Pablo Ruiz's Goal of the Year candidate puts RSL among league's best away from home
Pablo Ruiz's Goal of the Year candidate puts RSL among league's best away from home
Halfway through MLS's 2023 season, Real Salt Lake has ahold of a top-eight spot in the Western Conference, the best road record in MLS — and now, a veritable Goal of the Year candidate via Pablo Ruiz.
Halfway through Major League Soccer’s 2023 season, Real Salt Lake has ahold of a top-eight spot in the Western Conference, the best road record in MLS — and now, a veritable Goal of the Year candidate.
Pablo Ruiz scored arguably the most fantastic strike of the season to date, a let-it-fly chance from the center circle as RSL stretched its unbeaten run to eight-straight on the road Saturday with a 2-1 win over D.C. United at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.
RSL’s eight-match unbeaten streak away from home is tied for the longest such streak in club history, and the longest since 2014.
And it featured a goal that will be remembered long and hard.
“As soon as it left his foot, I thought the ball was going in,” said RSL forward Danny Musovski, who also scored his fifth goal in the last 12 matches across all competitions to notch the match-winner. “He hit it perfect. In my opinion, goal of the year.”
With D.C. goalkeeper Tyler Miller playing way off his line — and Ruiz even farther out, with the ball at his feet around 60 yards from goal (or 68.24 yards, but who’s counting?) — the Argentine must have only had one passing thought.
¿Por Qué No?
Ruiz whipped a ball from close to the center circle, launching the rocket that caught Miller off guard as the veteran goalkeeper watched the half-field chip bounce inside the far post to give RSL a 1-0 halftime lead.
Moments earlier, Ruiz found himself close to the sideline on a momentary break in the action. Head coach Pablo Mastroeni mentioned how high Miller was playing off his line, a common sight from the assistant coach’s film review this week.
Andrés Gómez mentioned he should take a rip. And that’s exactly what he did.
“On my first touch back there, I threw it up toward the goal and thankfully it went in,” Ruiz said in Spanish after the match.
D.C. United outshot RSL 10-5 in the first half, but the visitors had the only three shots on target — including Ruiz’s wonderstrike in the 41st minute, or roughly 15 minutes after D.C. defender Steven Birnbaum was sent off with a red card.
But the first half was all about The Goal, which caught the attention of ESPN’s SportsCenter, FOX Sports and others. The Athletic’s Pablo Mauer called it one of the “best long-distance strikes in MLS history,” MLS Soccer’s Matt Doyle said it was “better” than a similar long-distance shot by Columbus’ Lucas Zelarayán a week earlier — a strike from roughly eight yards further out, as confirmed by MLS PR and Opta.
“I’ve seen very few of those,” Mastroeni said, praising Ruiz’s strike and comparing it to a goal that Marco Etcheverry scored for D.C. in 1999 when Mastroeni played for Miami Fusion. "But I think this one, the angle in which he put it in, the distance from which he shot it, the execution was top class.
"Throughout our scouts, our coaches did a great job identifying that Miller plays off his line and then as the game was progressing he was very aggressive in his positioning and we said just to keep your eye on it. Pablo has a wand for a left foot. And it's an amazing football play, I'm super happy for Pablo .... I don't know what to say about it, but what I will say is it was a master class of skill, execution and vision."
And yet, it wouldn’t have meant much without Musovski.
Musovski doubled RSL’s advantage by finishing off a cross from Gómez in the 51st minute. Chris Durkin pulled one back for the hosts less than two minutes later, a splendid response from the shorthanded home side.
But United could get no closer as Zac MacMath made one save and took a yellow card for practicing some Dark Arts (TM) to keep RSL in front and improve to a league-best 4-3-2 on the road — with a little help from Gómez’s play-making flair from the right win.
“He’s shocked us to the good with his ability to isolate in the wide areas and make plays,” Mastroeni said of the newly acquired U22 initiative player. “His crosses are always deliberate … He’s alway looking beyond the back line, and he sets up the other players on the field. As a young player in a new league, he’s been fantastic.”
Since Mastroeni’s arrival at RSL in 2021, the once-woeful road form from Salt Lake has turned itself around. The team is 12-21-10 (43 points) in MLS regular season matches away from Rio Tinto Stadium/America First Field, in addition to a 1-1-2 playoff record away from home.
That adds up to 57 total road points, or 1.17 points per game on the road since 2021, the club’s best road record since racking up 62 road points (1.22 ppg) from 2012-14.
The club has eight more road matches this season, beginning Wednesday at expansion side St. Louis CITY FC.