SANDY — Sergi Solans continued his red-hot return to form Saturday night when Real Salt Lake needed it most, but the club may benefit just as much by another return, as well.
Solans notched his second brace in five matches, and Dominik Marczuk added a goal in Justen Glad’s first competitive match in nearly five months, a 3-0 win over St. Louis City SC at America First Field.
Three days after St. Louis won the U.S. Open Cup on penalty kicks over Columbus, RSL punched first with a must-win mentality — and never let up to collect its first run of back-to-back wins since August 8-11 in Leagues Cup and first in MLS play since before the FIFA men’s World Cup break in July.
“I think in all phases, we played fantastic,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni told reporters after the match. “But we’ve got no time to celebrate.
“We’ve got to win out,” he added, reiterating a stance from last week. “This is a good performance to build upon.”
Real Salt Lake nearly broke through in the 39th minute, but Noel Caliskan’s attempt to chip the keeper on a pass from Morgan Guilavogui was blocked by wild last-man defense from the visitors.
Instead, Guilavogui turned a pass from Luc de Fougerolles into the box less than two minutes later into a give-and-go combination with Solans for the rookie’s team-high 12th goal of the season.
Tomás Ostrák was sent off with a red card for a bad foul in the 43rd minute, and the visitors played a man down after entering halftime down a goal.
Dominik Marczuk doubled the excitement — or the pain, depending on your shade of a red-ish hue Saturday evening — with a screamer from distance. The Polish international took a pass from — you guessed it — de Fougerolles in the 53rd minute and uncorked a firecracker into the near post that doubled the host’s advantage, 2-0.
Solans struck for his brace in the 59th minute with a tap-in from Saba Lobjanidze following a fast break from Guilavogui that stretched the lead to 3-0.
With the result secured, all that was left was the story.
Justen Glad took a big step toward completing his story Saturday night when the RSL homegrown center back entered the playing surface for Philip Quinton at the hour mark.
The veteran defender made his May 23, before an infamous adductor injury that kept him sidelined through the summer and into the early fall.
But Glad’s return sparked Salt Lake, even with all three goals finished against a 10-man St. Louis side.
The 29-year-old defender was strong in the air, good at winning duels, and the usual solid defender he’s been known to be in his decade of professional experience in the RSL system.
He also joked that he was “ready to go 90 if you need me,” Mastroeni said, adding that Glad spoke to the group before the game “even though he wasn’t starting.”
“That’s always his mentality,” Mastroeni said.
“I thought he was excellent tonight,” he added. “We couldn’t get him back at a better time. And having said that, I thought Phil had a really good 60 minutes, as well.”
With Austin FC looming on Wednesday, the must-win games continue as Salt Lake tries to pull itself back into one of nine playoff positions in the Western Conference.
Kickoff against Los Verdes is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. MT at Q2 Stadium on Apple TV.
Photographer Joaquin Pont was there for Salt City Soccer. Check out his photos below and follow him on Instagram.
