RSL starts 2025 with 0-0 draw against Herediano in return to CONCACAF Champions Cup

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Real Salt Lake performed about as well as one might expect a team missing its top three offensive players from last year to do in the opening match of the 2025 campaign.

Andres Gomez is in France, Chicho Arango is in California and Diego Luna is at home still recovering from a broken nose.

Eleven players took the field in the new "Grid City" blue-and-white checkered kits intending to score goals and win, but the first leg of RSL's first-round CONCACAF matchup against Costa Rican side Herediano ended 0-0.

"We tried to score the goal, we put ourselves in good positions to score the goal, but it wasn't meant to be tonight," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "I think the objective going home now just becomes very clear: We've got to do a good job of defending the right way and we've got to get that goal."

The difficult caveat with CONCACAF Champions Cup rules is that if the teams finish tied on aggregate score after both legs, the team with more away goals moves on. RSL was unable to get an away goal and will be eliminated if the second leg ends in a tie other than 0-0.

Two newcomers on both sides of the ball offered perhaps the brightest spots for RSL on the evening at Estadio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica. Goalkeeper Rafael Cabral got a shutout in his first start with RSL and the only two shots on goal from the road team came from forward Forster Ajago, also making his debut.

The first chance for Ajago came on a breakaway in the 35th minute, which the keeper came out and got. The second was a cutback in the box that the keeper also got his fingers to.

Another great chance for RSL came in the 81st minute, on a header from defender debutant Sam Junqua off a corner kick from midfielder Pablo Ruiz, who was making his first appearance in nearly a year after an ACL tear. Junqua headed the ball down and toward the goal, but it deflected off the leg of an Herediano defender and out of bounds.

Junqua did not start the match but was forced to come on after just 18 minutes when starting left-back Alex Katranis took a shot to the back of the head 10 minutes in and could not continue.

"I was really impressed with really all the guys that came in," Mastroeni said. "Kobi Henry getting his debut, I thought he was excellent in the back. Rafa (Cabral) was great. Forster I thought did a lot of great work and created a couple good opportunities for himself."

Henry started in place of the usual Justen Glad alongside Brayan Vera at center-back after Glad picked up a minor injury in training over the weekend, though he subbed on late in the game.

Midfielder Emeka Eneli wore the captain's armband as the de facto leader, replacing the departed Arango.

While Arango and Gomez won't be walking back through the door, RSL expects to have Luna back in some capacity on Saturday for the club's 2025 MLS debut in San Jose against the Earthquakes. Luna totaled nine goals and 10 assists in all competitions last year and figures to give the offense a much-needed shot in the arm.

RSL vs. San Jose kicks off at 8:30 p.m. MST on MLS Season Pass on Saturday and the team returns to America First Field Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. for the second leg against Herediano. The winning team moves on to the CONCACAF round of 16.

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