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Real Salt Lake head coach Pablo Mastroeni elected to go "defensive" in Saturday's road tilt against the Houston Dynamo ahead of another three-match week for the Claret and Cobalt.
"There was a time in the season where we were conceding a lot of goals and so that's obviously been a huge part of our focus in the last month," Mastroeni said. "And, obviously, when you come on the road, it becomes more of an emphasis as well. So I think it was a gutsy performance from the guys."
The strategy worked out for RSL, which allowed no goals on the road for the first time since April 2022. It was the second consecutive 0-0 result for RSL, but not for a lack of chances.
The road team put up 13 total shots and beat the Dynamo 5-4 in shots on goal, with rookie Bertin Jacquesson providing an offensive spark in his first start for RSL.
Part of the conservative road strategy from Mastroeni was leaving winger Andres Gomez on the bench in favor of the veteran Maikel Chang. Chang responded to the opportunity by providing the "early thrust" for RSL, as the Apple TV commentators put it.
Jacquesson really started to make his presence felt with about 10 minutes left in the first half, putting a key pass through a defender's legs to Jefferson Savarino for a shot on goal, and then getting a shot off himself in impressive, acrobatic fashion just before the break.
"He's willing to put himself in dangerous spots and he's got a fantastic shot," Mastroeni said of Jacquesson. "He's a player that is multi-dimensional in the way he plays. He's got a great attitude. He's the prototype of the type of striker that we want."
BERTÍN TAKES FLIGHT #RSLpic.twitter.com/Pm7bJuwJtK
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) May 7, 2023
RSL kept its foot on the pedal in the second half, bringing on Gomez in the 60th minute to combine with Savarino and Jacquesson up top. Goalkeeper Zac MacMath did his part to keep the clean sheet with an impressive reaction save in the 55th minute.
Mastroeni emptied the bench by bringing on Damir Kreilach, Danny Musovski and Diego Luna over the final 20 minutes, but none of them were able to find the elusive breakthrough goal for the road warriors.
"They kind of got by a few times but we did enough to recover and really narrow their chances," MacMath said of the defensive effort. "But just feels good to have another shutout, to keep building on that defensively, and hopefully the goals will start coming soon."
RSL remains undefeated against Houston dating back to 2017.
The Claret and Cobalt stay on the road for their next U.S. Open Cup match on Wednesday in Portland before returning to Utah to take on LAFC on Saturday in MLS play.
