Real Salt Lake's 15-match streak upended by Galaxy. But there are other concerns
Is the gash to MVP candidate Chicho Arango's face, the club's third match in eight days, and a mounting list of injury absences just as pressing as the 3 points dropped to LA Galaxy at home?
It had to end some time.
But Real Salt Lake’s first home loss since March and first loss after a club-record 15-match unbeaten streak came to an end Saturday with a 1-0 loss to the Los Angeles Galaxy in front of the second-largest crowd in stadium history (an announced number of 21,570 fans) seemed almost secondary to the occasion.
A team hampered by an ankle injury to Justen Glad, the yellow-card suspension to Brayan Vera and a sudden illness to “iron man” midfielder Emeka Eneli was — at times — listless and lethargic, though no more so than one would expect for a team playing its third match in eight days in three different states and two nations.
These are professional sports, and those aren’t excuses. But when Gabriel Pec pinged the back of the net in the 74th minute, knifing a ball between two RSL defenders before burying his shot inside the near post, it felt like a moment that was relatively few and that the visitors capitalized.
“It was a long week of travel, going to (Montreal) and then going to Kansas City,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said, before declining to use the well-worn legs as a crutch. “I think tonight we just weren’t sharp with the ball, in particular in that final third. It felt like a game where the team that made a play would more than likely get the result — and they made a play.”
More concern was the exit of team captain Chicho Arango, the talismanic figure and MLS Golden Boot leader with 16 goals and 10 assists who exited the game just before the 20th minute after a collision in the box left a V-shaped gash over his right eye that required close to 20 stitches.
Arango was initially checked by RSL’s medical staff for a concussion, and initial results were positive for his health. But he’ll remain under observation by the club through Salt Lake’s upcoming bye week before its July 3 home tilt against the Houston Dynamo.
Once Arango left the field, the team’s energy dropped again — even if for a short amount of time. And playing far into its depth, with a group that included recently signed midfielder Noel Caliskan, who completed 22 passes with a 96% success rate and a key pass in his third appearance overall with RSL.
Yes, the injury to Arango was gnarly. But it only tells part of the story for a home team that put just four of its 15 shots on frame and couldn’t convert on any of its six corner kicks.
“The gash was ridiculous on his head. I’m sure he’s in a lot of pain,” Mastroeni said of Arango, who inquired about potential media responsibilities before club staffers allowed him to take the night off. “But as far as getting guys back, we missed a little bit of personality on the field. J-Glad is hurt, Vera is suspended, Emeka was sick, and Chicho gets injured. The guys that stepped in did a good job, but we just lacked a little bit of personality.”
The loss certainly wasn’t ideal for Salt Lake, which allowed the Galaxy to play its wide-open, attack-oriented style of play — without Riqui Puig in the lineup — until Pec’s lone goal lifted LA into a tie for first in the Western Conference with RSL and LAFC, with “that other team from Los Angeles” ahead over the other two in points per game, 1.95-1.85.
But many of the concerns highlighted in Saturday’s match can be aided with two weeks away until the club returns home for the first of two matches in Sandy prior to three more road tilts at Portland, LAFC and Colorado to round out July.
These team has bigger goals than a 15-match unbeaten streak, every player from the oldest veterans to the newest members.
“I’m just trying to help the team win every competition we’re in,” Caliskan said. “I think that’s been something we’ve all been saying. We have a really great group of guys, and I think we can go all the way.
“I just want to help the guys do everything we can to achieve those goals.”