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AUSTIN — A once-stout Real Salt Lake defense has conceded 11 goals in its last four matches and settled for back-to-back draws after getting out to a pair of 2-0 leads.
The latest fiasco was Saturday in Austin, where the RSL road dogs took a 2-0 lead early in the second half with goals from Matt Crooks and Diogo Goncalves.
The Crooks goal came in the 48th minute off a rebound from a Chicho Arango shot and Goncalves converted a penalty in the 65th minute after a handball in the box in Austin.
Something happened with 10 minutes remaining, however, as Austin's fading playoff chances possessed the team and crowd at Q2 Stadium for two goals in seven minutes to split the points with RSL.
Guilherme Biro equalizes for @AustinFC! 😱 pic.twitter.com/voned2LqwY
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 29, 2024
"What we're chasing is performances and I thought, again, for 70 minutes, we were a really good team," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "I thought we started getting sloppy with the ball in the latter stage of the game, which ended up stretching our team out a little bit."
The draw gives RSL just two wins in the six matches since MLS play resumed at the end of August as the team heads into the final month of the regular season with more questions than answers, despite being tied for second place in the Western Conference.
"We've been talking about defending, because that's the part that feels the worst," Mastroeni said. "But I think we could have made so many better decisions in that final third to either find a better option at goal or just to keep the ball and make them run a little bit. I think that's game management stuff and that's another area that we'll hit on this week."
Two of the final three matches will be at home, starting Wednesday against another playoff hopeful, Minnesota United, at America First Field.
