Yet another penalty shootout has Real Salt Lake ejected from playoffs for 3rd straight year

Salt Lake lost a second consecutive shootout Saturday night to Minnesota United, eliminating RSL in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs for the third straight year.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The sky-is-the-limit potential of Real Salt Lake’s 2024 campaign ended in the same place as its previous two starts.

And in perhaps the most painful way possible.

After Emeka Eneli scored a late equalizer to help visiting RSL force a penalty shootout once again with Minnesota United, the Loons again tilted the match on its head with a 3-1 victory to propel themselves into the second round of the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Say what you will about Chicho Arango, the Designated Player who tied Alvaro Saborio’s club record for goals in a season and converted the only penalty for Salt Lake in Saturday’s shootout, or any of the other high-priced additions to the club that started as hot as any other in its 20-year history.

The result is frustratingly, mind-bogglingly, disappointingly the same.

For the 14th time in 17 season, Real Salt Lake — which set a club record for most points after a 16-7-11 record — advanced to the playoffs. And for the third straight year, the club lost in the first round.

There’s a saying about trying the same things over and over but expecting different results. And while Pablo Mastroeni’s club doesn’t fit the definition of insanity, Major League Soccer’s new best-of-three first-round playoff format that goes straight to penalty kicks could drive a number of North American soccer fans crazy.

Which made the simple question difficult for Mastroeni when he met with the media after Salt Lake’s fourth meeting with Minnesota in 2024, a series that produced four draws and four total goals.

“I just have a more macro look at it, at the guys and what the group was able to achieve this year,” Mastroeni said. “It coming down to two penalty kicks just feels wrong. Maybe there’s another way to do these where you just don’t play 34 games and lose in PKs. I don’t know.

“With the way we set up and the way the guys fought back to get in the game, even in tough moments, we stayed true to who we were as a team. That brings a lot of solace to the moment. It’s obviously difficult to go out in this form. But that’s football, I guess.”

They also got one heck of a goalkeeping performance.

But one game after posting seven saves, MacMath made four more that kept his side in the game, and yet — frustratingly, upsettingly, maddeningly — the final tally came in a penalty shootout, when the magnifying glass is often on the goalkeeper (even if that’s probably too unfair and definitely too simplistic of judgement to cast).

“You can keep taking (penalty kicks) in training, but that doesn’t replicate the pressure of stepping up in a game and taking them in front of 20,000 people,” Eneli said. “It’s not the same. You can practice as many times as you can, but as soon as you hear the crowd noise, it’s different.

“Could we improve on it? It’s the flip of a coin. Go into a different shootout, and it could be totally different.”

Real Salt Lake was already up against it, thanks to that penalty-shootout loss in Sandy in Game 1 of the MLS Cup first-round series.

But it could have been even worse were it not for MacMath, who made two saves in the first 30 minutes to keep the match level.

The Loons out-shot Salt Lake 8-4 in the first half, including the only three shots on goal. But MacMath — and a few fortuitous bounces in favor of the visitors — kept the must-win match at zeroes.

Brayan Vera seemed to give RSL a 1-0 lead with a scorcher from just outside the 18 in the 47th minute. But the goal was disallowed when Matt Crooks was rule offside by video review in the ensuing moments.

Five minutes later, Minnesota took advantage.

Joseph Rosales, who has dished out seven assists on the year, sprung forward on a counter attack, took a pass from Kelvin Yeboah, and took advantage of an overload to give Minnesota the 1-0 advantage in the 53rd minute.

After a formational tweak that saw Eneli split time at right back and central midfield in front of a back-three with the additions of Diogo Goncalves and Nelson Palacio, Chicho Arango entered as a second-half substitute for Anderson Julio in the 72nd minute.

Eneli pushed forward in the 76th minute, finding space on the end of Matt Crooks’ pass near the edge of the area before the former second-round draft pick out of Cornell slotted home the equalizer between Dayne St. Clair’s legs to stun the 19,912 fans at Allianz Field.

“They’re a fantastic defensive team. I think they’ve only given up one goal in the last five or six,” Eneli said. “So right after they scored, it was a little flattening because they don’t give up many goals or many chances.

“I think getting that goal gave us confidence that we could go get another one.”

But all that did was force a penalty-kick shootout, much like the Loons’ scoreless draw Tuesday night at America First Field.

Arango stepped up first, converting one past St. Clair and Kelvin Yeboah did the same for Minnesota.

That was the end of the penalty similarities. St. Clair saved a pair from Diogo Gonçalves and Diego Luna, Matt Crooks’ attempt went awry, and Hassani Dotson added another for MNU FC before Sang-Bin Jeong slid the final kick inside the post to send the Loons to the Western Conference semifinals against the LA Galaxy.

And the longest walk in soccer — the one to the penalty spot during a shootout — got even longer as RSL turned around for the long walk into the offseason.

“That’s hard. I’ve been in those moments,” Mastroeni said. “For me, it was all about visualization and training was to prepare, even if you don’t have the crowd or anything, but to get into a good breathing routine and mimic as much of being comfortable as you can. That’s the kicker.

“It’s crazy. It’s just strange to me that you can play 34 games, and have it all come down to PKs. Those moments, it just feels like … I don’t know.”