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ORLANDO, Fla. — Wednesday may well be the night the legend of national team Diego Luna was born.
The 2024 MLS Young Player of the Year with Real Salt Lake took an elbow to the face early in Wednesday's U.S. men's national team friendly against Costa Rica and was shown bleeding from the nose on the sideline.
He pleaded with head coach Mauricio Pochettino to let him stay in the game, however, so after a quick stuffing of both nostrils and a change of jersey, he did just that.
Luna's next action in the game was a perfectly weighted pass to Vancouver striker Brian White that resulted in the opening goal for the U.S. in the 21st minute.
Quick dressing and jersey change after getting elbowed in the face and Diego Luna finds Brian White for the USMNT opener in the 21st minute against Costa Rica pic.twitter.com/9xynsX0RyM
— Caleb Turner (@calebturner23) January 23, 2025
"He showed great character," Pochettino said of the sequence of events.
Luna exited the match at halftime, as it was later revealed that he had broken his nose, but RSL teammate Emeka Eneli remained in the match and decided to make his mark on the score sheet as well.
In true Eneli fashion, he refused to give up on a broken play in the attacking half, stealing the ball back and sending a diagonal cross back into the box for Caden Clark to give the U.S. a 2-0 lead in the 77th minute.
"Great performance," Pochettino said of Eneli, who earned the highest rating and player of the match from soccer statistics site FotMob. "I am so pleased with him."
Wednesday's match marked the first time multiple RSL players started a USMNT match since Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman and Tony Beltran started in a friendly against Mexico in April 2014.
Luna and Eneli now join the rest of the RSL squad with preseason already underway and a trip to Santa Barbara for a scrimmage against New York City FC on Friday.
