'This group feels special': Real Salt Lake flying high in 3-1-1 start, boosted by veterans, youngsters and everyone in between
Sergi Solans had a third goal in four matches, and Victor Olatunji equalized in the final minutes to help RSL stretch its unbeaten run to four matches with a 2-2 draw in San Diego.
From front to back, starters to bench, World Cup-aspirational superstars to role players, there’s something different about Real Salt Lake this year.
Just take a look at the goal scorer from Sunday’s 2-2 draw with San Diego FC, a point on the road that felt like it could have been more by striker Victor Olatunji’s own words.
But with all due respect to Olatunji, who scored the equalizing goal in the 85th minute to help RSL (3-1-1, 10 points) escape Snapdragon Stadium with a much-deserved point, the subject of this newsletter is on Salt Lake’s other goal scorer.
That would be Sergi Solans, the 23-year-old rookie who scored for the second time time in four matches to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute.
Olatunji, who scored his first goal in just over 40 minutes as a substitute while h recovers from a dramatic eye injury suffered in training a few days before the Feb. 21 season opener at Vancouver, has been everything RSL wanted of him when it brought him to Major League Soccer for the final eight matches of last season and he scored four goals with an assist.
The only thing lacking has been health and fitness — though the 6-foot-3 Nigerian international striker seems to be running that up well enough, too.
But in his absence, head coach Pablo Mastroeni and his staff had to rely on young, sometimes unproven (or at least, inexperienced) players to fill a few gaps. And has been discussed in this space before, the kids are all right.
“This group feels special, and we believe that we can be a great team in this league,” Mastroeni said after Sunday’s draw, the club’s fourth straight result that included wins over Seattle, Atlanta, and Austin.
“It’s taken a lot of hard work, and it’s going to take more hard work and belief,” he added. “But the kind of football we’re playing, the way we’re playing at home or away from home is really special. The onus is on us to really maintain that level.”
That onus is on everybody — not just stars like Olatunji, Diego Luna, Zavier Gozo or backstop Rafael Cabral. It extends up and down the roster.
But the roster is capable of the shared pressure.
“Straight off the bat, I think we can say that we’ve got a bunch of guys who are committed to the team, committed to the goal, and committed to the drive,” Luna told Apple TV before Sunday’s match. “We’ve got nobody with big egos on our team, and I think everybody is on the same path with what’s to come.”
It also extends across the organization.
RSL’s developmental pipeline through the Real Salt Lake Academy in Herriman has been well document, and indeed, it was on full display in San Diego with four homegrown players in the Starting XI for a fifth consecutive week in Gozo, Justen Glad, Griffin Dillon and Aiden Hezarkhani.
But just as impressive has been the club’s developmental pipeline from a source that many in MLS had considered to be outdated: college soccer. And Solans is just another example of collegiate players who have found a breakout freedom in MLS, a list that includes Emeka Eneli, Jasper Löffelsend, Jesus Barea and others.
What’s unique about Solans is after RSL selected him with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft, the Spanish native used the league’s new regulations to return to UCLA for another year before signing his first professional contract.
It’s paid off for “Trialist 22” (if you know, you know).
“Our coaching staff, along with Kurt Schmidt, Tony Beltran and the scouting department, spends all their time working with the college draft,” Mastroeni said. “I think it’s a real credit to the club and the guys that are in the war room, scouting these guys during the season and making the decisions. Kurt and Tony lead the charge, but it’s the whole department and our coaches observing and communicating with our guys.
“I wish I could say that I had more impact on that. But there are some really important people who spend a lot of time there, and I think that’s why we are able to grab these gems of players. And I think Sergi is a case in point, one of the players who is a diamond.
“He’s been awesome for us.”
So, too, has Olatunji. The journeyman striker who scored 10 goals in 57 appearances at his previous stop at Sparta Prague made his second appearance off the bench since his just-before-season eye injury — one which he described as “everywhere was dark,” he told Mattey Casey before his return — wearing protective eyewear and providing an immediate jolt.
He’s been prescribed the goggles for two months. But if he keeps scoring with them on, he might have to adjust the terms.
“I mean, why not?” he said with a laugh. “Why not?
“I think the team has been fantastically doing well,” he added. “I don’t have bad energy, with the way they were playing before I came back. I think they were playing incredibly fine, and the dressing room is top. The way we relate, we communicate, it’s 100% good for the team.”