RSL losses, questions piling up after 1-0 Rocky Mountain Cup result in Colorado

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Real Salt Lake already has more losses in 2025 than it had in all of 2024, and there are still 20 games remaining in the season.

The Claret and Cobalt picked up loss No. 8 Saturday on the road against the Colorado Rapids in the first leg of this year's Rocky Mountain Cup, eclipsing last year's total of seven losses.

A 70-minute deadlock ended when RSL let the ball loose in its own box and Djordje Mihailovic jumped on it for one of just three shots on a target by Colorado in a 1-0 RSL loss.

The road team put up three shots on target, as well, though it doubled Colorado's total shots 12-6. Offense continues to be a major issue for the wallowing side from Sandy, with six scoreless outings in the opening 14 matches of the season.

Head coach Pablo Mastroeni and MLS veteran Johnny Russell, who made his RSL debut on Saturday, both lamented that the team is relying on Diego Luna to provide all of its goals, with no other player scoring more than one so far.

"The quality in the final third is lacking," Mastroeni said. "The only one that's able to play beyond the tactics and make plays is Diego Luna; and again, he's scored more than his fair share of goals this year."

Luna leads RSL with seven goals and was visibly frustrated when he got subbed off in the 58th minute Saturday with the match tied 0-0. Commentary from the Apple TV broadcast earlier in the match quoted Mastroeni as saying he would "be surprised if (Luna) is still with (RSL) after the summer (transfer window)," raising a difficult question for RSL fans:

What happens when the player who has scored seven of the team's 13 goals this season is gone?

One of the other goal scorers left the team on loan (Forster Ajago), one is a defender (Sam Junqua), two did not appear in Saturday's game (Diogo Goncalves due to injury and Ari Piol due to coach's decision) and the other has been replaced as a starter by 18-year-old Zavier Gozo (Dominik Marczuk).

RSL added two attacking options in William Agada and Russell at the end of the spring transfer window last month, but Russell made his debut as a late substitute Saturday — and neither has scored or assisted on a goal yet.

"We can't continue to just rely on one man," Russell said. "It has to be spread across the board. And, hopefully, when we have sort of multiple options in that (attacking) area, then the goals start flowing."

Answers from players and coach as to how exactly RSL unlocks those "multiple options" in the attack varied from higher quality crosses and more imaginative playmaking, to getting numbers in the box and being "killers in front of goal," as Mastroeni so often likes to mention.

The last person Mastroeni referred to as a "killer in front of goal" was Chicho Arango, who tied RSL's single-season scoring record last year with 17 goals and currently sits in second place in the MLS Golden Boot race this season with nine goals scored for his new team, San Jose.

RSL still has a designated player spot open on its roster alongside Goncalves, so a major signing in the vein of Arango this summer is not outside the realm of possibility.

For now, though, Mastroeni said the team has to "work with the players (they) have and put them in the best positions to make plays."

RSL gets a full week of training before facing Western Conference leader Vancouver Whitecaps for the second time this season at America First Field on Saturday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. MDT.

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