What's wrong with Real Salt Lake? Questions aren't easy to answer

RSL's 3-1 loss Wednesday night to FC Dallas marked its sixth home loss of the season, the most since 2007.

In the interest of full disclosure, and because I believe in transparency — even on the internet — I should start with this: I did not attend Real Salt Lake’s home match Wednesday night at America First Field.

I had other work-related responsibilities to attend, and while I am lucky enough to be a sportswriter by trade, those responsibilities don’t always involve soccer (if you want to read about a pivotal college volleyball match that ushered in a new era, though, feel free to give this a click). Instead, I watched this match on my phone, through MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

If I had gone, though, I probably wouldn’t have any more answers in this newsletter than the rest of you. I probably wouldn’t be any closer to understanding the root cause of a lot of issues that led to RSL’s 3-1 loss to FC Dallas.

People smarter than I am have been befuddled. Coaches. Players. Analysts across MLS. Public relations professionals whose job it is to understand the league, parity, trades and salary caps, among other things.

Real Salt Lake’s recent run of form is puzzling. After once looking like The Best Road Team in MLS™ and almost as good at home — at least, among the top 3-4 teams in the Western Conference — RSL has now lost four of their last five matches in MLS play, six of seven across all competitions, and is trudging backward in the playoff race as teams begin clinching spots in the postseason.

Salt Lake’s sixth home loss is the most in a single season since 2007, according to one of these people who are much smarter than me about things like tactics, playmaking and gamesmanship.

Plenty of other people are also smarter than I am. And those people are equally perplexed with how a team like RSL can backslide in the way it did, turning a 1-0 halftime lead off the foot of Chicho Arango (courtesy of an equally sublime setup by Braian Ojeda) into a 3-1 loss by goals from Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira.

So what happened, both on the season and in that second half?

Fortunately, friend of the newsletter/podcast David James asked that of RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni.

“That’s a good question,” Mastroeni said moments after sitting down for 11 minutes with a handful of local media after the match. “Again, I think that we were in control of the game, and then after the first goal — and again, we had an opportunity to make plays on 2-3 different moments. But after that first goal, it was almost like we switched off and started thinking so much about that moment that we’re not dialed in for the next few moments.

“The recent run of form hasn’t been good enough, and that is a confidence thing. You see some plays where you’re scratching your head, and a lot of that comes from a lack of confidence. What we need in this moment is guys that really step up, that really show their character, that put the team on their back. But we haven’t had that. I’m 100% responsible for all of it. What I just told the guys is, the only way to win games is for each of you to be responsible when we’re playing … In these moments when the game throws curveballs at you, how do you stand up in the face of adversity and say, ‘now it’s my time’? That’s the only way to affect results on the field.”

As FC Cincinnati, Orlando City, Columbus Crew and Philadelphia Union are clinching playoff bids out of the East — and St. Louis CITY (insert screaming noises here, Andrew Wiebe) became the first team to do so out of the West with its 50th point of the season — RSL is backsliding. A club that once ranked among the top-three in the West now finds itself in sixth place, one point behind Vancouver and three points off the line that grants a home match in the postseason.

It was once a line that seemed achievable for RSL (11-11-7, 40 points). Now it seems like only a glimmer of faint could keep the team close to that line, as injuries to stars like Pablo Ruiz and contractual issues from others like Danny Musovski complicate the Road to MLS Cup (Playoffs).

There’s no reason to think that RSL can’t stay above the playoff like, as it sits three points free of it with five matches left and four of them against teams below Salt Lake in the standings.

• Post-Match Reaction | HC Pablo Mastroeni and GK Zac MacMath

But there’s no denying that a team that was once primed for a big step forward — including a legitimate shot at a U.S. Open Cup title — has been reeling since the Leagues Cup break. Offensive issues are evident for a team that has scored more than one goal in a match just once since Leagues Cup in early August. So, too, are the defensive issues of a team dealing with the absence of Brayan Vera for yellow-card accumulation.

“We need to tighten it up, working together, making the lines a little bit smaller,” said goalkeeper Zac MacMath, the brave face who volunteered to answer questions after Wednesday night’s match. “Obviously there should be better communication from me and the rest of the back throughout the whole game — not just when we’re under, not just when we’re losing. That has to be something that we need to improve going into the last five games, otherwise we’re going to continue leaking goals.”

RSL’s next match comes Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MT against Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Then comes the final month against LAFC, Sporting Kansas City, LA Galaxy and Colorado Rapids, with just one of those final four matches at home.

“We’re obviously going through a real tough time,” Mastroeni said. “We’ve got five games left, and we’ve got to win three of the five, probably. And I know we can do it; there’s no doubt in my mind we can do it.

“Today, the game felt so under control … But it was 3-4 moments that we just tuned out, and it cost us the game.”