3 Points: Real Salt Lake rolls to 3-0 win over Minnesota United
3 Points: Real Salt Lake rolls to 3-0 win over Minnesota United
Teddy Bears flooded the pitch as Sergio Cordova, Jefferson Savarino and super sub Anderson Julio all scored for the Claret and Cobalt
Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with 3 Points, the official post-match newsletter for Real Salt Lake of the Salt City FC podcast.
Wednesday night was a RioT in Sandy, with a rare mid-week match. But something that has become less rare? That’s 14-straight sellouts on Real Salt Lake’s home turf.
The club announced another sellout of over 20,000 fans — and while not every seat showed up, every one was sold, which is something quite remarkable to do 14 matches in a row for a club under new ownership, new(ish) manager and several key new members.
But maybe the newness is part of the success of Real Salt Lake, which improved to 11-8-9 and a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with 42 points with a 3-0 win over Minnesota United FC at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Sergio Cordova, Jefferson Savarino and Anderson Julio all scored a goal as Real Salt Lake, including the Venezuela Super Duo combining to give the club its first 2-0 halftime lead in over a year.
For Cordova, it’s the fourth time in five games — and fifth time since he rejoined the starting lineup eight games ago — that he’s found the back of the net. Is it just starting to come that easy after scoring one goal in his first 12 appearances?
“Of course, I think confidence is very important to me and to every player on the field,” Cordova said. “Things have been going well, and hopefully I’ll be able to keep going, to stay calm and stay humble about it.
“I think that confidence has helped me to come out a lot better. It’s helped me play through a lot of mistakes, and my coaches and teammates have helped get me through that, too.”
Minnesota played the match without Emanuel Reynoso, saving the designated player for an all-important match Saturday against FC Dallas. It’s impossible to know for sure, but it may not have mattered. United didn’t register a shot in the first half, were held without a shot on target, and Zac MacMath earned his ninth shutout of the year — the fourth-most in Major League Soccer.
“They’re prioritizing games, obviously,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said of United and Reynoso’s absence. “But these types of games can also be a banana peel, thinking that if they don’t have a guy or two, we can just walk through.
“I think in the end, the guys earned the right to win the game.”
Here are three takeaways from the mid-week victory before Sunday’s bout with LAFC.
More than a goal
RSL’s first goal was the coolest one scored at the right, perhaps ever.
In a midweek match dedicated to #KickChildhoodCancer, and after the home team had worn special gold warmup tops with the names of childhood cancer victims on the back, Cordova’s goal didn’t unleash the pent-up aggression or drama in just seven minutes of play.
But it did unleash the teddy bears — and stuffed dinosaurs, for that matter.
Water works, anyone?
The stuffed friends were part of RSL’s “Kick Childhood Cancer” night, where fans brought stuffed animals and plushies to Rio Tinto Stadium to donate to children suffering from the horrific disease of cancer.
After the goal, fans tossed the bears, dinosaurs and other little friends, where they were recovered by a small army of Real Salt Lake staff members and interns and donated to children and families who just need a friend during a tough time.
“I thought it was great,” Cordova said of the toss. “For me personally, it was beautiful; I don’t know if anyone expected it, but I think we enjoyed all of it — all of the players enjoyed it.”
All September long, RSL will honor Childhood Cancer Awareness month with gold nets, gold corner flags and limited-edition scarves and other merchandise sold at the RSL Team Store to raise funds for 5 For The Fight and the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
“Real Salt Lake is proud to support MLS Works' Kick Childhood Cancer Campaign to raise awareness of pediatric cancers and fundraise to improve treatments and outcomes for kids suffering from these devastating diseases,” said RSL director of community and player engagement Kyle Schroder, whose team is teaming up with MLS for the ninth-straight year to try to #KickChildhoodCancer. “Pediatric cancer research is significantly underfunded. As such, childhood forms of cancers are often poorly understood and treatments are extremely aggressive, frequently producing long-term effects.”
Twice as nice
Savarino’s goal in the 23rd minute was also special, as the Venezuela designated player slid a left-footed shot from close range into the center of the goal to give Salt Lake a 2-0 advantage.
Savarino’s goal was the first time RSL scored two goals in the first half since July 25, 2021 — a match that also finished 3-0, against Rocky Mountain Cup rivals Colorado — to snap a run of 50 games.
It’s also the last time Salt Lake notched two goals in the first 23 minutes since a 4-1 win over New England, a run of 129-straight games, according to RSL communications pro and self-taught human Wikipedia entry Trey Fitz-Gerald.
A rarity, for sure, making goal No. 2 perhaps feel more important than it was, in the end.
“I think scoring an early goal, at times you put your guard down,” Mastroeni admitted. “And that goal couldn’t have come at a better time. The unique thing about Sava as a No. 10 is his ability to get in the box, his desire, his commitment to get on people’s backside and beat them.
“That goal encapsulates everything he does well. And the goal came at a really important time, to settle things down for the group a bit.”
Comfort and chemistry
Wednesday marked Savarino’s sixth goal of the season, to go along with four assists. For Cordova, it was his team-high eight goal to go along with two assists.
So if there was ever a question about commitment from both Venezuelan internationals, the duo are slamming those questions shut with a fury — even if Cordova is officially still on loan from fellow David Blitzer-owned club Augsburg and Savarino was thought to have European goals when he returned to RSL on a DP contract after “winning almost everything” in Brazil.
“I feel a lot more peace and confidence than where I was at,” Savarino said in Spanish. “A lot of the teammates already knew me, so it was just about regaining that chemistry with the team. But I’m really happy to be here, and I’m hoping to be here for a while with Real Salt Lake.”
All three goals scored Wednesday night were by Latino goal-scorers, with the two Venezuelans joining Ecuadorian international Julio. The trio represented three of the top-four goal scorers on the team, with Justen Glad tied with Julio with three goals on the year.
Three Spanish-speakers and an Anglophile. But on the pitch, it’s all un idioma.
“I don’t feel like the language barrier is much of a problem since a lot of the players speak Spanish as well,” Cordova said. “One of my goals is to learn English like I learned German. Luckily for us, Pablo (Mastroeni) speaks Spanish perfectly and that helps a lot. In soccer, you don’t really need to know the language to understand each other on the field.”