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Real Salt Lake's dramatic turnaround from the start of the season can be summed up well by a simple comparison between its two matches against first-year club St. Louis.
The Claret and Cobalt were defeated 4-0 at home on March 25 by the upstart expansion side at America First Field but took the fight to City Park on Wednesday with a 3-1 road win over the No. 1 team in the Western Conference.
"I think the biggest difference was finishing," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "When we're not scoring goals it's not from a lack of creation or lack of drive, it's just a lack of execution in the final third. And I think tonight, the biggest difference is we took our chances well."
RSL was without two of its stars in Jefferson Savarino and Andres Gomez on Wednesday, and new striker Chicho Arango still can't join the team for another two weeks, but the players who took the field picked up the slack.
In St. Louis, at least, the storyline was driven by two offensive dynamos at opposite ends of their careers, still struggling to prove they have what it takes to stay on the field.
Diego Luna, the 19-year-old U.S. national team darling, returned from the U-20 World Cup brimming with confidence, and Mastroeni is employing every ounce of it.
Luna got the ball 15 minutes in on a cross from Danny Musovski that traveled between Damir Kreilach's legs at the edge of the box. He lined up his body perfectly and hit a one-touch shot that curved around keeper Roman Burki and into the bottom right corner of the goal.
"Being an attacking player in our setup, the most important thing is the output and the final product," Mastroeni said. "And I think the pressure of that and him carrying that was released when he scored that first goal, and with that goal came a ton of confidence."
Kreilach found himself on the end of a pair of dazzling passing displays early in the second half to bag his first MLS brace since July 2021 and send RSL home with a dominant win at one of the liveliest stadiums in MLS.
Diego Luna finishes the fine #RSL attack with a curler. 🌙 pic.twitter.com/uEpdqGU6zd
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 22, 2023
According to MLS, Luna became the youngest player in club history to produce at least one goal and one assist in a match, doing so at 19 years and 287 days old against St. Louis.
The win marked RSL's third-straight road win in MLS play and extends the team's road unbeaten streak to six matches.
"I think we just grind, and we've got that underdog mentality where we go into every game with the grit and stuff," Luna said. "I think that's what is helping us away and at home, but I think we're just lacking a little bit in the final third. I think you see we create chances, and if we're just more clinical these games can be put away a lot easier."
RSL returns to Sandy with a home match against Minnesota United FC on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MDT.
