With two 'friendly' wins, Real Monarchs have their swagger back
With two 'friendly' wins, Real Monarchs have their swagger back
Real Salt Lake's reserve side earned a little bit of pride, or confidence, or swagger — take your pick — with their second result over a Premier League 2 outfit of the week.
Good afternoon, and thank you for spending part of your day with Own Goals, the official newsletter of Utah soccer and the Salt City FC podcast. It’s been a minute since we dived into Real Monarchs, the RSL reserve team, so we stopped by Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday for the second match of the MLS NEXT Pro Invitational against England’s Wolves.
And boy, were we not disappointed. Not nearly as happy as the Monarchs, though.
Sure, it’s just a midseason tournament against non-league competition. But the swagger is back with Real Monarchs after a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers U-21 in the second match of the MLS NEXT Pro Invitational at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Golden Mafwenta scored the first goal of his Monarchs career — and busted out the highlight of the match with his celebration — and Tyrone Mondi added his fourth time in four games in the 89th minute for Real Salt Lake’s reserve side Saturday afternoon.
“We always want to play at the highest level, and these guys play in arguably the best reserve league in the world,” Mondi said. “To go against them was a good indicator of where we are at, where we need to grow; we aren’t perfect. But that’s just an extra motivation for us.
“What MLS NEXT Pro did in partnering with the Premier League to give us this chance, it’s just a matter of looking ourselves in the mirror and emulating that.”
It’s the second result of the tournament for the Monarchs, who played Chelsea to a 2-2 draw before coming away with an extra point via Gavin Beavers’ dual penalty kick taking-and-stopping performance in goal.
With two wins over two teams from arguably the best reserve league in the world, the midseason invitational provided Real Monarchs with a next-level shot of confidence heading into the final two months of the regular season. Nothing counts in the standings — but it’s hard to underestimate the impact of confidence, especially for many players who are still in their teenage years.
“It’s very good for us,” said Beavers, who was recently named to the United States’ U-19 team. “We have an established team now that there are 18 to 20 players on our roster that we’ve been training with. Whenever you have time to train and build confidence in each other the results start to show and that has helped us so much. We are playing well and scoring goals and it’s just a great moment to be in.
Premier League-level swagger
It wasn’t just that Real Monarchs won Saturday morning; it was how the team won, imposing its will on Wolves with a 15-1 shot disparity overall. The Monarchs out-shot Wolves, 8-0 in the first half with three shots on goal, including a wonderful interchange from the corner between Pedro Fonseca and Mafwenta that gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at halftime.
Much like against Chelsea, when Real Monarchs — a team comprised primarily of 21 and under players, with a few overage players like the 25-year-old Fonseca — play a younger team, they’re able to contend. Premier League 2 is an age-specific developmental league of the Premiership, with mostly U-23 sides and a large chunk of U-21 players making up two divisions of play.
MLS NEXT Pro doesn’t have the same formal regulations. While the league is openly a developmental setup for younger players, there are no restrictions on age. That’s likely intentional, as several MLS sides use their “Two” teams for overage players who need minutes, either for developmental or rehab, in a non-MLS setting.
Real Salt Lake has a different intention; club brass want Real Monarchs to act as a bridge between the academy and the first team, giving young players valuable first-time professional minutes in a fully professional setup, without the weight of MLS expectations. They aren’t the only team with such expectations — FC Dallas views North Texas SC in a similar light, for instance.
The chance, then, to show up against European competition — even if that competition is in preseason or little more than an academy side — was one that no Monarchs player wanted to pass up.
“We know we had a tough season in the beginning, because we didn’t have consistency with the team,” Real Monarchs coach Jamison Olave said. “Right now, we’re having consistent guys playing well; we won two games before the friendlies. And now, if you see a Chelsea or a Wolves jersey in front of you, that extra plus comes out.
“You have to be happy just to be happy, to be in training, to come in here to Rio Tinto Stadium. Now they see a Chelsea or Wolves jersey, that extra plus comes out.”
Golden Goal
The other advantage of playing Premier League 2 in competition, even if it’s no more than preseason competition for the clubs across the pond? Confidence.
For a team like Real Monarchs, which is just 2-12-2 in league play, the chance to jump outside the league for a few matches can be exactly the reset a group of young players need.
Take, for example, Golden Mafwenta. The 21-year-old Zambian youth international joined Real Monarchs five games into MLS NEXT Pro’s inaugural season, and quickly adjusted to a starting role. But in a system like the Monarchs’ — or one belonging to RSL, to be fair — the center backs also provide offensive cover, particularly on set pieces (read: Glad, Justen; Silva, Marcelo).
So when Mafwenta scored the first goal of his Monarchs career in Saturday’s win overWolves, it was a cause to celebrate. The celebration he picked? That can be debated.
But still, celebrate it, Big Machine.
Samba time
There wasn’t much downside to say about Mafwenta’s play Saturday — a complete 90-game performance from the starting center back with one goal, two shots, four duels won, and just two fouls conceded in a shutout.
So we’ll question him about one thing: what was that goal celebration?
“I just like dancing,” the 21-year-old Zambian said sheepishly, “and I guess that’s my celebration.”
His coach had a few words to say about it, too; not necessarily good, but not necessarily bad, either. Mafwenta’s goal “celly” just was as several of his teammates looked on — but as long as it comes with a goal, they won’t complain, either.
“Golden doesn’t normally celebrate goals,” Olave joked. “He doesn’t score much. So when he scores, whatever celebration comes to his head first, he just does.”
And the free-flowing nature of it was a joy to watch.
“I guess it’s an African thing; we just like to dance, even when we’re scoring goals,” said Mondi, who hails from Bloemfontein, South Africa. “It’s a brotherhood on this team, and you just want to express yourself.”
Keep scoring — and keep dancing 🕺 💃