Real Salt Lake Continues Major League Soccer Regular Season on Road Saturday at Charlotte FC
MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Continues Major League Soccer Regular Season on Road Saturday at Charlotte FC

Published on August 15, 2025 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - Surging Real Salt Lake (9-12-4, 31 points, 10th West / 20th Shield) continues its very busy late-summer slate with Saturday's 5:30p MT Major League Soccer regular-season match in North Carolina, the Claret-and-Cobalt's first-ever trip to Bank of America Stadium against Charlotte FC (13-11-2, 41 points, 7th East / 10th Shield).

Saturday's contest is available via Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, with Tony Husband and Ross Smith (ENG) on the call, as are Pablo Ramirez and Jesus Bracamontes (SPN). Iconic RSL voice David James and former MLS goalkeeper Jay Nolly will call the game for KSL Sports Radio (1160 AM / 97.5 FM), with Nelson Moran in his 21st season as RSL's Spanish radio home on both 102.3 KDUT FM / 106.3 FM KBMG.

This weekend's East Coast road trip is the second of two back-to-back, as RSL looks to rebound from Sunday's chaotic and controversial 2-1 loss at New York Red Bulls. Following this weekend's travel to Charlotte, RSL returns home on Sat., Aug. 23 to host Minnesota United FC in a rematch of last year's MLS Cup Playoff First-Round series. Following these two trips East, RSL's late-season slate sees five of seven played at home prior to an Oct. 19 "Decision Day" season finale at St. Louis. Tickets are available at www.RSL.com/tickets.

Since mid-June, RSL is unbeaten in nine of 11 matches across all competitions, recently completing its third foray into the Leagues Cup tournament winners of six of 11 matches in June, July and August, capturing 22 of a possible 33 points and averaging 2.00 points-per-game to vault itself from 13th to within one point of the West playoff line and just three points out of seventh place with nine MLS reg. season games remaining.

Sunday saw RSL score first for the 18th time in 30 games this season, as 18-year-old Eagle Mountain, UT-native Zavier Gozo found the back of the net on assists from William Agada and Diego Luna. The goal was the third of the year for the West Valley City-born Gozo, who has started 18 of RSL's last 19 matches across both MLS reg. season action and Leagues Cup. This season, RSL is now 9W-5L-4T when drawing first blood against its opposition.

RSL has now recorded a 43W-9L-17T record when scoring first during the 171-game Pablo Mastroeni era, with all but one of 10 RSL victories this season coming when taking the 1-0 lead (July 26 against San Jose is the lone come-from-behind win). Five of the nine losses under Mastroeni when taking the 1-0 lead since August, 2021, have come this season (at home against Herediano / San Diego / Vancouver, away at Nashville / Red Bulls), with both 2-2 regulation draws in Leagues Cup, the May 10 draw at Dallas, the May 28 deadlock at Austin and the late June 1-1 knot at KC seeing RSL drop points from a winning position.

Away from home, RSL's 3-7-4 / 13-point road record this season across all competitions has underperformed fifth-year head coach Mastroeni's track record, with each of the last two seasons marking the Claret-and-Cobalt's best road campaigns in team history. The 2023 side posted an 11W-8L-5T away mark across all competitions, a record which includes both that year's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinal loss to Houston, and its road loss and elimination draw in the first and third games of the teams' 2023 Audi MLS Cup Playoff series on the Shell Energy Stadium turf.

In MLS action, RSL's 5-1-1 record during June and July featured four wins in its last five home games, the most recent seeing an 81st-minute Braian Ojeda blast from distance on July 26 serving as the game-winner against San Jose. The win - RSL's ninth of the season - marked its first comeback victory of 2025, with RSL scoring first in each of its previous eight victories of 2025. One week after a stunning home heartbreak against then-Supporters Shield leaders FC Cincinnati, the Ojeda winner ensured that RSL added another "bounce-back" result to its Mastroeni record. Since the former USMNT star and MLS veteran seized the Claret-and-Cobalt head coaching reins in August, 2021, RSL has dropped consecutive games just 14 times in 171 matches during the Mastroeni era, winning 29 and drawing 15 in games following a loss. That mark will be put to the test again Saturday at Charlotte.

"Iron Man" GK Rafael Cabral made his third penalty-kick save in regulation this season on Sunday in New Jersey, but he and the RSL rearguard were denied their ninth clean sheet across three competitions of the 2025 RSL campaign by an early second-half goal and a controversial stoppage-time penalty kick conversion by the Red Bulls. Brazilian GK Cabral - the lone RSL player to have appeared in every one of 2,700 minutes of the Club's 30 games played across all competitions this season - logged his eighth clean sheet of the season a week ago Wednesday against Queretaro, with his seventh in MLS reg. season action coming July 16 at Portland.

New Designated Player Rwan Cruz made his MLS debut Sunday, becoming the 225th player to appear all-time for RSL and the Club's 11th debutant in 2025, while newly-signed striker Victor Olatunji awaits work visa authorization.

On August 2 in Leagues Cup, RSL opened early against Atlético San Luis with Ojeda slamming home the Pablo Ruiz corner kick, but conceded the first-half equalizer for a 1-1 halftime score. The second 45' saw visiting Atlético San Luis take the lead, before an 88th-minute offering from Ojeda completed his brace to force the penalty-kick shootout, won by the Liga MX visitors.

July 30 against Club América saw goals from 2024/25 Major League Soccer All-Star Diego Luna and forward William Agada give RSL a 2-1 halftime lead over tourney favorite Las Aguilas, but a flurry of missed second-half chances for the Utah side allowed a last-gasp 97+ equalizer to Club América before 19,544 fans at America First Field, setting the stage for a penalty-kick tiebreaker. RSL Captain and goalkeeper Rafael Cabral earned Man of the Match honors with a heroic eight-save performance, including stops on three of four PK attempts faced, while Claret-and-Cobalt men Pablo Ruiz, Justen Glad and Brayan Vera converted their attempts to secure two points in the Leagues Cup table.

On Utah soil against Mexican visitors, RSL now owns an all-time 6W-6L-5T mark, including three wins (León, Atlas and Queretaro since 2023), a loss to Monterrey in 2023 and a pair of dramatic 2-2 draws in the 2025 Leagues Cup, splitting the results in PK shootout tiebreakers against continental power Club América and Atlético San Luis.

Prior to conceding an 87th-minute game-winner on July 19 against Cincinnati - one which snapped RSL's season-best five-game unbeaten run - RSL GK Rafael Cabral and the team defense had not conceded in 275 minutes over the course of four matches, the 11th-longest shutout streak in the Club's nearly 700 MLS reg. season matches all-time.

A year ago, Mastroeni's men registered the second-most road points in RSL history, with a 5W-4L-8T MLS reg. season mark, one which does NOT includes its heartbreaking, multi-goal Leagues Cup elimination loss to the Dynamo following a home win over Atlas FC. RSL will next travel twice in mid-August for East Coast road trips - Sun., Aug. 10 at New York Red Bulls and Sat., Aug. 16 at Charlotte FC - prior to returning home Saturday, August 23, against Minnesota United FC. Again, tickets for all America First Field events are available at www.RSL.com/tickets.

RSL now puts its 7-6-3 (W-L-T) home mark on the Wasatch Front thus far this year in MLS, Champions Cup and Leagues Cup matches on the line against Minnesota on August 23, looking ahead to five more MLS reg. season games to be played at America First Field through the 2025 "Decision Day" in mid-October. A year ago, RSL amassed a 12-3-4 (W-L-T) record at home, where the Club has traditionally enjoyed a fortress-like record of success, winning nearly 70% of games and averaging just under two points per game in parts of 17 seasons across all competitions in Sandy.

That 3-1 victory at San Diego on April 26 also marked Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni's 100th career coaching win across all competitions for the two Rocky Mountain Cup competitors, RSL (2021-present) and Colorado (2014-17). The former U.S. World Cup stalwart has now amassed 105 wins, 115 losses and 80 draws across all competitions for the Utah/Denver-based sides. Last June in Kansas City, Mastroeni earned his 50th win across all competitions with RSL in a wild 4-3 road decision, with the 2-0 reg. season win over LA Galaxy on April 5 marking his 50th MLS victory with RSL. Since August, 2021, in Utah, Mastroeni's all-time RSL coaching record is now 68-59-44 (W-L-T).

During each of Pablo's previous three full seasons at the RSL helm, the Club has increased its annual point total (47 in 2022, 50 in 2023 and 59 last year), while increasing its Western Conference table position as well (7th in 2022, 5th in 2023 and 3rd last year). The 2025 campaign features RSL's pursuit of a Conference-best fifth consecutive postseason berth, a seventh in the last eight seasons and its 15th in the last 18 years.

Last year saw RSL advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs for a fourth consecutive occasion, the sixth time in seven seasons (2020 the lone exception), and for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons since first qualifying in 2008 (2015, 2017 the other outliers). The 2024 MLS regular season reached an all-time high of 59 points for RSL, which finished third in the Western Conference and sixth overall in the then-29-team MLS Shield race, while also establishing a new all-time scoring high of 65 goals.

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Major League Soccer Stories from August 15, 2025


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