Why stop at the moon? Diego Luna breaks free with brace in RSL's win over New York
Why stop at the moon? Diego Luna breaks free with brace in RSL's win over New York
Luna had his most complete offensive game of his RSL career, scoring a brace in Salt Lake's 3-1 win over New York that stretched their unbeaten run to 9-straight in MLS play (and 12-straight overall).
Diego Luna’s confidence is, like his nickname given to him by his former coach at El Paso, through the moon.
Saturday night’s performance won’t change that.
Luna notched a brace, and Jefferson Savarino had a goal and an assist as Real Salt Lake stretched its unbeaten run to nine-straight in MLS play (12 across all competitions) with a 3-1 win Saturday night over the New York Red Bulls at America First Field.
At 19 years, 311 days, Luna became the youngest player in RSL history to record a multi-goal game.
To the moon? Why stop there?
Bryan Oviedo and Danny Musovski also had an assist for RSL (10-7-7, 37 points), which handed the Red Bulls back-to-back losses for the first time in 2023 while climbing up to third in the Western Conference.
Since coming back from the U-20 World Cup in Argentina, Luna has three goals and three assists in eight games, including seven starts.
But his first career MLS brace? That ranks “up there” with the best moments of his career, Luna said. Whatever it is, he’s on a tear — and RSL are the beneficiaries.
“I think it has to do a lot with the mental side of the game,” Luna said. “It was a lot of confidence and stuff going through my head that was clouding me up. But coming back, I feel more free and more enjoyable while playing.
“When I’m having fun playing, it shows who I really am. I feel open to the game, and relaxed and ready to play.”
But RSL struck early, less than two minutes into the match, when Arango played a ball to Savarino and the Venezuelan international set up Luna for his second goal of the year.
It was the fastest goal scored by RSL since Bobby Wood’s second-minute strike in a 2-1 win over Nashville in March 2022. And with the secondary assist, Arango became the first player in RSL history with a goal or an assist in his first three games with the club.
The play started at midfield with a smart pass from Pablo Ruiz to find Arango in the center circle. The Argentine found the Colombian, who swing it through the Venezuelan winger until whipping the back across the face of goal for the U.S. U-20 international star to convert inside the far post in a display of grace.
Salt Lake out-shot the Red Bulls 6-4 before the break, but had just one shot on goal — which Luna converted, to be fair — despite a strong 58% of possession.
But Luna doubled the advantage in the 53rd minute, taking a cheeky back touch from Musovski before slotting home his brace from the center of the box to give the hosts a 2-0 advantage.
“I feel good. I’m happy, and I’m glad to be out there on the field and contributing to the team,” Luna said. “I still feel more comfortable playing as the 10, but that’s where you have to adapt and grow as a player. I’ve been asked to play on the left field, and I’m starting to adapt and love the position.
“It’s helping me grow as a player in general. I’m happy to play left wing.”
Frankie Amaya pulled one back for New York in the 80th minute, his fourth goal in the last five games (to go along with two assists) for the Red Bulls. But Savarino responded just a minute later with a goal on virtually his last touch of the match to stretch Real Salt Lake’s unbeaten run to nine-straight in MLS play with his team-high sixth goal of the season.
But with respect to Savarino — and plenty of it is deserved for the team’s leading goal scorer — Luna showed his star power Saturday night as the $6 million striker Arango was double-teamed regularly — opening up the wings to do the damage they did a week before Salt Lake kicks off Leagues Cup against Seattle.
After a little over a year of MLS play, the peak of international competition at his level, and a major change in his personal life as he prepares for the birth of his first child, Luna is finding his game in an unlikely place as he navigates between the No. 10 and the left wing.
To the moon? Again, why stop there?
“Never did we talk about some of the most important things about development is going through tough times. It allows you to evolve in a way that you are a different person. So I think that with the hardship that Diego went through, the U-20s put him in a position to dig a little bit deeper,” Mastroeni said. “The goals today were fantastic. But to me, the evolution to Luna was last game in KC, when he got played over the top and then he makes a tackle inside the 6-yard box.
“We can talk about all the attacking stuff; he’s a very talented attacker. But you commit to that type of work, now you become part of the team. His growth has been fantastic. And the expectations aren’t that he’s going to score every game, but that he’s going to do the work that the team requires to be successful.”