Confidence key in Diego Luna's final minutes with RSL before U-20 World Cup
The 19-year-old midfielder recently announced he's going to be a father a few days after his two-goal performance with Real Monarchs, playing as his natural No. 10 role.
HERRIMAN, Utah — Diego Luna admits things haven’t been perfect with his Real Salt Lake career in recent days.
The 19-year-old midfielder who signed with the club on a USL Championship-record transfer fee out of second-division El Paso Locomotive FC was excited to take the next step in a promising career when he first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.
But part of that next step has involved coming off the bench, learning a new system in Pablo Mastroeni’s double-pivot midfield, and playing in just four matches as a reserve in 2023.
So when Luna got the chance to show what he can do in last Sunday’s MLS NEXT Pro competition with Real Monarchs, he made sure to show his best side. The 5-foot-8 midfielder broke free in the second half, scoring two goals and adding an assist in the Monarchs’ 5-1 win over Portland Timbers 2 to secure the club’s first home victory of the season, and a win that earned Real Monarchs the MLS NEXT Pro Team of the Matchday honors.
The boost in confidence came at the right time, too, as Luna is expected to be called into Mikey Varas’ U.S. squad for the upcoming U-20 World Cup in Argentina, where the Baby Yanks will face Ecuador (May 20), Fiji (May 23) and Slovakia (May 26) before the potential Knockout Stages.
RSL is expecting to lose Luna following the club’s match Saturday against Houston Dynamo FC (6:30 p.m. MT, MLS Season Pass) at Shell Energy Stadium, which meant last Sunday’s minutes were especially crucial for the youngster.
“Coming into this World Cup, it was good to get minutes in and get that confidence up with a good performance,” he said. “But helping the team win is the No. 1 thing, and I was happy for all of it.”
The teenage midfielder still has plenty to learn in his career, including a positional change that has often taken him from his natural No. 10 role to a left-sided slot in RSL’s 4-2-3-1 formation.
He’s also growing as a man, recently announcing the September arrival of his first child in September while still awaiting his first goal or assist in league play through 17 matches of his MLS career.
But mostly, Luna is learning how to be a better player for a long career that he hops will one day take him overseas — frustration or not.
“The minutes have been something that we’ve been concerned about,” Luna said. “But that happens in everyone’s career, and it’s something I’m struggling in right now. But the position definitely and the formation where we don’t play with the single 10, I have to adapt; everyone’s career is going to be different, and we’re going to end up in places where things are going to need to change and you need to learn different things.
“It’s hard mentally but you’ve got to take it as what it is, and learn how to play a pivot; maybe in the future, where I end up, that will be asked of me … It’s something I’ve got to take right now.”
It’s also part of learning to be a professional, something Luna has been since the Sunnyvale, California native signed his first contract with El Paso in 2021. Since joining RSL last summer on a reported $250,000 transfer fee, Luna started just three of 13 games in 2022 and mostly came off the bench for veteran players like Damir Kreilach, Pablo Ruiz and recently traded winger Justin Meram — who have all helped Luna get used to his new environment.
Which makes Sunday’s increased workload more meaningful, allowing Luna to control the game from the midfield, in an advanced position, and occasionally drifting right or left into open pockets of space — like he was used to doing in El Paso.
“I think my game showed on Sunday as something I can do,” he said.
Mastroeni may not immediately elevate Luna into the starting lineup at Houston because of what he did against T2 — though Luna did travel to the Bayou City, and he’ll be available in a midfield that will lack Jasper Loffelsend (ankle) and Pablo Ruiz (red card).
That means that Luna could see his most minutes of the year outside of 103 minutes played during last week’s 3-1 win over Las Vegas in the U.S. Open Cup, just before he’s expected to meet up with U.S. Soccer as early as Sunday from Texas.
But that two-goal, one-assist performance in MLS NEXT Pro? It doesn’t hurt, either.
“I think for me, it’s about building confidence,” Mastroeni said. “All the players that go from the first team and get those minutes, it’s important for them to build that confidence in themselves.
“How do you rate those performances? It’s really about what I see during the week with the first team, and that’s really the only level that’s comparable. But again, those performances with the Monarchs lead to more confidence during the week with the first team — and then it makes decisions a little bit more clear.”
Either way, Luna’s biggest test of the year is coming, at a World Cup that was recently moved to Argentina from Indonesia, with an American side that will likely be favored to get out of the group stage.
“The guys have a bit of that RSL grit to them, as well,” Luna said. “I think we’re guys that work hard and work collectively, and we’re a team that has bonded very well and feels like brothers. We spend a lot of time together, and we’re a team that has a friendship and collective off the field that creates that chemistry on the field.
“And of course, the players we have are very talented. That’s just going to bring a lot of letting people do what they do. It’s going to help a lot.”