Julio's highlight reel brace earns RSL 3-2 home win over Dallas

SANDY — Teams from Texas have not been kind to Real Salt Lake recently, but Wednesday's match may have exorcised some demons.

FC Dallas entered America First Field on a five-game unbeaten streak against RSL, and left with its first loss to the Claret Cobalt since 2021 in a 3-2 victory for the home team.

Anderson Julio stepped in for the absent Chicho Arango — on a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation — and used his unmatched speed and tenacity to make plays all over the pitch, starting with a penalty drawn in the ninth minute.

Brayan Vera buried the penalty for an early RSL lead and Julio added goals on both extremes of the attacking half over the next 50 minutes to reach nine goals on the season.

The first came on a 57-yard bomb from just inside midfield that sailed over the keeper in the 24th minute and the second was a goal-line finish on the end of a pinpoint ground cross from Dominik Marczuk in the 62nd minute. It was Julio's second brace — a two-goal performance — of the season.

"(Strikers') eyes are always on the goal, and it defies all the tactics that we employ," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the goal from midfield. "And that just goes to show the individual quality in that moment to really get us going. I think it was an important moment for the group, not having scored a lot of goals as of late."

Dallas got a goal back just before halftime on a surprise free kick from Jesus Ferreira that caught the entire stadium sleeping and Julio's second goal became all the more important when Alan Velasco converted a penalty for Dallas in the 88th minute to make it 3-2.

The win moves RSL into sole possession of second place in the Western Conference with five games remaining in the regular season.

The team is back at AFF on Saturday for a major matchup against fellow playoff squad and occasional rival Portland at 7:30 p.m. MDT.

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