Kings of the West: Real Salt Lake still on top after 2-0 shutout of Seattle, 9th straight unbeaten

Diego Luna had a goal and a hockey-style assist, and Andrés Gómez added a goal as Real Salt Lake extended its unbeaten run to nine consecutive matches with a 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders FC.

For at least one more week — or “matchday,” as Major League Soccer prefers to call what happened Wednesday night on a full day of midweek matches — Real Salt Lake are Kings of the West.

Diego Luna had a goal and a hockey-style assist, and Andrés Gómez added a goal as Real Salt Lake extended its unbeaten run to nine consecutive league matches with a 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders FC at America First Field in Sandy.

It’s the second consecutive season with a nine-match unbeaten streak, a first in RSL club history. It also gives the current Western Conference leaders (on points) the longest active unbeaten run in Major League Soccer.

And it came without Chicho Arango doing typical Chicho Arango things — or at least, scoring goals, for the first time since

“Every game presents different challenges,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said after the match. “What really excited me about this game is in the 83rd minute, we had the ball in our defensive third and pressed out of that shape. That’s something we conceded a lot in LA.

“I just saw a change of mentality in this game. All the credit goes to the guys … The cohesiveness, the camaraderie of the group; it’s a real pleasure to work with these guys and to be a part of the group.”

Gómez opened the game early with a 27th-minute goal, the culmination of a perfect buildup from Matt Crooks and Diego Luna that was just the third time in 2024 RSL has scored a goal that did not directly involve Arango.

The hosts held Seattle to just two shots on goal during a first half that saw Salt Lake hold 62% of possession.

But RSL weren’t done.

Luna doubled the advantage in the 58th minute, moments after Brayan Vera trucked upfield and found the rising U.S. international for a rocket inside the far post that put Real Salt Lake up, 2-0.

“Back in the day, that was the wild card: having a player willing to break lines and dribble,” Mastroeni said. “Anymore, you’re worried about your structure

“But those type of moments, that’s why I say it’s a players’ game. Some of our movements today weren’t subscribed — but it’s a feel game … You’ve got to make plays. Obviously we don’t coach 60-yard scampers. But it puts question marks into our opponents: who’s going to track this guy? … And it was great.”

Courtesy, Real Salt Lake

Vera’s assist marks back-to-back games with a dime, a privilege for a left-sided center back who went viral for a very different reason against Sporting Kansas City — and became something of a club legend in the process.

Gavin Beavers made two saves to earn a second-straight shutout in goal in MLS play, his first professional clean sheet at home, and help RSL improve to 7-2-4 for 25 points, 4 points ahead of a Minnesota side that has two games in hand after a 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy.

It was, for RSL at least, the perfect way to bounce back from a rough night in Los Angeles, a 2-2 draw with the Galaxy that felt more like 2 points lost than a point gained on the road.

“I’ve never seen a group so upset, and so focused on proving to themselves that they can finish things the right way,” Mastroeni said. “The best thing you can have as a coach is players who feel worse than the coach when things don’t go away.

“Everybody understand that the way we closed out in LA wasn’t good enough. We go as the leaders go.”