- Real Salt Lake prepares for the MLS season's second half amid World Cup.
- Coach Pablo Mastroeni praises players' fitness and attitude after a three-week break.
- World Cup excitement boosts soccer interest; Real Salt Lake focuses on upcoming matches.
HERRIMAN — While World Cup fever continued to spread across the United States for the country's first host nation since 1994, Real Salt Lake was back at work getting ready for the second half of the MLS season.
The club that sits third in the Western Conference returned to the training grounds Wednesday and put each player — those in the market, at least, so some like JuanMa Sanabria representing Uruguay were obviously exempt — through the usual preseason fitness test.
Each passed, by the way, per head coach Pablo Mastroeni.
It's all part of the club's "second preseason," bringing back together a team with the club's best shot at a trophy in years after close to three weeks away.
"I'm so pleased with how the guys came back," Mastroeni said. "The attitude is right; the fitness is right; and I'm really excited to embark on a good week of work before we play Nashville (in a friendly)."
All of that, obviously, comes with the backdrop of the FIFA World Cup, the landmark quadrennial tournament on home soil that is expected to catapult interest in the sport for years to come.
Even non-United States games have been entertaining, well-attended, highly-viewed and engaging.
back on that grind 😤 pic.twitter.com/1pUnATC1RO
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) June 17, 2026
Take it from RSL rising star Zavier Gozo, the MLS All-Star who just missed the U.S. squad at 19 years old. The teenage Utah native has been riveted by the world-class players in his home country, watching with his parents, girlfriend and siblings in between a planned trip to Disneyland during the international break.
The biggest game? The 1-0 win by his father's native Cote d'Ivoire over Ecuador, of course.
"It was lit. My dad was going crazy," he said with a chuckle.
Engagement in world soccer spikes every four years during the men's World Cup — and often an additional mini-surge a year later during the women's World Cup in the States. But this year's tournament feels different, including the United States' 4-1 win over Paraguay that averaged more than 18 million viewers on FOX.
"It definitely feels different; I got to go to a game in '94, and it was a huge spectacle," Mastroeni said. "For me, as a young kid, with the crowds, the U.S. team we had at the time were all my heroes growing up.
"This time, every game I watch, I'm in awe at the ability, the fans, the coverage, the way it's being televised. I've been a part of a couple, and I think this one is the best I've seen. It just feels like a different game. … Even watching Uzbekistan and Colombia; these teams coming into the 48-tournament that you don't know a whole lot about, they're surprising for the good. They're causing a lot of problems for teams expected to do well. I love what this World Cup is … and the engagement of the layman sports fan can hopefully help develop more serious soccer fans because of this World Cup."
Perhaps that's a topic for another day, or one for marketing departments in MLS, the United Soccer Leagues, and other soccer organizations in America trying to capitalize off the current momentum.
For Mastroeni and his group, first thing's first: keeping the main thing the main thing as second preseason continues.
"People haven't lost that much fitness," DeAndre Yedlin said. "Everyone is quite fit, and as Pablo said at the end, because everyone is fit we can work tactically and get on the ball — which is what everyone wants to do.
"There's never a time where you can't get better," he added. "I think when you have this period of 3, 4, 5 weeks to test things out — some teams have new coaches or new players, and I'm sure we'll change as well — but it's time to fine tune those things and get ready for the second half."
