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Real Salt Lake had to dig deep into its roster and soul to come back from a 2-0 deficit to get a hard-earned point on the road against the LA Galaxy Saturday.
Four players were away on international duty and several more were forced to stay in Utah due to injury or suspension, leaving head coach Pablo Mastroeni with less than 16 available players heading into Saturday's match in LA. The team used an "extreme hardship" clause to sign or call up three young players who spent the season with the Real Monarchs.
Two of those three made their MLS debuts late in the 2-2 draw in LA, with 15-year-old Axel Kei becoming the youngest player to come on in club history, and 16-year-old Utah native Zavier Gozo becoming the third youngest.
A starting lineup that was already without Jefferson Savarino, Chicho Arango, Justen Glad and Braian Ojeda took another hit early in the match when LA's Dejan Joveljic found the back of the net just seven minutes in to put RSL behind by a goal in the opening minutes for the second straight week.
"We're putting ourselves in a bad spot to then have to the turn the game around by scoring a couple of goals," Mastroeni said. "We want to make sure moving forward that we do a better job of keeping the game neutralized defensively."
Douglas Costa made it a 2-0 deficit in the 34th minute, but RSL managed to get one back just before halftime when Anderson Julio's shot was deflected off the keeper and the post into the goal.
Rising star Diego Luna got his fourth goal of the season and his RSL career in the 76th minute off a rebound in the box to tie the game, and the team brought on several subs to secure the point on the road.
Diego Luna equalizes for #RSL at 2-2 in the 76th minute pic.twitter.com/TPDIO6J8k4
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) October 15, 2023
"(It felt) so good to help the team get the tie," Luna said. "I think there were a lot of expectations for me to produce, so I was glad to be able to do that and get the tying goal."
The draw moves RSL up to fifth place in the West in a tie with Vancouver and just 1 point shy of a top-four spot and home-field advantage in the playoffs. Their possible playoff opponents have been narrowed down to Seattle, Houston and Vancouver.
"Home-field advantage is what we — like everybody — want," Luna said. "But I think, especially for us, away or home doesn't matter and we'll do what we need to do."
The Claret and Cobalt finish the regular season on the road next week at the Colorado Rapids when they will learn their playoff fate.
