HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, April 19, 2024) – Real Salt Lake (3-2-3, 12 pts., t-3rd West MLS) resumes its 2024 MLS regular season – the Club’s 20th and Major League Soccer 29th – this Saturday evening in Chicago, Ill., at historic Soldier Field with a 6:30p MT kickoff against the Chicago Fire (2-3-3, 8 pts, 11th East MLS). RSL enters Matchday Ten of the 2024 season unbeaten in its last four matches – last losing on March 9 to Colorado – and seeking a fourth consecutive road result, with Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team posting a 1-1-2 (5 pts) record away this year, losing only the season kickoff at Miami on Feb. 24.
Last week’s 0-0 home draw against visiting Columbus saw RSL Captain / FW Chicho Arango – Major League Soccer’s top goal contributor with six goals and four assists on the season – snap his three-game streak of appearing on the scoresheet, although the defensive clean sheet by GK Zac MacMath and company was the Club’s second in eight games this season.
Arango had recorded four of his six goals in consecutive weeks vs. St. Louis and at Minnesota in an eight dayspan from March 30 – April 6, providing a three-goal explosion in a 21-minute span in the Utah side’s come-from-behind 3-1 home win over St. Louis, the Club’s first hat trick since September 17, 2018 (Damir Kreilach). Chicho’s three-goal performance is just the seventh in RSL’s 622-game MLS history, the Colombian joining Alvaro Saborio (three hats – two in 2012, one in 2013), along with Robbie Findley (2009), Javier Morales(2014) and Kreilach. Former Captain, head coach and current Club director Jason Kreis also had a hat trick, albeit in the 2005 U.S. Open Cup.
Arango now has two hat tricks in his MLS career – his first was for LAFC in late 2021 against Dallas – and boasts 105 goals as a professional, including 49 goals in 83 games across all competitions since arriving in MLS for LAFC and RSL. Since appearing on the Wasatch Front last July, Chicho boasts 14 goals and six assists in 26 MLS appearances for the Claret-and-Cobalt, with those numbers increasing to 16 goals and eight assists in 31 RSL games across all competitions (incl. Leagues Cup, Open Cup, Playoffs).
RSL boasts a 1-1-2 record away from home this year, winning on the road in Vancouver on March 23, while settling for draw at St. Louis on Feb. 24 and at Minnesota two weeks ago, on April 6, following a season-opening loss at Miami on Feb. 21. A year ago, Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni’s team amassed 12 road wins and five away draws across all competitions, against just eight losses, by far the most successful road campaign in Club history.
This Saturday’s kickoff at 6:30p MT on Apple TV+ / MLS Season Pass featuring Tyler Terens and Kyndra de St. Aubin (ENG) and Alejandro Luna and Luis Gerardo Bucci (SPN) on the call. For local coverage, tune in at 5:30p MT for KSL Radio pre-game w/ David James & Jay Nolly via www.KSLSports.com / 1280 AM / 97.5 FM and www.KSLNewsRadio.com / 1160 AM).
Real Salt Lake @ Chicago Fire – MLS Matchday 10
Soldier Field – Chicago, Ill.
Saturday, April 20, 2024 – 6:30p MT
2023 Records:​
Real Salt Lake (14-12-8, 50 pts, 5th West);
​​​​Chicago Fire (10-14-10, 40 pts., 13th East)
Saturday’s trip to Chicago kicks off a run that sees RSL play nine of its next 13 matches away from home between now and mid-June. RSL visits Chicago during a streak that sees the Claret-and-Cobalt play three consecutive Eastern Conference opponents, with a fourth trip East on June 15 at Montreal. The team’s trip to Soldier Field – just its third-ever (2005, 2021) – arrives amidst a span where three of four April matches are played away this month prior to a very busy May, which sees RSL play three of its first four MLS contests at home between May 4-18, plus as many as two possible 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup road games on May 8 at New Mexico (and May 22 away with advancement), prior to a two-game road trip May 25-29 at Dallas and Seattle.
