Danny Musovski's RSL career-best form precedes Open Cup berth in hometown Las Vegas
Danny Musovski's RSL career-best form precedes Open Cup berth in hometown Las Vegas
The Henderson, Nevada native had an assist in RSL's 3-1 win over San Jose and will be back home when the club visits Las Vegas Lights FC at Cashman Field.
LAS VEGAS — Andrés Gómez wasn’t the only breakout player from Real Salt Lake’s 3-1 win over San Jose on the weekend. The win meant a lot to reserve striker Danny Musovski, as well.
The surprise first-half substitute had an assist on the club’s first goal of the evening, a blitzing counter-attack combination with Jasper Löffelsend that sent RSL up 1-0 for the first time all season. And while Löffelsend (rightfully) got credit for the banger, the player probably doesn’t happen with “Moose.”
“I pressed the center back, and he ended up making a pass that Jasper won really well, and he played me through into a bunch of space,” Musovski recalled after reviewing the play following training that followed his surprise first-half substitution for an injured Anderson Julio. “I took it, tried to draw the defenders toward me, and at the last second, I saw Jasper wide open and had to play it for him.
“It’s good to get a goal or an assist or whatever early on, to give you confidence for the rest of the game.”
It was his first point in MLS play since last June 29, when Musovski scored a goal in LAFC’s 3-1 win over FC Dallas prior to a trade that sent the 27-year-old striker from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City in exchange for $250,000 in general allocation money.
Musovski — or “Moose,” as some fans have taken to calling him, a tradition that began when he was with LAFC that gradually wore on him as a formal nickname — played 65 minutes Saturday night, netting his first career assist with RSL and doubling his total minutes from the year.
Prior to the weekend, he had played a total of 38 minutes all year, with his most action a three-shot outing in 18 minutes off the bench of a 4-0 loss to St. Louis City SC. Minutes were hard to come by for Musovski, both because of the competition at his position and also an ankle injury that hampered him shortly after he was traded to Real Salt Lake from LAFC midway through last season.
All of that seems to be in the past, and not a moment too soon.
The Henderson, Nevada native heads to Las Vegas on Wednesday to face USL Championship side Las Vegas Lights FC in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup — a competition and a team that Musovski knows well.
The Liberty High and UNLV graduate who won Gatorade Nevada player of the year as a junior scored five goals in 15 appearances with the Lights on loan from LAFC in 2021-22, and began his career with the semipro Las Vegas Mobsters while still in college in 2014-15.
So being back in town, where Musovski is expected to have plenty of family in the crowd at Cashman Field, is special for the 27-year-old forward.
“I think it’s going to be a fun game for me,” he added. “I played in Vegas my whole life, high school college, and even professionally. And shout out to the Mobsters in the PDL; every level I played in Vegas, and I played a few games there last year.
“I’m pretty familiar with that whole organization, and it will be fun. I’ll have plenty of friends and family there, but once the game starts, I’m definitely pulling and working us for us to win.”
Real Salt Lake is eager to erase the memory of last year’s U.S. Open Cup upset, the victims of an annual Cup-set with a 1-0 home loss to USL League One side Northern Colorado Hailstorm that drew the ire of fans and ownership alike.
This year, they’re hoping for a much longer stay in the Open Cup — the fastest way to CONCACAF Champions League, at least for those who don’t make it to the MLS Cup final.
“Last year, I feel it was a let-down,” RSL defender Bode Hidalgo said. “I would say we definitely aren’t going to let that happen again.
“The travel is not ideal, but I don’t think it should play a major role. We want to come out with three points, and head into a big game on Saturday (against Seattle in MLS play).”
There’s extra motivation for the club to not repeat history this year.
“I think everyone remembers the feeling, and how we felt it should have gone last year,” Hidalgo added. “Nobody wants to feel that way again. We want to have the fans with us, and keep going in this tournament, to make a run.”