3 Points: Real Salt Lake's unblemished home record falls to the FC Dallas bunker
3 Points: Real Salt Lake's unblemished home record falls to the FC Dallas bunker
RSL had more shots, shots on target, possession, expected goals and possession against FC Dallas. But the Claret-and-Cobalt failed in the most important category.
Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with 3 Points, the official post-match newsletter of Real Salt Lake and the Salt City FC podcast. If you’re just waking up after a state holiday-induced hangover and missed last night — well, it’s probably for the better, if you’re an RSL fan.
Pioneer Day weekend was not kind to Real Salt Lake, with a frustrating 1-0 loss to FC Dallas that snapped the club’s unbeaten start at home and dropped RSL to 9-7-6 with 33 points, and in the middle of a Western Conference logjam where 3rd (Minnesota, 34) and 12th place (Colorado, 24) are separated by just 10 points.
Welcome to the dog days of summer in Major League Soccer!
It was a frustrating match, to say the least.
After enjoying the better run of possession in the first half, RSL fell behind following a cheap giveaway just before the 15th minute. Jesus Ferreira pounced on the era, lacing a one-touch shot from inside the box to give FC Dallas the lead from the 14th minute on that was the only goal the visitors needed.
Good news for the U.S. men’s national team, which will need Ferreira to be a goal-scoring machine at this winter’s World Cup in Qatar (yeah, still weird to say that out loud). But for RSL? Not so much.
The visitors did all of their damage on less possession, fewer shots, and fewer shots on target. Salt Lake trailed 1-0 at halftime, when fireworks began emerging across the skyline of the Salt Lake Valley in honor of the Pioneer Day state holiday, and couldn’t recover with the most important stat: goals.
xGs and xDawg be d***ed; scoring is all that matters in this one.
“It’s one of those games that defies all stats,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said.
“This is where stats fly out the window, and it doesn’t make sense,” the manager added. “Early on, I thought we did a good job of imposing ourselves on the game. But that opened the door for them to come into the game, and we just couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Here are three thoughts on a brutal home loss on Pioneer Day weekend in Utah.
Missed opportunities
With 20,432 fans and a sellout crowd for the 11th-straight occasion, RSL couldn’t finish any of its opportunities on goal.
And boy, did they have a lot of them.
Between 25 shots and only five shots on target, Real Salt Lake was clearly the more aggressive side. The hosts held Dallas to just nine attempts, including two shots on target, and relegated the Hoops to bunkering and countering with a mere 30.4% of possession.
But it’s not how many opportunities you get; it’s what you do with them. And FC Dallas made far more of their chances than RSL. For those who believe in advanced analytics, the good news is that RSL may have secretly won — with 2.4 goals to 0.5 for FC Dallas.
That’s expected goals, or the nefarious xG’s (seriously, someone please explain to us how those work, because we’re lost).
“We were sloppy in the first half, and they capitalized on it,” RSL defender Justen Glad said. “Then we just couldn’t get it back.
“When you have those type of turnovers and unforced errors, you put yourself in that position for them to capitalize on it.”
It’s may be too hard to explain away RSL’s multitude of chances, from Sergio Cordova’s missed header in the first half to Justin Meram’s rocket the faked out several fans behind the goal in stoppage time.
The main point is that Salt Lake had chances. And chances. And chances.
But again, it’s what you make of those chances that matters most. And RSL didn’t make much of their chances, no matter what xGs will say.
Less-than-pioneering spirit
Mastroeni clearly wasn’t impressed with FC Dallas’ run of form as they became the first MLS team all year to steal all three points from a road trip to Sandy. Nor should he be.
The Hoops had just 30% possession, placed just two of their seven shots on frame, and whiffed on 27% of their passes as they settled to hold on and try to break a seven-match winless skid with a vital three points on the road that pulled them within a point of a top-four playoff bid in the Western Conference.
“Obviously, they were trying to waste time; they had the lead. I think the frustration started with that, and making sure the ref was adding time to make up for their time-killing,” Mastroeni said.
“But again, I think we created enough opportunities to score tonight. It just didn’t want to go in.”
The frustration boiled over — more than once — on RSL’s end. But the tactic clearly worked, too.
“It’s tough, but credit to them,” Glad said. “They were putting their bodies on the line, had at least one goal-line clearance. They defended hard.
“We all knew that was going to happen: when an away team comes and they’re winning, it’s sort of standard. It’s frustrating, but there’s nothing you can do about it. You can get on the ref — but it’s just frustrating.”
Where’s Rubio?
In a game that featured a combined nine yellow cards — and five of them from the bunkering visitors — it surprised much of the fanbase with how long it took for Mastroeni to inject substitutes into the game. As RSL plodded and searched for an equalizer, the clock kept ticking. And as no goal came, fewer options remained on the manager’s bench.
After Anderson Julio replaced Maikel Chang in the 71st minute — perhaps the most like-for-like sub of RSL’s season that proved immediate dividends, even if no results — Mastroeni was left without many attacking options. Take a look at the bench he was given: two defenders, a reserve goalkeeper in Tomas Gomez, and midfielders Bode Hidalgo, Scott Caldwell and Nick Besler don’t scream “attacking momentum,” (no offense, guys).
Diego Luna replaced Jasper Loffelsend in the 87th minute, providing a meaningful attacking quality to the team. But that area of attacking midfield wasn’t RSL’s difficulty; it was the finishing, the final third, the area inside of the Dallas box where moments went to die.
There was one name that didn’t come off the bench, then, and thus drew some eyebrows. So Mastroeni, naturally, was asked about Rubio Rubin after the match. Here’s what he said:
“He hasn’t found the back of the net in some time. I think that’s a confidence thing,” Mastroeni said of Rubio, who hasn’t scored since Oct. 16, 2021. “He’s a fantastic young man, a fantastic player, but scoring goals comes from a place of confidence. He knows he can score goals.
“This last week in training has been bright, and it looks like he’s turning the corner. He didn’t have a preseason with us, and he’s getting his fitness from games. That’s a tough way to start … He’ll get his run. But the thought today was Sergio’s size with two big center backs was to find a guy who can climb and score with his head. And we thought that was going to be Serge.”
After scoring four goals with two assists in his first 12 matches with RSL — including what turned out to be the MLS Goal of the Year a year ago — Rubin inked a multiyear extension to stay with the club through the 2024 season, with an option for 2025.
Then he made a one-time FIFA switch from the United States to represent Guatemala, went to several international events and tournaments with Los Chapines, and missed RSL’s preseason. Rubin has been playing catchup ever since — and that, per Mastroeni, has kept him from contributing more than four starts in MLS play and the Open Cup nod against Northern Colorado.
RSL travels to San Jose next Saturday to face the Earthquakes before returning home to welcome Gareth Bale and LAFC to the RioT on Saturday, Aug. 6.