RSL in familiar spot with playoff hopes hinging on final game

HERRIMAN — It's a familiar spot for Real Salt Lake ahead of its regular season finale on Sunday.

"We've been in this situation before," Real Salt Lake defender Justen Glad said after training Wednesday. "This is what we get paid to do: play in high-pressure games, and this is a high-pressure game."

The 2022 season could come to an end for RSL on Sunday, or it could extend into the playoffs for the 12th time in franchise history and the fourth time in the last five years. It all comes down to the final regular season match against the Portland Timbers.

Win, and they're in; lose, and we'll see you in 2023.

The team was in the same boat one year ago, when it took a stoppage-time goal from Damir Kreilach against Sporting Kansas City to send RSL to the playoffs on the final day of the MLS season. Once in, RSL advanced all the way to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2013.

The way the team got to this point was a little different than last time, however, as the team struggled early and then turned it on to win seven of its final 13 matches of the regular season. This year, the team started out hot, with seven wins in the first 14 games, but has won just four of the 19 games since then.

The strong start helped the team get into a position where it could still compete at this point in the season, but the recent run of form doesn't give fans too much hope when it comes to finishing things off with a win.

One aspect does bode well: The Claret and Cobalt have played well at home this season with a record of 8-3-5. The team was undefeated through 10 games at home, losing for the first time at America First Field on July 23 against FC Dallas.

Since the undefeated streak ended, RSL has gone 1-3-2 at home, with the lone win coming in an impressive 3-0 victory over fellow fringe playoff candidate Minnesota United on Aug. 31. In fact, that was the last time RSL won a game, period, losing three times and securing draws twice in the five matches since then.

All of that to say, if the recent run of form continues, RSL will likely find itself on the outside looking in come Monday. But if the team can muster some of that early-season energy and whatever magic brought it three goals on Aug. 31, the season could go on.

Glad said the emphasis in training this week for RSL has been "scoring goals." That seems like a no-brainer for a soccer team to practice putting the ball in the back of the net, but when that's the one thing that has eluded the team, it becomes a lot more important.

RSL has scored just twice in the five matches since putting up three in one match against Minnesota. Glad knows it better than anyone, missing a pair of chances late in a tie game against the LA Galaxy last week.

"It's that final product and just being clinical in that final third; and again, that game goes a little different," Glad said of the LA game. "But we just put all that together and hopefully get a win this weekend."

Glad is the longest-tenured RSL player currently on the roster — he signed in 2014 and made his debut in 2015 — and has seen his fair share of close calls and no-shows when it comes to making the playoffs.

The team missed the playoffs his first year, came in sixth in the West in 2016 and 2018, and missed out again in 2017 and 2020. And of course, he was part of the team that made the postseason last year at the seemingly last possible second.

Glad said "it's nothing new" being in this position, but that doesn't mean he takes it lightly. He had a lengthy one-on-one chat with head coach Pablo Mastroeni after training Wednesday where he stayed after all his teammates had left to practice finishing shots in front of goal.

"We both know how important it is," Glad said of his conversation with Mastroeni. "So we're just trying to get every last detail hammered out."

The most important detail to hammer out, as Glad and Mastroeni will say, is putting the ball in the back of the net. But after switching up his starting lineup considerably against LA last week, Mastroeni also has to hammer out just who will be on the field Sunday to give RSL the best chance of winning.

"I think you have to have players that have been there and done that and know what's at stake," Mastroeni said. "We have another couple of days of training to solidify what that group looks like, (but) don't anticipate too many changes."

Mastroeni spoke highly of "the Bryans" — Bryan Oviedo and Braian Ojeda — who joined the team after the summer transfer window in August. Both started the game against LA, and Mastroeni said they "raise the bar for the group, and it's important to get those guys on the field."

The other players who started alongside Oviedo and Ojeda and will likely start on Sunday are Sergio Cordova and Jefferson Savarino in the attack; Andrew Brody on the wing; Jasper Loffelsend in the midfield; and Aaron Herrera, Glad and Marcelo Silva on the back line, with Zac MacMath in goal.

That leaves one spot open, which was filled by Scott Caldwell in the midfield against LA, though Pablo Ruiz has started 27 of 33 games this season at that position. The other question would be Justin Meram, who has started 27 games this season on the wing. Both Ruiz and Meram bring important passing abilities to the final third that can set up those scoring opportunities RSL so desperately requires.

Look for one of the two to start on Sunday.

"I think the first 15 minutes of every MLS game is always a chess match," Mastroeni said. "(It's about) finding the right balance and also understanding the type of team (Portland is) and how we can exploit them.

"But again, it's not so much about them as much as it is about what we want to do and the tempo we want to set and the mindset we must have. It's about desire. It's about all the things that made us a competitive team against LA, bringing it back home and then finishing our chances."

If the team plays like it did against LA and over the last month it might not be enough; but if just one of those missed chances is turned into a goal, Glad and company might be getting paid to play soccer a little longer.

Kickoff against Portland is set for 3 p.m. MDT at America First Field on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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