3 Points: Is Salt Lake for Real after 3rd-straight win?
3 Points: Is Salt Lake for Real after 3rd-straight win?
Real Salt Lake improved to 3-0-1 on the year, the club's best start to a season since 2011, with a 2-1 win over Nashville SC.
Good morning, and thank you for spending time with 3 Points, the official post-match newsletter of Salt City FC. We don’t ask for much in this humble newsletter — we’re just getting started, after all. But if you could take a moment to subscribe (it’s free!), comment on this post (it’s at the bottom!), or share what you like with your friends, family and Twitter colleagues, it would be much appreciated.
Now, let’s talk about Nashville ….
Holy crap, what is happening in Sandy, Utah?
Real Salt Lake improved to 3-0-1 on the still way-too-young 2022 MLS season with a 2-1 win over Nashville SC in front of a sold-out crowd at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night. Bobby Wood had a goal — just two minutes in, which you should definitely watch (we’ll link the highlights above, too) — and Tate Schmitt once again did Taters-like things with another match-winner, this one coming in the 54th minute.
The 24-year-old RSL Academy product took a long ball from Maikel Chang, skipped through a sea of yellow jerseys, and disrespected Nashville goalkeeper “Sheriff” Joe Willis with a nutmeg to end all nutmegs and lift the hosts to the second wind of the year at the RioT.
(There was also a goal by U.S. international Walker Zimmerman in between the two for Salt Lake, a score we won’t totally begrudge because of his ties to the men’s national team of the United States of America — but we won’t elaborate on it further, because, RSL.)
With the win, Real Salt Lake surged to the top of the Western Conference standings, two points clear of second-place Minnesota (LAFC had yet to kick off Sunday at the time of this post, but was three points back). It’s still early — no MLS team has ever been remembered for what it did in March, but rather November — but there’s no denying the dream start the club is on.
Let’s take a look at a couple of reasons why RSL fans are still dreaming.
Taters’ heroics
For the second-straight week, Schmitt showed off his striker side.
The RSL defender who spent all of last season on loan with Phoenix Rising in the second-division USL Championship is making the most of his renegotiated contract with the boyhood club of his dreams. Starting at left wingback in Pablo Mastroeni’s seemingly preferred 3-4-2-1 formation, Tate has showcased the touch of a striker with the physical presence of a defender during the four-match unbeaten run.
He’s been a paragon of humility for the club; Schmitt knows he has a long way to go to make a lengthy career in professional soccer — remember, RSL declined the option on his contract last year before reworking the deal from scratch. And maybe that’s why he isn’t letting a good start and a couple of goals go to his head.
Here he is when asked about the two match-winning goals:
“Yeah, I’m happy with the three points. Big results for us, especially at home. Honestly, there’s still a lot of things we need to work on – myself, as well as the team. We just gotta enjoy the win tonight but get ready to work this upcoming week.”
Real Salt Lake is at the top of the west, one of just a handful of unbeaten teams remaining in Major League Soccer. It could be — perhaps, should be — on top of the world, riding a high while the rest of MLS is blissfully unaware of the strides being taken under new ownership at the base of the Wasatch Mountain Range.
But Schmitt admits there is still “a lot of things we need to work on,” which is a cliche but also a hearty sense of awareness for a young player less than four years removed from the University of Louisville.
Win or lose, it’s onward and upward for the full-time professional writer and part-time clutch goal scorer.
Goalkeeping controversy?
Not to start a war, but this needs to be said: Zac MacMath has been very good in goal for Real Salt Lake.
The 30-year-old journeyman made seven saves against Nashville, and did so much more than that behind a back line that featured a new group than his usual starters. Justen Glad moved back into the central role of Mastroeni’s three-man back line, and Johan Kappelhof replaced the injured Marcelo Silva (toe injury) on either side of the three-man centerback role along with Erik Holt.
Despite the changes, MacMath kept moving on. He’s playing some of the best soccer of his career — even he admits it’s probably his best run of form since he spent three years in Colorado from 2015-18, playing for (you guessed it) Mastroeni. Among his seven saves was his 450th career save, which is a testament to a guy who made 103 appearances with the Philadelphia Union before moving on and linking up with the Rapids and Vancouver Whitecaps prior to signing with RSL in 2020.
His teammates have noticed him, too, praising him with the captain’s armband in the absence of a recovering Damir Kreilach and Silva, among others. But MacMath has earned it with his professional demeanor and communication from back-to-front that rivals some of the best ‘keepers in the league.
“Communication was one of the big focuses that Pablo brought to the team coming into preseason,” MacMath said. “With Scott [Caldwell] and Pablo [Ruiz] in the middle kind of controlling everyone in front of them and the back three keeping the ball in front of us as much as possible. Respect to [Hany] Muhktar and Alex [Muyl] especially the way that they were able to find those soft spots in our defense. It was very difficult, and they are a very good team. I thought we adjusted to it very well in the second half.
“It's very hard to communicate not just in a full stadium, but when the winds are whipping like that, it can be very difficult and the guys did a great job figuring it out.”
Perhaps the most impressive thing about MacMath, whose streak reached four games with three goals allowed? He’s done it with a minor injury.
MacMath admitted after Saturday’s match that he’s been dealing with a bone bruise since the season opener against Houston, and managing it has included taking “a couple days off, when needed.”
“That’s been a big struggle honestly,” he said, “but it’s helped me focus more mentally and get ready for these games and try to keep the guys in front of me ready.”
We’re not ready to say MacMath has fully usurped David Ochoa as the full-time starter in goal whenever it is that the Mexican international is ready to return to RSL’s starting lineup … but we’re not not saying it, either. A real competition needs to happen between the two, with Mastroeni weighing in and determining the best goalkeeper in a given situation, perhaps with an eye toward matchups as well.
If nothing else, RSL has shown that it’s never a bad thing to have too many good ‘keepers. The Nick Rimando factory continues to produce.
How soon is too soon?
We say it every week, and we’re going to say it again: it’s still incredibly early in the 2022 season.
Real Salt Lake’s fast start to the year has no bearing on what it will do later in the season. It’s a long season, made longer as MLS approaches the climb toward 30 teams, and playoff positioning won’t begin to be known until late summer or early fall. Are we saying RSL is not going to the MLS Cup final because of its 3-0-1 start?
Well, we’re not not saying that, either.
But the club’s focus on the week-to-week is admirable, and each week has born fruits. So what does the current unbeaten run mean for a Real Salt Lake side that was picked to finish somewhere in the double-digits of the Western Conference by the league’s crack preseason prognosticators?
In a word, confidence — from the oldest statesman to the youngest rookie, and every player in between. Starting 3-0-1 can’t be discounted, if for no other reason than it’s shown the club can compete with some of the top teams in MLS, both individually and collectively.
“I would say it’s not so much my personal confidence, but the freedom and confidence of my teammates around me who trust me and my abilities,” Schmitt said. “Just that alone and knowing I have players around me who have my back defensively and also expect me to finish those chances.
“It starts with the habits we instill in training. Since preseason, Pablo [Mastroeni]’s set a good standard for us: just go out and grind every day. I think the guys have followed that and that’s given me the confidence to play.”
Grind every day. RSL is back to grinding on the road, with back-to-back matches beginning Saturday at Sporting Kansas City (5 p.m. MT, KMYU) and next Saturday, April 2 at rival Colorado (7 p.m. MT, KMYU).
The club will return home Saturday, April 9 to host Toronto FC. How many points will they have by then?