SANDY, Utah — Six teams from Major League Soccer’s Western Conference have clinched a berth in the 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs, including a Vancouver Whitecaps side that cemented itself as the top seed on the left coast with a 5-1 rout of Cascadia rivals Seattle on Sunday.
Real Salt Lake is not one of them. In fact, RSL may have taken a step back in Saturday’s 2-1 loss at San Jose.
Somewhere between Ousseni Bouda’s goal in the second-minute and a second from Earthquakes teammate Benjamin Kikanović in the 17th, Salt Lake’s playoff hopes dimmed after previously riding a four-match unbeaten streak before the trip to the Bay Area.
“Any time you concede in the first two minutes of the game, the game plan goes out the window,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni told reporters after the game.
The faint light flickered in the 23rd minute, when Sam Junqua’s cross met a flying header from JuanMa Sanabria and fell into the bottom right corner to pull the visitors within 2-1 before halftime.
But Earl Edwards’ four saves help the Earthquakes clinch 3 points that vaulted them into a home-playoff position, shooting up to No. 3 in the West with 52 points and a 14-9-10 record.
Real Salt Lake fell out of the top-nine teams that earn a postseason bid, falling to 11th and one point behind the Sounders with 42 points and a 12-15-6 mark.
RSL will host the LA Galaxy on Saturday evening — Decision Day across MLS — with the faintest hopes of qualifying for the playoffs for the sixth-straight season, eighth time in the last nine years, and the 16th in the past 19 campaigns.
The first step? Win. The club sits just 1 point behind Seattle, Colorado and Portland, and 2 points behind the Galaxy for seventh in the West. Win, and RSL could vault in front of LA.
But they will also need to secure more points than the Timbers (against Austin FC), Colorado (against FC Dallas) and Seattle (against LAFC) to secure one of the final spots from the conference.
All three would lose a tiebreaker to the Utah side, too.
So to sum up, Real Salt Lake likely needs a win and at least one of the following to fall its way:
Portland draw or loss at Austin
Colorado draw or loss at Dallas
Seattle loss or draw against LAFC
RSL can also advance with a draw against the Galaxy and a loss by the above-mentioned trio due to tiebreakers.
That makes the odds at least slightly better than Lloyd Christmas’ after he made it to Aspen. Want more good news? Real Salt Lake is 12-4-4 at home this season in all competitions.
“We always knew that we were going to have to win that last game of the season to give us a chance,” Mastroeni said. “That was in it from the start. It just feels a little bit disappointing now because we’ve been on such a good run.
“It’s obviously disappointing, and I think it’s because our expectations continued to increase with every result,” he added. “I think that’s a natural thing. But realistically, we put ourselves in a great position, which is to have to win at home. We’ve worked all season … We’re blessed to have this opportunity, and we’ve got to make sure we’re intentional and deliberate with how we show up on Tuesday and hopefully it lends itself to a fantastic performance on the weekend.”
Decision Day with all 14 teams in the West kicking off simultaneously at 5 p.m. MT on Apple TV.
You can watch and and listen to the rest of Mastroeni’s post-match meetup with local media in the video below, and subscribe on YouTube to #SupportUtahSoccer:
