3 Points: Real Salt Lake steals road point from Colorado in Rocky Mountain Cup opener
RSL was down double-digit numbers, starting a 17-year-old center back, and bringing Justin Meram home from a World Cup qualifier with Iraq just 4 days prior. What could go right?
Thanks for spending part of your morning with 3 Points, the official post-match breakdown of Salt City FC’s Utah soccer newsletter. Saturday was a busy day at Own Goals, with Real Monarchs’ 2-2 draw with Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 in the club’s MLS NEXT Pro home opener (you can read about that here) leading into Real Salt Lake’s road draw with rival Colorado.
We had eyes on both matches, but we can only do it with your support. So drop a Like on the podcast feed, subscribe on Substack, or follow on Twitter and Instagram to stay up-to-date with the latest in the world of Utah soccer. We promise not to spam your email — at least, not yet (kidding, kidding).
For now, here are a few thoughts from RSL’s 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids, a tie that feels like kissing your older brother’s girlfriend who is way out of your league but has since decided she was more into you, any ways.
The Kids are Alright
Jaziel Orozco. Tate Schmitt. Scott Caldwell. Bode Davis. Pierre Reedy. Bobby Pierre.
These probably aren’t names you expected to see much in RSL’s lineup before the preseason.
But it’s the group that went into battle in the first leg of the Rocky Mountain Cup, and emerged with a crucial road point that marks the fifth point on the road for Salt Lake on the young season.
It’s also a group of fighters.
Orozco is the headliner; the 17-year-old center back made his first career start in MLS play, supplanting Freddy Adu as the youngest starter in RSL history at 17 years, 10 months (Adu was 17 years, 10 months and five days old).
The son of former Mexican football journeyman Alberto Orozco has been preparing for this moment his whole life, and he’s taking advantage of it. That may be Orozco’s biggest advantage, namely because a lot of offspring of pro athletes tend to “absorb themselves in the game” growing up, RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said.
Orozco has work to do. He needs to learn to play more physical, and he’d probably agree that he could’ve been more assertive on the game-tying goal. But things like that come with time — and he has plenty of it.
“It’s a lot of hard work,” Mastroeni said of the youngster. “I don’t want to dismiss that because he’s been working extremely hard, nutritionally, working in the weight room, and all the other stuff you need to do at a young age. He’s put himself in a great position, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Injuries have a way of banding teams together, at least those players who remain healthy enough through the trials and trauma. That seems to be happening with Real Salt Lake, which was missing Justen Glad, Zack Farnsworth, Aaron Herrera, Erik Holt, Johan Kappelhof, Jasper Löffelsend, Bret Halsey, Jonathan Menendez, David Ochoa and Bobby Wood due to injury.
“Right now, at this moment, we are a little bit unlucky with all the injuries we’ve been dealing with on the roster,” RSL midfielder Damir Kreilach told KMYU. “But every guy is on the same page … and everything comes from training.
“The way we follow the plan every single game is impressive. It’s the only way you can go forward.”
New Kids on the Block
Andrew Brody isn’t one of the new teenagers to join RSL, but after laboring with Real Monarchs and spending time with Pinzgau Saalfelden in the Austrian third division, he’s now coming through clutch in Salt Lake.
Brody had a team-high nine interceptions — more than double any other RSL player — and anchored a back line that faced 16 shots (but only six on frame).
Starting on the back line that also featured Orozco, Marcelo Silva and Tate Schmitt, the newly formed quartet helped Zac MacMath make just five saves: a good amount, but not an otherworldly amount. It was all he needed to make (well, unless you count Abubakar’s 56th-minute equalizer, but this is no time for digression).
One week after taking its first loss of the season and facing a mismatched lineup with 10 injury absences, Real Salt Lake bounced back in significant fashion.
“It’s about finding ways to win,” Mastroeni said. “You’re not always going to have your best stuff. It’s not going to always be easy.
“Playing as a visitor is very difficult in this league, so finding ways to stay in games, to overcome adversity, that’s what road points are. Tonight was a great example of that.”
Added MacMath: “To battle like we did through a lot of adversity, it’s a good point to take home with us.”
Iron Man 2
Let’s take a look back at the past five days for Justin Meram.
On Tuesday, the Iraqi international traveled to the Asian confederation and played for his national team in a World Cup qualifier, a 1-1 draw with Syria. The next day, he boarded a flight to the United States, trying to make it back to Utah with as much time on the ground as possible to readjust his body clock.
Somewhere in the air or shortly after arriving, he sent a tweet: “Always an honor to wear the shirt. Came so close but it wasn’t meant to be. To the loyal fans, thank you for your love & support.”
Then he disappeared from Twitter, logging off to try to normalize his sleep schedule. Waking up at 3 a.m. or 5 o’ clock in the morning, Meram tried desperately to adjust to the 10-hour time change before Saturday’s match (thank goodness for his beloved wife, who took care of the couple’s small child, while he worked to catch up).
He didn’t quite do it, but he came close. So riding as little sleep as is humanly possible, he boarded RSL’s charter flight for Denver on Friday, and hoped for the best. The 12th-year MLS veteran started at winger in Mastroeni’s 4-3-3 and played 64 minutes at the position before subbed off.
And he did it all at 33 years old. If Damir Kreilach is RSL’s Iron Man of durability, then Meram is War Machine.
“My body is taking a toll right now,” said Meram, who worked with team massage therapists and athletic trainers to try to normalize his schedule as best he could. “It was just doing all the little things to get up to this time zone as quickly as possible, and I am still going to need some time to adjust as a 10-hour time difference is hard to adjust in two or three days.”
All of that would be impressive enough. But Meram also drew what turned into the go-ahead penalty kick around the 45th minute, driving into the area and forcing Keegan Rosenberry into a foul he’d later regret when Pablo Ruiz converted RSL’s lone goal of the match.
“To my knowledge, it was a 50/50 challenge, and I won the ball. I felt my plant leg, or the leg behind me, get scooped from under me,” said Meram, admitting he hadn’t seen a replay of the moment. “As I went to take my next touch I didn’t have that leg to push off and go towards goal. That’s how I felt it happen, I have not seen it, but I know he did make contact on my back leg.”
Meram’s in full health, which is not something many of his teammates can say at the moment. So he was always going to play in Saturday’s match, he says. Tight turnarounds from international play are nothing new to him since he first began playing for Iraq close to eight years ago, either; he recalled one occasion during his time in Columbus when he arrived home Friday night before a Saturday match — and played.
“It is a little bit of a mentality, ‘put your big boy pants on and find a way to get out there and help your team,’” Meram said. “If we were healthy, I still think I would’ve played, and I have been at the start of this season.
“I have been in good form, and I want to continue that for this club.”
Meram made his 300th appearance in Major League Soccer, a career that started in 2011 in Columbus before meandering through Atlanta, Orlando, a return to the Crew, and finally with Salt Lake since 2020. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I feel really old, that’s what it feels like,” he said, finally mustering the dry humor that has made him a media-favorite. “I’m just so thankful and blessed for the coaches that I’ve had in my career, my teammates, my wife, my son, and lastly my family.
“Being in the league for 12 years and my 300th game, I wouldn’t have done it without my family supporting me through the tough times, keeping my mind sane, and keeping me pushing. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today. I’m so thankful for everybody in my circle that has helped me.”