Real Salt Lake Travels Saturday to Face Sporting Kansas City

Sports stats

MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Travels Saturday to Face Sporting Kansas City

June 27, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - Real Salt Lake (5-10-3, 18 points, 12th West / 23rd Shield) finishes off a very light month of June with Saturday's 6:30p MT kickoff at rival Sporting Kansas City (4-10-4, 16 points, 13th West / 26th Shield). RSL hits the road at Children's Mercy Park - site of its MLS Cup 2013 heartbreak, and the former home of both winger Johnny Russell and striker William Agada - seeking back-to-back wins for the first time since last October. Saturday's contest is available via Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass, with Nate Bukaty and Devon Kerr (ENG) on the call, as are Raul Guzman and Ashley Gonzalez (SPN).

Following Saturday's midwest jaunt, America First Field will see RSL host seven of its next eight matches at home from July 5 through August 6, including a trio of 2025 Leagues Cup matches. While RSL will still be missing 2025 MLS All-Star Diego Luna due to his Gold Cup participation with the U.S. Men's National Team and Paraguayan pivot Braian Ojeda (green card acquisition) on Saturday's Kansas trip, the Club welcomes the return of Polish winger Dominik Marczuk (UEFA U-21 duty). RSL hosts St. Louis CITY SC at America First Field on Sat., July 5 - kicking off a run of five out of six July matches on Utah soil, including the Leagues Cup opener against Mexican power Club America. Tickets for all RSL contests are available at www.RSL.com/tickets.

The 2-0 June 14 home victory over D.C. United snapped a winless run of seven consecutive matches, dating back to April 26 at San Diego. The game-winner from Johnny Russell arrived in his home RSL debut and during his first-ever start, with the insurance goal coming from homegrown Academy product and Utah-born sensation Zavier Gozo. Brazilian GK and RSL "Iron Man" Rafael Cabral - the lone RSL player to have appeared in every minute of the Club's 20 games played across all competitions this season - logged his sixth clean sheet of the season.

RSL has now recorded a 39W-8L-14T record when scoring first during the Mastroeni era, with all five RSL victories this season coming when scoring first (Seattle, Houston, LA Galaxy, at San Diego and D.C.). Four of the eight losses under Mastroeni since August, 2021, have come this season (at home against Herediano / San Diego, away at Nashville, home against Vancouver) when taking the 1-0 lead, along with the May 10 draw at Dallas and the May 28 deadlock at Austin.

Dropping back-to-back results is also rare during the former two-time USMNT World Cup performer's reign. Since Mastroeni seized the head coaching reins in August, 2021, RSL has dropped consecutive games just 14 times in 159 matches during the Mastroeni era, winning 28 and drawing 15 in "bounceback" contests. An RSL victory at Kansas City - where it has won last year for the sixth time, along with four draws in 14 games played across reg. season, playoff and Open Cup matches since dropping a dramatic 20-round shootout in sub-freezing temperatures at MLS Cup 2013 - would give RSL back-to-back victories for the first time since last October.

The first half of the 2025 RSL season has seen several RSL players achieve various milestones, as 18-year-old Academy product Zavier Gozo - who graduated with several Academy teammates in late May in Herriman - earned his first-ever run of MLS starts, the Eagle Mountain, Utah-native going the full 90 minutes on the attack in seven of the last nine games. With a goal Saturday in Kansas City, Gozo could become just the seventh player 18 years old or younger since 2016 to score three MLS goals in a five-game span, joining Jesus Ferreira (2019), Gianluca Busio (2019), Ricardo Pepi (2021), Caden Clark (2021), Jhon Duran (2022) and David Martinez (2024).

Another RSL Academy product, then 17-year-old M/F Aiden Hezarkhani, made his MLS debut before hometown friends and family on May 31 at LA Galaxy. Hezarkhani - the 224th player to log at least one MLS minute for RSL in its 21-year history - will celebrate his 18th birthday on gameday in Kansas City tomorrow.

RSL FW William Agada - who scored his first goal for the Club at Austin on May 28 - saw his former Kansas City captain, winger Johnny Russell, follow suit by finding the back of the net for RSL after the free-agent acquisition arrived in Utah in late April.

Second-year D/M Noel Caliskan started and played impressively for the full 90 minutes at right back in each of the last seven contests, making his 2025 first-team debuts. The German-born Caliskan was drafted out of Loyola Marymount University in 2023 by the Timbers, for whom he played MLS, Open Cup and MLS NEXT Pro action during his rookie season before signing with Real Monarchs a year ago.

Holding midfielder Nelson Palacio started and played the full 90 last time out against D.C. United, the U22 Colombian making back-to-back starts for the first time in his two seasons with Real Salt Lake.

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 101 wins, 113 losses and 76 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 coaching record is now 62-57-40 (W-L-T).

Away from home, RSL's 2-6-3 / 9-point road record this season across all competitions has underperformed fifth-year Head Coach Pablo 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.

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.

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 29-team MLS shield race, while also establishing a new all-time scoring high of 65 goals.

Check out the Real Salt Lake Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from June 27, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Real Salt Lake Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central