danish defender Lukas Engel on a permanent transfer after the former Middlesbrough man spent last season on loan at FC Cincinnati.

Salt Lake also elevated homegrown midfielders Griffin Dillon and Antonio Riquelme to first-team contracts after the duo broke out with the second-team Real Monarchs a year ago, and configured a one-year loan deal (with a purchase option) for Utah native and former RSL Academy standout Zach Booth from Eredivisie side Excelsior.

All of the changes, whether tactically, schematically or in personnel, are meant to jumpstart an offense to be more dangerous in transition, more creative on rising U.S. star Diego Luna’s left side, and armed with more runners like Utah native Zavier Gozo and Nigerian striker Victor Olatunji.

“A lot of it is just putting players in the best positions to be successful,” Mastroeni said.

A healthy Luna will be at the center of Salt Lake’s ambitions, at least as long as the 22-year-old who was named MLS Young Player of the Year in 2024 is still with the club. With interest from Europe and abroad, RSL is likely to keep the young standout in Utah at least through the 2026 World Cup, which runs June 11 through July 19 in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Beyond that is anybody’s guess — including, to some extent, those in the RSL front office. Luna’s ambitions are real, as is the 5-year contract extension he signed with Salt Lake in 2024 that includes club options in 2027 and 2028.

In the meantime, he’ll be key to the team for which he scored nine goals with seven assists in 27 appearances last year. He’ll also be key as RSL navigates a tricky start to the season that could trickle into the home opener next Saturday, Feb. 28.

Newly signed MLS SuperDraft pick Sergi Solans only arrived in Salt Lake City this week due to visa complications for the Spanish forward who played collegiately at UCLA, and Dutch two-way midfielder Stijn Spierings is also facing similar visa delays.

Add to it a handful of last-minute injuries that Mastroeni doesn’t have immediate answers to give, and the veteran MLS manager candidly admits his full side might not be available for as many as 5-6 games.

That could leave several younger players to fill the gaps in the interim, including homegrown midfielder Luca Moisa. The 17-year-old from Las Vegas was an MLS NEXT All-Star with the RSL Academy, and made 19 appearances for Real Monarchs a year ago before preseason trips to Portugal and Southern California with the first team.

Back in December 2022, the then-14-year-old was the youngest Monarchs signing in club history. He’ll almost certainly make his first-team debut this season, and as early as Saturday against German legend Thomas Muller and the Whitecaps, who played to a 0-0 draw Wednesday with Cartagines in CONCACAF Champions Cup play.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” Moisa said of potentially facing Muller in his debut. “I’ve watched games of him my whole life, seen him in the Champions League final or the World Cup final. Playing next to him, I couldn’t tell myself at 14 that three years later I’d be playing against him; it’s crazy. I’m just happy for the moment, and we’ll see what happens.”

The available group has already jelled, though, with smiles and laughs in one of the final sessions at home before opening the 31st season of MLS on the road.

“This team is very easy to assimilate into, with a bunch of guys who are welcoming, a staff that is welcoming, and a club that is really welcoming,” said DeAndre Yedlin, the former U.S. right back who transferred to Salt Lake last year and signed a new two-year contract with a club option for 2028. “It hasn’t been a problem at all. Now it’s just about getting the new guys in and involved; hopefully we can get everybody back here soon.

“It’s been one of the best groups that I’ve been a part of,” he added. “I’m looking forward to this season.”

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For those who missed, Provo FC advanced to the UPSL National Championship with a dramatic 2-1 win over Next Level Soccer on Friday night at Championship Soccer Stadium in Irvine, California.

Carter Johnson, the former Gatorade Utah player of the year from Herriman who played four years at Utah Valley before finishing his collegiate career at Vermont in 2023, had the match-winning goal in the 99th minute to eliminate Next Level Soccer (Phoenix, Arizona) and advance to Sunday’s finale.

After going down just 12 minutes into the match, Steve Jasso equalized for Provo 10 minutes later en route to the 1-1 halftime draw. That set the stage for Johnson’s dramatic winner, sending Provo to play for the Leonel Lopez UPSL Championship Trophy against New York Renegades FC.

Kickoff is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. MST on the UPSL YouTube channel.

“We’re so excited right now,” Provo captain Gui Leme, the former Utah Valley standout from Lehi, said after the match. “We were nervous, but we finally got it. It can’t feel any better than that.”

Founded in 2011, the UPSL is the largest collection of amateur and semipro teams in the country, with more than 800 teams competing across multiple divisions including Premier, Division I, A League, Academy and Women’s Division. The league operates in the unofficial fourth tier of U.S. soccer, and its teams are eligible to compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualifying rounds through its national affiliation with U.S. Soccer.

You can watch the UPSL championship semifinal below on the UPSL YouTube channel, where Sunday’s final will also be streamed.

Editor’s note: This story was published at KSL.com in Utah. It has been republished here with permission from the author.

HERRIMAN — Plenty of youth soccer players in Utah want to grow up to play professionally, but for Zach Booth, the dream was a little different.

The native of Eden, Utah — a Weber County town of less than 1,000 people located between Pineview Reservoir and Powder Mountain ski resort — has played professionally in Europe for nearly six years. But the 2026 MLS season will be a little bit different for the 21-year-old who grew up with LaRoca FC and Real Salt Lake’s academy.

After stops with Leicester City, Volendam and Excelsior Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Booth will get to live out that dream.

“It really is a childhood dream to play for RSL,” said Booth, who signed a one-year loan to return to Salt Lake after moving abroad when he was 16. “I’ve always wanted to play here, to represent Utah, to represent my people and the club.

“I was in Europe for 5-6 years,” he added, “and to have the opportunity to come back home for me is something special, to play in front of my family and my friends.”

Booth joins a Salt Lake side at the start of the team’s preseason, and one in a bit of transition.

With rising stars Diego Luna and Zavier Gozo up top and goalkeeper Rafael Cabral in the back, Real Salt Lake is looking to add to the attack following the departure of former Designated Player striker Rwan Cruz. The 24-year-old Brazilian forward was recalled from the United States by Botafogo, and is headed to Ludogorets on a one-year deal, the Bulgarian side announced.

Cruz played just 12 matches in the second half of RSL’s 2025 season, totaling one assist in 642 minutes from the multi-million dollar signing.

The club also exercised a contract buyout of fellow DP attacker Diogo Gonçalves, announcing Wednesday a separation with the Portuguese winger that will also free up a senior and international roster spot — and free Gonçalves’ salary from the club’s 2026 MLS salary budget.

In the club’s preseason opener Thursday, a 2-1 win over Danish first-division club Randers FC, Booth made runs and found transition moments on the right side of the attack in Salt Lake’s 3-2-4-1 formation, head coach Pablo Mastroeni noted.

RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni flipped his minutes in the second preseason game, when Booth played the final 35 minutes in a 2-1 win over Brøndby IF in the second of three matches at the Atlantic Cup.

“One of the things I think we were below average at last year were transition moments, and I think he found some really good pockets and drove with the ball, and created some good opportunities for himself and his teammates,” Mastroeni said.

“The first week, there’s a bit of an adaptation phase for any new player,” he added. “But the last couple of sessions he had and tonight’s performance, I’m just really pleased for him. He’s a great teammate, he’s talented, and tonight he had an opportunity to show — and I think he did a great job.”

Booth returns to the club of his youth a significantly different person, though still only 21. But moving overseas at 16 taught him to grow up, not only as a player but in life.

In short, he left a teenage boy, following in the footsteps of older brother (and U.S. international) Taylor, who plays for FC Twente — and returns a man.

Booth married his longtime girlfriend, former Woods Cross standout Kate Howes, last May and the two were sealed in the Paris temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Kate Booth, a left-footed attacker who played three seasons of college soccer at Portland and Memphis and spent time last summer with Utah United in the USL W League, even joined him for six months in the Netherlands.

But Booth admitted that few people are happier for his return stateside than his newlywed wife whom he admits — through something of a competitive grimace — has a stronger left foot than his own.

Kate Booth has already committed to play her senior season at Utah Valley, where she’ll join fellow transfers Presley Ray (Weber State), Tess Livingston (Idaho State), Londyn Lovell (Utah) and Lynette Bryant (BYU) as the Wolverines try to build on one of the best seasons in program history, a 14-5-3 record at-large NCAA Tournament berth while commuting from the couple’s home near Real Salt Lake’s training grounds in Herriman.

“It’s perfect for us, to live close to the facility, and she can drive down for training and school every day,” Booth said. “To be around family and newly married is amazing for us. She’s super happy to be back, and I’m happy to be with her.”

It’s also perfect for Booth, who played mostly in midfield and on the wing in his career but could find a space closer to goal with Salt Lake — much like where he played in the first 45 minutes of Thursday’s preseason game.

Wherever it is, he only has one objective.

“I just want RSL to be successful,” Booth said, “and I want to be a part of it.”

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The 27-year-old newly acquired defender/midfielder played left back, center back and defensive midfield during his 33 matches last year at FC Cincinnati before he was recalled by English second-division side Middlesbrough at the end of the season.

But his stay away from MLS didn’t last long before the veteran of 2,721 minutes with four assists took a call from Real Salt Lake.

The pairing was immaculate, and the rest was history.

“During my whole career, I think I’ve played everything but goalkeeper and right back,” Engel told reporters by video conference shortly after featuring at center back for the second straight preseason match, a 2-1 win over Bröndby IF. “In that manner, I’m quite versatile and I think it gives us a little bit of options in terms of how we can defend, in a four-back, a three-back or a five; I feel quite comfortable up and down that left side.”

If he wants to try one of the few positions he hasn’t played — Rafael Cabral seems to have goalkeeper pretty well locked down a year after playing every available minute for Salt Lake — he could do worse than look to his at-once former-and-current teammate on the right flank, DeAndre Yedlin.

The two were teammates in Cincinnati before Yedlin was traded to RSL midway through the 2025 season, and the former U.S. international eventually signed a multi-year extension that could keep him in Claret-and-Cobalt through his 35th birthday.

Yedlin would talk to him plenty, too. The duo connected well in the Queen City, and the 32-year-old right back beamed when he was told after preseason had started that the club was bringing in his old teammate to the Utah capitol.

Before the trade was official, Yedlin even talked up his experience with Real Salt Lake. At the time, he had no idea the club was considering permanently acquiring the versatile Danish defender through December 2028, with a club option for the 2028-29 season.

“We had a little group at Cincinnati, and he was in that group,” Yedlin said, “eight guys who were super collected together.

“He’s a great guy, great for the culture, experienced player, very versatile and can play multiple positions. He’s a leader, not afraid to speak.”

To call RSL’s tactical adjustments a formational change going into Pablo Mastroeni’s sixth season could be a misnomer. At times, the club will defend three center backs and two outside attacking wingbacks tasked to get forward more.

But Salt Lake may also defend with a block four formation, or even fold the wingbacks to defend with five, depending on the situation.

The hope is the tactical versatility opens up the attack around rising stars Diego Luna and Zavier Gozo, or opens up transition play around Pablo Ruiz, Zach Booth and the rest of the midfield.

The flexibility of the shape benefitted Alex Katranis on Monday, when the former Greek youth international slid into the left wing back role, sprinted through to a deep ball from Sam Junqua, and slotted home the game-winning goal against Bröndby.

“If we can get a wing back on the left and on the right that are dangerous going forward, now you start to really start to ask some questions of defenses,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said.

That doesn’t mean Katranis will stop defending; Salt Lake’s press requires every player to defend, even “from the front,” as coaches like to explain it.

But the 27-year-old Katranis is a fan of getting up the pitch, as RSL fans have seen for the past two years.

“I like the system,” he said. “I like to be a fullback that not only defends but can attack and help the team with assists, goals, or whatever is needed in a game. It’s good that we have three in the back … but it doesn’t mean that you aren’t defending anymore.

“But I like the system.”

Whatever way the shape folds works for Engel, who started on the left side of a centerback trio in both preseason matches.

“It suits me very well,” he said, “and I think as far as these 8-9 days I’ve been here, I think it’s a really good fit — and I do believe it’s an exciting year we’re going into. For me personally, too.

“I think I’ve got every chance to perform well, too.”

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Zach Booth spent two years in Real Salt Lake’s academy system, but the Eden, Utah, native never made an appearance with the club’s professional teams.

At 21, he’ll get that chance this year.

The former U.S. youth international will spend the 2026 season at Real Salt Lake on loan from Eredivisie side Excelsior Rottendam, the two clubs announced Wednesday.

Booth’s deal includes an option to buy as the midfielder looks for more playing time than the three matches (including one start) he played last year.

“RSL is home – I was part of the first Academy group when the group relocated to Herriman,” said Booth. “I’m grateful for the development the club gave me through those years as a player and as a person. It’s a dream come true for me to have the opportunity to play for the fans at America First Field — and to contribute my talents to the club, the team culture, and to the state of Utah.

“I am ready to compete and contribute everything I have to RSL. It just feels right to be back and I look forward to every moment.”

Booth and his brother Taylor were breakout stars at LaRoca FC on the local soccer scene before moving overseas to Europe. And while the 24-year-old Taylor broke through with Utrecht and FC Twente after leaving Bayern Munich’s youth team, younger brother Zach’s route has been more circuitious.

The younger Booth first signed with Leicester City’s academy in September 2020, but made just 17 appearances with the Premier League 2 side in three years before a season-long loan to Volendam in the Netherlands.

After scoring two goals with two assists in 27 appearances, including 16 starts, he returned to the Eredivisie on a three-year contract with Excelsior in 2023. The then-20-year-old initially found success, starting five matches in 19 appearances to help Rottendam to a second-place finish in the Eerste Divisie and earn promotion to the top flight for the 2025-26 campaign.

But he played just 106 total minutes in three matches, leading to him seeking additional opportunities.

A return to the Wasatch Front may be good for his personal life, as well. Booth recently married his wife Kate in Paris, and the two Utah natives spent time in the Netherlands this past year.

But Kate (née Howes) had a career of her own. The former all-state forward from Bountiful spent two seasons at Portland before transferring to Memphis, where she started two of 15 matches with one goal and one assist while earning All-Academic honors from the American Conference.

She also played for Utah United last summer, the expansion side that won a USL League Two in its inaugural season behind breakout stars Seven Castain, Kaitlyn Richins and Ellie Walbruch, after playing for LaRoca’s WPSL team in 2024.

Because she only played three seasons of college soccer, Kate Booth may have one final season of eligibility from the NCAA — and sources indicated that at least one of the state’s seven Division I schools are interested in her using it while her husband spends time at RSL.

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