When it snows, it pours: Second-half rout leads St. Louis City by Real Salt Lake
When it snows, it pours: Second-half rout leads St. Louis City by Real Salt Lake
João Klauss' brace was just the tip of the iceberg in the expansion side's fifth-straight win. Were there any positive takeaways from RSL's historic 4-0 loss?
SANDY, Utah — History was made Saturday night at America First Field.
Just not the kind of history any Real Salt Lake fan would celebrate.
João Klauss scored a brace, and Nicholas Gioacchini and Rasmus Alm each added a goal as expansion side St. Louis City SC improved to 5-0 with a 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake at America First Field, handing the Salt Lake side consecutive losses at home for the first time in the club’s 19-year history.
St. Louis stretched its MLS-record season-opening win streak by an expansion club to five games, while RSL (1-3, 3 points) falls for a third consecutive match for the first time since late 2020.
Absent a number of internationals like Rubio Rubin and Diego Luna, and with an injured center back Marcelo Silva on the mend, Salt Lake put up an admirable fight for 45 minutes but thoroughly unraveled through a disastrous second half after STL pounced.
Gioacchini opened the scoring with an unmarked goal off a set piece in the 47th minute before Klauss did his magic.
The 26-year-old Brazilian doubled City’s advantage with a right-footed shot in the 61st minute, then capped his brace with an unbelievable giveaway five minutes later, plucking a pass from Pablo Ruiz (who had a strong game in his 2023 debut before that moment) in the midfield and racing nearly untouched to bury a third goal and put St. Louis comfortably ahead in the 66th minute.
Alm made it 4-0 — off an assist from Klauss, no less — in the 76th minute to finish off the scoring.
“You can only defend for so long without capitalizing on your moments,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni said. “Moments change the game, and they got a fortuitous goal on the corner. And I think the most disappointing part was how the mood and the mindset left us. Then we conceded 2-3 more, and that’s what we talked about.
“Strong teams look at that first goal as an obstacle … We’ve been putting a lot on ourselves as a collective defense by not capitalizing on our opportunities. When you don’t score goals, you don’t win games.”
An announced crowd of just over 15,000 fans that braved the frigid temperatures on the Wasatch Front went home disappointed, with several hundred even making their way to the exits midway through the second half.
To those who remained, Mastroeni offered a salute.
“I want to thank the fans for sticking around,” he said. “It’s not easy to stick around when your team is getting beat 4-0. But even at the end, we wanted a goal.
“If you can’t find the back of the net, no one is going to be happy.”
Goals change games
RSL came out flying in the first half, and looked like the aggressor for spurts, even out-shooting the visitors 4-2 early. Maybe things would have been different if newcomer Brayan Vera’s attempt just before the break had found the back of the net.
But it didn’t, and two minutes into the second half, Gioacchini scored off a set piece.
The rest is history.
“We had two weeks to prepare for this game … and the guys executed. The only thing missing was the goal,” Mastroeni said.
“Goals change games, they change momentum, they change psychology. And I thought we did enough in the first half to get one. The guys were ready, and then the second half started and we conceded a set-piece goal. It deflated the group.”
Santa Klauss has gifts
With Thiago Almada called up by Argentina during the international break, the league’s No. 2 leading scorer (OK, tied for second) took advantage to assume the top goal-scoring spot in MLS.
(If it’s any consolation, Klauss was held just off the top spot in the league after Jordan Morris scored four goals in Seattle’s 4-1 win over Sporting Kansas City. The Sounders’ front man now leads MLS with seven goals on the season.)
After being held scoreless through 45 minutes, St. Louis’ attack came alive after the break, first through Gioacchini and then through strike partner Klauss, whose brace came off a giveaway in the midway gifted to STL for a third-straight game.
St. Louis are just the third team in MLS history to earn 15 points from its first five games — and obviously, the first expansion side. The others were the LA Galaxy in 1996 and Sporting Kansas City in 2012.
“They’re a very hard working team, and I don’t know if they have any ‘stars’ like we sometimes think of them,” said RSL rookie Emeka Eneli (more on him in a moment). “They just work really hard as a team, and that’s the toughest team to play against.
“I thought we matched that in the first half. But then the goal came in the second half, and you saw what happened. But their resilience for the full 90 was very impressive.”
Speaking of the Rook …
One bright spot
We won’t let you go without pointing out a bright spot, and aside from most of RSL’s first half, the biggest bright spot was the play of newcomers Emeka Eneli and recently arrived leftback/centerback Brayan Vera, who both got the start against St. Louis.
Eneli was formally signed Friday and came into the game just in time at a position he’s been playing through the preseason. But even the 24-year-old Cornell graduate admitted he played mostly in the midfield and at striker, so moving to right back took some time.
Yet he looked pretty naturally, charging forward early and often, and even calling for a handball on a blocked shot that caromed off a defender’s (well-placed) elbow just 12 minutes in.
Results are what matter most, and Eneli himself will tell you that. But the 5-foot-9 USA-Nigerian dual-citizen showed plenty of promise in his debut.
“It felt fantastic,” Eneli said of his debut. “There was a little bit of nerves before the game, but once the game kicked off, you just get into the game. It felt normal, like a practice session, and I was happy to be out there with my teammates.”
We’ll have more with Eneli later in the week. Until then, subscribe to the newsletter and get notified of every new campaign, breakdown and podcast we send out.