3 Points? Not for Real Salt Lake in road loss to Austin FC
3 Points? Not for Real Salt Lake in road loss to Austin FC
Moussa Djitte scored the first hat trick in club history — all in the second half — as Austin FC clinched a playoff berth and pushed RSL to the brink Saturday night.
No three points tonight after Real Salt Lake’s 3-0 loss to Austin FC, because RSL won’t be coming home with even one from a mid-week match at Austin FC on Wednesday night.
Instead, let’s take a look at what happened, including what RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni had to say about a lackluster defensive performance after the break, and how the club needs to responds on the weekend against FC Cincinnati.
Maybe Real Salt Lake wasn’t expected to steal a win from Austin FC on Wednesday night; Los Verde, after all, are the second-best team in the Western Conference on points and were on the cusp of playoff contention.
But they sure weren’t expected to lose the way they did. Points are at a premium as RSL tries to earn a postseason bid of its own.
And Wednesday’s match won’t make it any easier.
Moussa Djitte scored a second-half hat trick — the first in Austin FC history — to help Los Verde clinch a berth in the MLS Cup playoffs with a 3-0 midweek win over Real Salt Lake at Q2 Stadium.
Djitte is just the sixth player in Major League Soccer history to score a hat trick as a substitute, and the first to do so since Chris Wondolowski in October 2010.
The inaugural Austin FC hat trick needed just 18 minutes between his first two goals, and sealed the slump-busting victory with a wide-open shot in the 80th minute that sent the Senegalese professional toward the stands to celebrate.
Once Djitte scored his first goal in the 60th minute, things fell apart in a hurry for Salt Lake.
“I thought, especially in the first half, it seemed like we were dominant,” a visibly frustrated RSL defender Aaron Herrera said after the match. “Credit to all the guys who played today; they were confident, and put in an unreal first half.
“But obviously in a place like this, you’re going to give up goals. And once you give up the first one, it opens the floodgates.”
RSL was held scoreless for three-straight matches for the first time since 2017. All the “good vibes” or “energy” or “xDawg” of a solid first half (outside of the first 5-10 minutes, that is) were erased by a poor second-half performance, and an inability to capitalize off that momentum.
Momentum isn’t good enough if you don’t score. And RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni let his players know after the match, judging by the tone of his post-match comments. The team started out well enough — and kudos to a handful of new starters like Diego Luna, Braian Ojeda and Bryan Oviedo.
But with a three-back formation that eventually brought on Jasper Loffelsend to aid starting defenders Justen Glad, Aaron Herrera and Johan Kappelhof, the coach was none-too-pleased with the finishing performance.
“Frustrated is putting it nice,” Mastroeni told RSL broadcaster Brian Dunseth. “You’ve got to compete the right way. This has to mean something. You’ve gotta go out and give everything you’ve got. You’ve gotta sacrifice your body. You’ve gotta be willing to lose your head.
“There are dogs out here that want to win the damn game. We’ve got to go out here and win the damn game. It’s about moments and plays, and tonight was not good enough.”
Mastroeni explained his heated reaction on a Zoom call a short time later.
“You can’t keep saying we’re playing well and not get results,” Mastroeni said. “I thought for 60 minutes, we played some of our best stuff in a very difficult place to play. When players come into games, they have to make a positive change. They have to bring a level of desire, competitiveness, you have to bring a spark, you have to be able to change the game in a good way. You make those changes, and you don’t have the same type of control of the game. You don’t have the same type of fight.
“That part’s the most frustrating because I’m so proud of guys like Rubio (Rubin), Anderson (Julio), (Diego) Luna — really, the guys who started the game, for the most part, played fantastic. So how many times can you say we’re playing well and not get that result? There are moments in games, and they conceded the second one off of a corner kick, which was a gut punch. And then the third, obviously, you’re chasing it and you’re trying to get back in the game, so you’re opening up spaces against a team that really thrives in counter situations. That’s why I’m so animated because the moment is now. And oftentimes, as a player — having been a player — you think you’re going to play forever. And you think, ‘next year will be great,’ and having experienced that, it just doesn’t happen like that. Every moment is your moment.
“The positive take away from the game is that a lot of guys got minutes. We’re at a point now where because we rested players doesn’t signify that those rested players will go out on the weekend. We have to go with guys that are committed and desire to do whatever it takes. Guys like Anderson (Julio), Bryan (Oviedo), Braian (Ojeda), put in a fantastic shift. It’s an important time for us. If we want to make the playoffs, we can’t let moments like this go, where we’re playing some good stuff and creating some good opportunities. We have to score goals. For whatever reason, I don’t know what it is, but the looks we had tonight, I am completely bemused at the fact that two of those didn’t go in. We’re putting ourselves in great situations to score first and control games.
“That’s the most frustrating part.”
The club hosts two of its final three matches at America First Field (yeah, it’s still weird to say that), but fell below the playoff line while Austin clinched its first playoff berth in the club’s young history.
“I thought the guys who came into the game didn’t catch up to the speed of the game, to the focus or mentality of the game,” Mastroeni said. “When we’re here, it’s not about football. It’s about mentality and character. We lacked that with the guys coming into the game.”
Djitte had two goals in 26 previous matches to Wednesday night. But as has been the case far too often this season, the slump ended — in a big way — against Salt Lake.
To say that Saturday’s match is a must-win opportunity is putting it mildly. The only thing keeping Real Salt Lake within striking distances of the playoffs is Vancouver’s 3-0- win over the LA Galaxy, which kept RSL at 43 points and three ahead of Los Angeles.
"Goals change games,” said Mastroeni, who started Rubio Rubin and Anderson Julio and brought on Justin Meram, Maikel Chang, Sergio Cordova and newcomer Danny Musovski in the second half. “We created enough tonight on several occasions in the first 60 minutes to score goals, man. You’ve gotta score goals to win games. At this moment, it’s eluding us, but we’ve gotta get back on the horse. We’ve got a big game this weekend."
The penultimate home match of the regular season is Saturday when FC Cincinnati comes to Sandy. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MDT.
To call that a must-win is putting it mild. Just as important is a road trip next week to the Galaxy, a critical six-point swing on Oct. 1.
How will RSL respond to more disappointment?
“Everyone’s going to be ready to go Saturday; I can tell you that,” Herrera said. “We’ve shown in the past, that come the end of the year, it’s a battle to the very end. This year, we have no other choice. We have to get points on Saturday.”
But hey, at least there’s that
If there’s one thing to turn back on (there isn’t), it’s that RSL is as healthy financially as its been.
Details emerged since the club officially unveiled the new name of the stadium formerly known as Rio Tinto, and a report by Sportico and Front Office Sports revealed that Real Salt Lake will earn close to $100 million over the next 15 years from America First Credit Union — a founding corporate partner of the club since 2005 — in exchange for naming rights to the 20,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in Sandy that also hosts the high school soccer playoffs and a handful of other community events.
So, well, at least there’s that …
