Match Preview - Real Salt Lake
Game Info
Kickoff: 7:39pm CT
Watch: Apple TV
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has a 3W-2D-4L record against Real Salt Lake.
RSL showing up on the schedule will always illicit a couple of good memories for the Verde faitfhful that came over the span of just five weeks. The club’s first and only hat trick to date came in a 3-0 victory back in September 2022, a game that also saw Austin clinch their first ever postseason berth. The two teams met in the first round of those playoffs, a game that saw ATX trail by two goals early on before a dramatic comeback to force extra time, eventually advancing on penalties.
Real Salt Lake Recent Form
Beginning MLS play in the 2005 season as the league’s 12th franchise, Real Salt Lake experienced serious tumult out of the gate. They posted a 10-game losing streak in their expansion season and then an 18-game winless streak in the next. But things turned around over the next half decade of play after signings like former USMNT options in goalkeeper Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman.
In 2009 RSL made the MLS Cup playoffs for just the second time and clinched their spot on decision day with just 40 points from their 30 matches. As the last team in, they set off on a month-long upset conquest that culminated in winning the 2009 MLS Cup over LA Galaxy in penalties.
After taking home their first league title, Salt Lake had a five-year span of recording between 53 and 57 points in league play, never finishing lower than fifth in the Supporter’s Shield standings. While the club was one of the most consistent during that stretch, they weren’t able to secure another piece of silverware, finishing as the runners-up in both the Shield standings and CONCACAF Champions League in 2010. They also finished second in the US Open Cup in 2013 along with another trip to the MLS Cup Final, where they were defeated by Sporting KC in penalties.
Since that early bout of success, the club has struggled to find any sort of positive momentum. Over the last decade Real Salt Lake has finished no higher than sixth in the Supporter’s Shield standings and no higher than third in the Western Conference. They’ve been decidedly average, making the MLS Cup playoffs each of the last four seasons and six of the last seven, but only advancing past the first round once since 2019.
Of late, RSL has experienced consistency on the bench and turnover with ownership. The club has been sold twice in the last three years, the most recent of which came last month when Miller Sports + Entertainment bought a controlling stake in the franchise for $600 million. Through both sales the team has stuck with head coach Pablo Mastroeni. A former defensive midfielder with 234 MLS appearances to his name, Mastroeni also earned 65 caps for the USMNT from 2001-2009.
From the outside looking in, Coach Mastroeni has been a relative success in his four year tenure. He’s made the postseason every year while doing so with a roster that never ranks near the top in spending. The high water mark was surely last season, when the team finished third in the Western Conference on 59 points with a +17 goal differential. The bulk of that work was done in the first two-thirds of the regular season behind the all-star level play from DP striker Chicho Arango and U22 Initiative winger Andres Gomez. But things changed in the late summer when the club sold Gomez for $10 million just 18 months after acquiring him for $3.5 million.
The Gomez sale combined with a mysterious suspension for Arango derailed the RSL momentum. Even summer window DP and U22 reinforcements in the form of Diogo Gonçalves and Dominik Marczuk weren’t enough to buoy the squad and the club earned just four points between July 13 and September 14 before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs.
In the offseason they traded Arango to San Jose Earthquakes for $1.4 million in GAM and a 2026 international roster slot. They traded for forward Elias Manoel from New York Red Bulls, only for Manoel to refuse to play for the club before being transferred out of the league. They chose the 2/4/GAM roster build path yet have just one DP (Gonçalves) on the roster due to the DP signing of once-rumored Austin FC forward target Robert Boženik falling through at the deadline in late April. The player had traveled to Salt Lake with the agreement in place before his club, Boavista, tried to renegotiate the deal ultimately leading to it failing.
RSL did spring into action with an emergency plan B in the form of a GAM trade for Sporting KC forward William Agada. The 25-year-old Nigerian was one of the most statistically efficient strikers in the league with SKC, but struggled to find consistent playing time under former head coach Peter Vermes. Agada immediately slotted in as the starter for RSL, but has yet to find his footing in his new digs with more red cards than goal contributions in his five apperances.
While Salt Lake currently sits in 12th place in the West, a position that would be their worst in club history if the season ended today, it’s not all doom and gloom. Their talisman midfielder, 21-year-old homegrown Diego Luna, has 11 goal contributions in 14 appearances, leading the team in both categories along with key passes, progressive passes, progressive carries and progressive passes recieved. Luna is the hub of everything this team does offensively and has had to pick up even more responsibility with Gonçalves injured 10 days ago in training.
Both RSL and Austin FC are winless in league play in the month of May. But unlike the Verde and Black, Wednesday’s opponents have not experienced the recent uptick in vibes that some are feeling in central Texas. They’ve got two points from their five matches this month (they aren’t in the US Open Cup field this season) and have just 11 points from 13 matches since March 8. Their defense has struggled throughout and are overperforming their expected goals against (xGA) by 4.5 even though they’ve conceded 22. Their 26.5 xGA is topped only by the historically terrible LA Galaxy in the Western Conference and is the third highest mark league-wide.
Combine all that with a gut-wrenching loss to first place Vancouver Whitecaps in the 90th minute on Saturday plus the injury to Gonçalves and there is a tired, beat-up and demoralized squad lining up across from Austin FC on Wednesday night.
Austin FC Recent Form
Never would have thought that a midweek match against Real Salt Lake could be so consequential, but here we are.
If Austin FC doesn’t manage to take all three points from Wednesday’s game at Q2 Stadium, it doesn’t bury the team’s playoff chances, far from it. Remember, to some MLS stands for Matters Little ‘til September. But what dropping points at home would do is disintegrate the small wave of momentum that has been building for the Verde and Black over the last few weeks.
ATX has now scored 16 goals in their 17 matches across all competitions in 2025, with nine of those 16 coming in the last 20 days over a six match span (following the club record home loss against Minnesota United on May 3). In that time, Austin FC has advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open Cup, a first for the club. They have also lost just once in that sample, a 2-1 defeat on the road against then Eastern Conference leading FC Cincinnati, while securing draws against the Western Conference’s top two teams in Vancouver at home 0-0 and Minnesota United 1-1 this past Saturday.
Is the team where they need to be to meet preseason expectations? Not close. But are things improving from where they were at the beginning of the month? Unless you’re a disinginuous concern troll suckling at the teat of fake internet points for clout, the answer is yes.
DP striker Brandon Vazquez has found his form, recording six goals across his last eight appearances. So has DP winger Osman Bukari, who has looked revitalized after being moved back to his natural right side four games ago and has a goal and two assists to his name over his last 142 minutes. Even DP attacker Myrto Uzuni, who is still searching for the goal scoring form he had in La Liga 18 months ago that made him the club’s record signing this past offseason, got in the box score on Saturday with a slick assist to fullback Žan Kolmanič.
The defense has re-solidified, allowing just four goals to the last five MLS opponents they’ve faced. The team is also on the precipice of a return to full health. Starting right back Mikkel Desler made his first appearance since March 8 off the bench against the Loons over the weekend. An upgrade to questionable on last Friday’s injury report indicated that midfielder Dani Pereira, who has been out since April 20, is on track for the same against RSL on Wednesday. Head coach Nico Estévez also mentioned last Thursday that deadline acquisition Robert Taylor could potentially be available on Satuday when the team travels to take on expansion side San Diego FC. (Update: At Tuesday’s media availabiltiy, Estévez said both Pereira and Taylor should be ready for Wednesday’s match.)
After that upcoming away match to the Pacific coast, the schedule becomes much more tame. Austin FC will have played nine matches in 29 days. For some perspective on the intensity of that stretch, it took 56 days for ATX to complete their first nine matches of 2025 and it will take another 70 for them to play their next nine following the San Diego match.
So why is the upcoming Wednesday fixture against RSL so important? As listener @Matt-lh5ir commented on the YouTube version of Episode 227, “riding high off that point and then I look at the table… the tiers are separating + solidifying. ” And Matt is absolutely right. Austin FC has dropped from third to ninth in the Western Conference as the month of May has progressed and we’re starting to see some true separation in the table as the halfway point of the season approaches this weekend.
With RSL in 12th place just five points behind the Verde and Black and a small three or four point gap between Austin and a group of four teams all on 22 or 23 points, ATX is at an inflection point. A win keeps our favorite team attached to the clear playoff oriented peleton (just in case I need to explain my choice of words, we’re like six weeks from the Tour de France, my favorite major obscure sporting event of the year!) who will cannabilize each other in the midweek, with six of the eight teams above ATX in the Western Conference facing off against one another on Wednesday. A loss or draw is guaranteed to keep Austin FC closer to the teams on the outside of the wild card than those comfortably in the top seven.
The Verde and Black should be just about as fresh as they’ve been this month after rotating players like Owen Wolff and Ilie Sanchez on Saturday. By the time the first whistle blows on Wednesday they’ll have had nearly four full days off from competition and are certainly in a better mental headspace than the opponent.
I’m not pulling the “must-win lever” that we have here in The North End headquarters, because it’s not that when it comes to the standings. A loss would put ATX no lower than a point behind the wild card pace at worst with 18 matches left on the regular season schedule. But it sure would help the vibes to go ahead and take care of business at home against a team that is clearly inferior from a talent perspective.
Injury Report
ATX:
None listed
RSL:
Diogo Gonçalves (Questionable - Heel)
Emeka Eneli (Questionable - Foot)
Kobi Henry (Out - Hamstring)
Zac MacMath (Out - Shoulder)
Javain Brown (Out - Knee)
Matthew Bell (Out - Hamstring)
Real Salt Lake Players to Watch
Diego Luna - One of those guys you love to watch play unless it’s against your favorite team, Luna is maybe just the only bright spot for RSL at the moment. The 21-year-old was a former member of El Paso Locomotive before being sold to RSL in 2022 for a then-record $250k. Luna recently made his USMNT debut and as discussed earlier, is the hub of everything Salt Lake does in possession. Keeping the ball off his foot as much as possible is a winning formula for any opponent.
William Agada - If Agada can ever get near the statistical level in the RSL attack that we saw from him during his time with Sporting KC then Salt Lake could start racking up goals. The 25-year-old Nigerian averaged over four shots per 90 minutes over his three and a half years with SKC, scoring 21 goals in 3,437 minutes. Over his first six appearances for RSL his shot attempts per 90 rate is less than half of what it was with his former team, which is just as much of an indictment on the lack of shot creating players on the Salt Lake roster as it is Agada’s inability to settle in quickly. Let’s hope he doesn’t start getting comfortable against the Austin FC backline on Wednesday.
Dominik Marczuk - With Gonçalves sidelined, even more responsibility has fallen to the 21-year-old Polish right winger. Marczuk was one of the big summer acquisitions the team made last season but has only scored two goals across his 19 league appearances since his arrival. When he’s on his game, he’s not just a threat to score goals but a big time distributor as well
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Eat Early - I’m fairly certain we are going to see a very conservative approach to this one from Real Salt Lake. They’re on short rest just like Austin after playing on Saturday and their emotions have to be running thin after how that game against Vancouver played out. We’ve seen ATX come out on the front foot in countless home matches over this season and last only to be left with a goose egg on the scoreboard by the time the halftime whistle blows. I expect there to be chances created in the first 45. To take control of this game, someone has to step up and finish before the break.
Keep the Level - Austin FC will have to get used to seeing some faces on the pitch this Wednesday that have been absent for quite a while. One would imagine that Desler will get a longer runout after his ten minute stint in relief of Jon Gallagher on Saturday and with Pereira expected back in a reserve role, things will look and move differently at times in this one than what the personnel have become accustomed to over the last month. When those changes come, being able to maintain the level of focus, communication and physicality needed to be successful in the waning moments of this match will be key to holding onto what should be a three point night for the home side.
Predictions
ZG - 2-0 Austin FC
E - 3-1 Austin FC
