MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Travels to Vancouver Saturday as MLS Campaign Resumes

Published on March 22, 2024 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


HERRIMAN, Utah - Real Salt Lake (1-2-1, 4 pts., 8th West MLS) resumes its 2024 MLS regular season - the Club's 20th and Major League Soccer 29th - this Saturday evening at B.C. Place in Vancouver with a 5:30p MT kickoff against the Whitecaps. Earlier in the day, RSL's MLS NEXT Pro side Real Monarchs (0-0-1, 2 pts.) plays against Whitecaps 2 at 12 noon MT, with both games available on the Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass service.

Prior to last week's bye, RSL fell at home, 1-2, against Rocky Mountain Cup rivals Colorado, with the Rapids reversing an early 1-0 deficit at America First Field in Sandy. Despite the first professional goal from second-year MF Emeka Eneli and a strong performance from 18-year-old GK Gavin Beavers, RSL was unable to finish its chances and fell at home to Colorado for the first time since 2020, and for the first time on Utah soil with fans in the building since 2007. Newcomer DF Alex Katranis made his RSL debut that day, while MF Noel Caliskan made his first-ever RSL start.

Monarchs-contracted FW Daron Iskanderian is once again available for RSL via Major League Soccer's "Short-Term Callup" mechanism, his second of the young 2024 campaign.

Read more about all the storylines going into Saturday's matchup, here.

Saturday's kickoff starts at 5:30p MT on Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass w/ Blake Price and Paul Dolan (ENG) and Adrian Garcia Marquez and Francisco Pinto (SPN). For local coverage, tune in at 4:30p MT for KSL Radio pre-game w/ David James & Jay Nolly via www.KSLSports.com / 1280 AM / 97.5 FM and www.KSLNewsRadio.com / 1160 AM).

Real Salt Lake @ Vancouver Whitecaps FC - MLS Matchday 5

B.C. Place - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Saturday, March 23, 2024 - 5:30p MT

2023 Records:

Real Salt Lake (14-12-8, 50 pts, 5th West);

Vancouver Whitecaps (12-10-12, 48 pts., 6th West)

THREE RSL PLAYERS OUT DUE TO INTERNATIONAL DUTY

Three RSL players will miss this weekend's trip to Canada - two due to U.S. Youth National Team duty, as playmaker Diego Luna and goalkeeper Gavin Beavers represent the Stars-and-Stripes - while Colombian winger Andrés Gómez was a late addition to Los Cafeteros camp in London, England. Luna is once again at the fulcrum of the U.S. Olympic Team setup ahead of this Summer's Paris Olympics, joining the U.S. U-23 camp that will see games against Spain and France.

Beavers is part of the U.S. U-20 camp in Morocco this week, his age group slated to play games against England (Sun., March 24 and Morocco (Tues., March 26). Both players are expected to return to RSL in time for the Club's next MLS contest, Saturday, March 30 at America First Field in Sandy against St. Louis CITY SC.

RSL was not originally expected to be at or even near full-strength for this week's trip to Vancouver during the FIFA window, as several countries - Chile (Pablo Ruiz), Colombia (DF Brayan Vera, FW Andrés Gómez), Costa Rica (Bryan Oviedo), Ecuador (Anderson Julio), Paraguay (Braian Ojeda) and the United States (Fidel Barajas) had RSL names on their preliminary rosters. For various reasons, only Luna and Beavers ended up making the final "Club and Country" callups.

RUIZ OUT FOR YEAR FOLLOWING CONTRACT EXTENSION

The elation from the March 2 home-opening 3-0 win over LAFC came to a screeching halt 72 hours later in that Tuesday's training session, as MF Pablo Ruiz suffered a contact injury to his left knee, with an MRI later that day revealing an isolated ACL tear. Ruiz underwent surgery on March 11, with the procedure performed by RSL Team Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Dain Allred of Intermountain Hospital in Provo. A timeline for his recovery will be determined in the near future.

A 25-year-old Argentine who has often been on Chile's preliminary rosters in the last several FIFA windows started each of RSL's first two games this season - a road loss at Miami and the away draw in St. Louis - before coming off the bench for the final 20 minutes of that 3-0 win over visiting LAFC. In the days before the injury, Ruiz had just signed a new long-term contract with RSL that will keep him on the Wasatch Front through the 2026 season, with Club options for 2027/28.

LUNA ADDED TO U22 DESIGNATION

RSL starlet Diego Luna - who would probably have as many as 3 assists this year once MLS re-institutes secondary assists - joined Ruiz in signing a long-term contract extension with the Club late last week, keeping the affectionately known "Moon Boy" with the Utah side through the 2026 season, with Club options for 2027/28.

Luna - who received his first-ever USMNT cap in January's friendly with Slovenia in San Antonio and is on the preliminary USMNT rosters for both the Nations League and Olympic camps later this month - is now considered a U22 roster designation for RSL, joining Braian Ojeda and Nelson Palacio, as winger Andrés Gómez is moved into the "Young DP" slot, alongside Chicho Arango and newcomer Matt Crooks (TAM-able in MLS' secondary window this summer).

RSL playmaker Diego Luna emerged last season as a late-season talisman for the Claret-and-Cobalt, scoring critical goals in each of the final five matches - two MLS reg. season contests, providing the equalizers in both leg one and leg three of the Playoffs at Houston, and scoring the game-clinching PK in the leg two elimination match at home ... Luna recently earned his first U.S. Men's National Team appearance in the January friendly in San Antonio against

Slovenia, starting and playing 77 minutes in the very same free role drifting off left wing that he has made his own at RSL.

2024 should be a big year for Luna, whose role within the team is certain to expand after he has now started 24 of 28 games following his return from USYNT qualifying last summer ... This year, Luna will have to juggle his Club obligations with potential U.S. Men's National Team duty in March's Nations League, June's Copa America and his almost certain Olympic Team duty in July ... The Paris Olympics schedule dovetails nicely with the Leagues Cup slate, minimizing Luna's potential absences from MLS reg. season contests.

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