3 Points: Real Salt Lake can't overcome poor start in 3-2 loss at Minnesota United
3 Points: Real Salt Lake can't overcome poor start in 3-2 loss at Minnesota United
Jefferson Savarino and Anderson Julio scored in the second half to help RSL rally from a 3-0 deficit before falling at Allianz Field in the Twin Cities.
Good morning, and thank you for spending part of your July 4 weekend with Own Goals, the official newsletter of the Salt City FC podcast. We appreciate your patience as we took a little time off leading into the midsummer holiday, but we’re back and ready for the second half of the MLS season.
There was some good, and some not-so-good, in Real Salt Lake’s latest setback.
Emmanuel Reynoso had two goals and an assist, and Luis Amarilla added a second-half goal before Minnesota United held on for a 3-2 win over Real Salt Lake on Sunday night at Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
But after a disastrous start, RSL made a game of it late. The first came through Jefferson Savarino’s goal from a beautiful assist by substitute Maikel Chang in the 71st minute.
Anderson Julio then scored his first goal since re-joining the club after an eight-goal campaign in 2021, finding the back of the net with a 76th-minute header from Savarino to pull the visitors within one, 3-2.
It was a “good job, good effort” in the end. But it also wasn’t enough for a team that conceded 18 shots on just 45% of possession and was “a bit unorganized and undisciplined in our desire to right the wrongs of a couple of plays,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said.
Let’s take a look at the latest setback.
Reynoso of Terror
With a late substitution inserting Johan Kappelhof into RSL’s back line to replace the injured Justen Glad (hamstring) at center back, Reynoso took advantage of a defense that hadn’t played together in any form since March.
That’s not to say that Kappelhof — a former reliable starter in Chicago et al. throughout his career — was the weak link in Salt Lake’s defense. But with new faces come adjustments, and RSL didn’t make those well.
Take, for example, Reynoso’s first goal — a ninth-minute strike that gave the Loons all the scoring they would need. After initially parrying a skipped past through the defense, Reynoso gathered the rebound, turned inside the penalty box, and uncorked an untouched look to give Minnesota United the 1-0 lead.
No fewer than three RSL players were standing around watching the play from a dangerous position. We won’t call any of them out specifically; who knows what all went into the play that may have turned any of them around, and certainly everyone will raise their hand as a contributor in some form to the defensive lapse.
But we will show you video of the goal.
“He’s a really good player, and he always finds ways to impact games. It’s not just this game; it’s who he is,” Mastroeni said.
“The first goal he scored, we had numbers, and we talked all week about overplaying to his right foot. But again, he’s a very good player and he’s been dealing with a lot of players who try to keep him on his right foot. It’s football, and he’s a quality player who had a really good first half.”
Credit goes to Reynoso, the 24-year-old product of Argentina’s Boca Juniors who entered the match with five goals and three assists and left with three more scoring touches.
“He’s a good player; we knew that before the game,” Kappelhof said. “But we have to do a better job in transition, and I think we could’ve done a better job.”
We also can’t fault Reynoso for his second goal as he took advantage of a well-saved ball by RSL goalkeeper Zac MacMath before burying the rebound in the back of the net for his brace and a 2-0 halftime lead.
The comeback that wasn’t
And yet, with all that being said, RSL had a real chance to clinch at least a share of the points on the road in a place whose fans likely still harbored ill feelings after a certain goalkeeper made himself a true MLS villain with some post-match antics against Adrian Heath’s side.
Some will say the comeback started with Savarino, while others may put the lions’ share of the will to win on Maikel Chang’s shoulders.
Both were sublime. But the real difference, like it usually does for Mastroeni’s teams, started with mentality.
“I think a lot of it has to do with momentum. Belief,” the manager said after the loss. “I think we were able to win a lot of second balls to keep the game in our attacking half, which we weren’t able to do in the first half. Better decisions individually, better execution — and then Chang made a really good play, and guys got in the box and played aggressive.
“I talk about mentality all the time. When we’re in good attacking positions, the guys have to get in the box to score goals.”
That’s a lot of words that may be best summed up in one: Jasper.
When Jasper Löffelsend replaced Scott Caldwell at halftime of the match, the tone of the midfield changed on a dime. All of a sudden, RSL’s attackers could be attackers, wing players could be wing players, and Savarino was no longer drifting so far into midfield that he could operate in the tight spaces in which he’s used to operating.
Maybe it’s a coincidence, and it’s certainly not an indictment against Caldwell; you don’t play 229 matches in eight years with your hometown New England Revolution without being a very good player, and Caldwell — even at 31 — is still that.
But Löffelsend brought something different to the club: a will to win, a springboard into the attack, a desire to try to win every 50-50 ball and half-opportunity to win or turnover or force a transition play.
That was all RSL needed, at least Sunday night. Here’s a look at Löffelsend’s tactical map during his 45 minutes:
Not bad for a converted right back, the No. 81 pick in the MLS SuperDraft who was initially supposed to play for Real Monarchs before being promoted to the first team and factoring into 15 games with seven starts.
And while his name may not show up on the scoresheet, his play is definitely leaving a mark on the field.
“He’s been fantastic,” Mastroeni said of the Pitt graduate from Cologne, Germany. “It’s a tough ask to ask a player to bring such a presence; he’s mature for his age, and more importantly, he’s a fantastic teammate. His reactions are great and he was a catalyst in the middle of the field to help turn things around.”
U-20 impressions
It wasn’t a night of unfortunate results for every player within the RSL organization, though.
No, that’s not a calmly worded reference to Real Monarchs’ first win in MLS NEXT Pro, a 4-0 victory over Portland Timbers 2 spearheaded by a brace from Tyrone Mondi and a goal and two assists from RSL homegrown Chris Garcia.
No, that’s a reference to the Kings of CONCACAF, the United States, with the latest jewel in the crown going to the U-20 youth national team after a 6-0 win over the Dominican Republic in the CONCACAF U-20 championship in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Philadelphia Union homegrown Paxton Aaronson won the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament and the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top goal scorer, and goalkeeper Chris Brady was awarded the Golden Glove in a dominant performance that clinched the Baby Yanks’ third-straight U-20 regional title.
Not the least of which for the squad that clinched the nation’s berth in the Summer Olympics for the first time since 2008 was Diego Luna. The 18-year-old midfielder who recently signed with RSL on a league-record transfer fee from USL Championship side El Paso Locomotive FC had himself another game, securing the most assists in the tournament with five for the powerhouse Americans.
It all goes back to the culture of the program built up in a short time under U-20 head coach Mikey Varas.
“Being in every camp this U-20 cycle has had, seeing the growth from the first camp to the bottom of the barrel and how far we have progressed, it’s a huge credit to the staff for the bond we have,” Aaronson said. “We’re all best friends on and off the field, and you can see that by the way we play. A lot of passion. I love these guys.”
The United States next faces several roster decisions, with a berth in the U-20 World Cup secured and the Paris Summer Games 2024 less than two years away (the Olympics are a U-23 tournament with three overage exceptions, but don’t be shocked to see plenty of U-20 representation on the roster that got them there, too).
And part of those discussions will involve which players to bring to Indonesia in 2023 — including, potentially, probably, maybe, most likely Luna.
He won’t act like his spot is guaranteed, though. None of these players will.
“At the end of the day, none of these guys take anything for granted,” Varas said. “They know that every time they put on their jersey could be the last time. This is the national team, and part of the reason this has been so strong in this tournament is because nothing is taken for granted.
“Tonight is about celebrating the moment that these players created, but also recognizing the people who helped us throughout the process. Everybody back home is hungry to fight their way back into the World Cup roster, and I’m really excited to see the development of all of these guys over the next 6-8 months, making sure we have as strong of a roster as possible going into the World Cup.”