Here are Real Salt Lake's end-of-season awards for 2022 campaign

RSL unveiled the club's annual end-of-season awards following the club was eliminated from the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs via penalty shootout in Austin on Sunday.

Real Salt Lake didn’t have a miracle run in the MLS Cup Playoffs, and after the club’s ouster via penalty shootout at second-seeded Austin FC, players, coaches and staff returned to Salt Lake City to determine future fates, clean out locker space, and meet with the media before going their separate ways in the offseason.

It will no doubt be an offseason of change for some players, an offseason of growth for others, and an offseason of difficult decisions for the front-office staff. RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni and general manager Elliot Fall will meet with the media Thursday in Herriman, and perhaps a few rays of light will be shed on those processes.

We’ll have more on those proceedings in another newsletter. But for now, it’s good to remember that while the club that finished 12-11-11 for 47 points and seventh place in the Western Conference didn’t finish with a miracle run in the postseason, the miracle - in many ways — was simply getting to that Sunday match in Austin.

RSL had to fight, scratch and claw for every point to make it into the bracket, doing so only on the final day with a Decision Day win over Portland.

So while some fans were, no doubt, disappointed in the finale’s conclusion, others were simply grateful that the moment happened at all. Some of those fans even showed up to the Salt Lake airport to greet the team’s return to the Valley.

For now, let’s take a look at the club’s annual end-of-season awards:

RSL Golden Boot: Sergio Cordova, FW

The Venezuelan international on loan from fellow David Blitzer-owned club FC Augsburg in Germany enjoyed a breakout season in his first in MLS with nine goals in 33 regular-season appearances before the brace he tallied in the playoffs.

Dubbed the club’s offensive MVP, Cordova was a talisman alongside fellow Vinotinto compatriot Jefferson Savarino, who arrived in mid-June and finished just two goals off his mark. The South American duo scored or assisted on 18 of RSL’s 25 goals in 2022, and while an option to buy is present in Cordova’s loan agreement, his status with the club going forward remains uncertain.

Team MVP: Justen Glad, DF

This award could’ve gone to a number of players, including Savarino, Cordova and goalkeeper Zac MacMath, who became RSL’s first-ever “Iron Man” to play every single minute of the season in 2022. But Glad is as deserving as the rest of them in becoming the first-ever RSL homegrown to win team MVP in the club’s 18-year history.

Salt Lake was 12-6-8 in 2022 when Glad played, and allowed fewer goals per game than in the eight matches he missed. Without the loyal center back, RSL finished 0-5-3, elevating his status from two-time team defensive player of the year to overall Most Valuable Player and the first U.S.-born MVP since former teammate Kyle Beckerman won the honor in 2016.

Defensive Player of the Year: Andrew Brody, DF

It’s the seventh consecutive season an RSL homegrown has won defensive POY, and the first honor for Brody, the second-year outside back who scored two goals with five assists and was often the talisman going forward for a wide play that looked more like the RSL of years past.

Brody started 33 of the 34 games he played in 2022, finishing around 100 minutes short of the full season of playing time after starting his pro career with then-USL affiliate Real Monarchs. After a year spent with Austria’s FC Pinzgau Saalfelden, Brody returned stateside and has grown to be a pillar on the flank for RSL — and at 27 years of age, may continue to do so for years to come.

Community MVP: Damir Kreilach, MF

Despite playing in just five regular-season matches prior to back surgery that sidelined him the rest of the year, Kreilach left his mark on the club and community by simply being an overall good person. In his fifth year with RSL, the Croatia native partnered with several RSL corporate sponsors to found “Kreilach’s Corner,” a community relations gift of 100 season tickets to give to families who would otherwise be unable to attend a game at Rio Tinto Stadium (later named America First Field during the season).

The club says it brought close to 500 people to every home match for every home game of the 2022 campaign through Kreilach’s Corner, leading to Salt Lake’s sellout-laden season.