'We became a team of individuals': Real Salt Lake humbled in 3-0 road loss to Portland
Santi Moreno and Evander each had a goal and an assist, and Felipe Mora also scored as the Portland Timbers snapped Real Salt Lake’s 10-match road unbeaten run, 3-0 at Providence Park in Portland.
Real Salt Lake’s run of road success came to a close Saturday night in the Rose City.
Santi Moreno and Evander each had a goal and an assist, and Felipe Mora also scored as the Portland Timbers snapped Real Salt Lake’s 10-match road unbeaten run, 3-0 at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon.
It’s the most goals allowed in a loss in MLS play this season for Salt Lake, whose road unbeaten run dated back to the Feb. 21 season opener at Inter Miami.
Portland’s triple is the first time RSL allowed three goals in a match since June 19, a 4-3 win over Sporting Kansas City.
In some ways, the team looked like itself, in that it was a Salt Lake side that hasn’t won at Portland since 2017.
But in most ways, it simply didn’t. A lack of composure and an inability to finish chances — with just three shots on goal on just 11 shots, compared to seven and 20 for Portland, respectively — doomed the squad in an uncharacteristically dull offense.
“We have some fantastic, talented players,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said. “But on nights like tonight, it’s really evident to me given what I’ve seen throughout the season, that when we play like a team, we’re a tough team to beat. However, when we play like individuals, we’re going to get sliced through.”
Maybe it was RSL’s standing at the top of the Western Conference that necessitated a humility check for a squad that still tops the division at 12-4-7 and 43 points (thanks primarily to Columbus’ stunning 5-1 win over LAFC and the LA Galaxy’s 2-0 road loss to FC Dallas).
Instead, fifth-place Portland used the 3-point boost to narrow the gap with fourth-place Colorado to 2 points, 38-36. In a league where every point tends to matter at the end of the season, Saturday may prove to be a missed opportunity.
Or it could be a learning experience, one sparked by a humbling defeat.
It’s only natural for teams heaped with praise — from all-star nominations to team success — to take that success personally. But for Real Salt Lake, the club simply started to do a lot of things that Mastroeni viewed as uncharacteristic, including negative body language after a misplayed pass and reactions that lacked confidence, he said.
“We gave the ball away way too much,” Mastroeni said. “We became a team of individuals.”
Still, RSL entered the match unbeaten in 17 of its last 18, including the second-best road winning streak in MLS history with 10. But Portland had collected four wins in the Timbers’ previous five matches, and were surging toward a top-four spot in the Western Conference table themselves.
So it was the Timbers that struck first, just three minutes in, sliding between center backs Brayan Vera and Bode Hidalgo when Mora finished a cross from Moreno directly in front of goal to give Portland a 1-0 lead.
Hidalgo was filling in, again, for an injured Justen Glad, who returned to training from an ankle injury for the first time shortly before Salt Lake departed for Portland. But the homegrown veteran center back remains questionable on the injury report, a status that will likely remain for next week’s midweek trip to LAFC.
“As whether or not he’s on the bench this Wednesday,” Mastroeni said, “we’ll just have to see how he progresses this week.”
That sparked a chippy affair, with five yellow cards in the first 25 minutes including a caution to Andrés Gómez that will keep him out of Salt Lake’s midweek trip to LAFC next Wednesday.
The Timbers out-shot RSL 7-4 in the first half, including 4-2 shots on goal — despite trailing the possession tally, 64.3 to 35.7 percent.
Moreno doubled the advantage in the 48th minute, finding the back of the goal himself from Evander just three minutes into the second half. Evander finished off the scoring with a 90th-minute strike from Antony Santos.
Arango hit the post with a header midway through the second half, as RSL threw fresh subs from a limited bench (everything but the kitchen sink) toward goal.
That included rookie winger Matthew Bell earning his first MLS minutes, becoming the seventh player from the club to debut in 2024 and 211th all-time in the club’s 20-year history.
“We have a coach at every Monarchs game, we all watch the games on the road, and he’s been a standout performer on the Monarchs. With Fidel not available, we need to make sure we have enough bodies that can come in and change the game,” Mastroeni said of the youngster who completed 91.7% of his limited passes in 19 minutes as a sub. “I thought Matthew did a great job for his first MLS performance. He’s learning a lot as he goes, but tonight he played the game that was in front of him.
“I’m really excited to bring him along with the first team, and I think he should be really proud of his performance tonight.”
Kickoff Wednesday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. MT on FS1 and MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
