RSL gets 1st win since July as playoff pressure mounts

SANDY — Every game is a must-win game for a Real Salt Lake team on the outside of the playoffs looking in as fall begins.

"When you step in and the weather gets a little bit cooler, it's like you're not even conscious, but you know it's real," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the playoff push with six games remaining. "You know there's something on this game — it was palpable."

Temperatures dipped below 70 degrees at America First Field on Saturday as summer officially ended and rival Sporting Kansas City was in town for RSL's first MLS action since Aug. 23.

The game started off predictably slow and sloppy for the 11th- and 13th-placed teams in the Western Conference at the time of kickoff, but RSL was able to settle in and get the opening goal from a predictable source.

Diego Luna made the crashing run into the box, as Mastroeni has pleaded with his attacking players to do on countless occasions, and Zavier Gozo found the All-Star — sporting a bright new pink hairdo — on a pinpoint cross through several defenders.

Luna did what he does best with the ball at his feet and slid the ball just past the keeper in the 40th minute.

The goal sent RSL into halftime with a 1-0 lead and Gozo helped double the advantage in the 62nd minute on a similar cross, this time to left wingback Alex Katranis, who found the back of the net for a 2-0 lead and his first goal of the season.

"We do the same exact drill, we see that every week in practice," Gozo said. "So I feel like it was just natural."

Brayan Vera conceded an own goal for the home team in the 71st minute to make it 2-1, but RSL was able to hang on for its first win since July 26.

Even with the full 3 points on Saturday, RSL still sits a point behind San Jose in the ninth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Six games remain for the Claret and Cobalt in the regular season, including two games over the next seven days against top-five side in the West, LAFC.

The Black and Gold have lost just one game since debuting South Korea superstar Son Heung-min early last month and lead the all-time series with 13 wins to RSL's four, though the last LAFC victory in the rivalry came over two years ago.

The first match will be on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. MDT at America First Field, with the return trip to Los Angeles coming on Sunday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. MDT. The second match will be broadcast on FS1, in addition to the normal Apple TV Season Pass.

"Eighteen points in six games," Katranis said of the team's mindset. "Try to get the maximum. I'm very happy that we started with the 3 points today, and hopefully we can continue doing that, and at least make it to the playoffs by the end of this season. That's our target, 100%."

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