Real Salt Lake undone by late penalty in 2-1 road loss to LA Galaxy

SANDY — Real Salt Lake’s decade-long futility streak continued Sunday night.

Marco Reus scored two goals, including the decisive penalty kick with five minutes left in regulation, as the LA Galaxy kept Salt Lake winless in Carson, California, since 2017 with a 2-1 win at Dignity Healthy Sports Park.

It’s the Galaxy’s first home win in Major League Soccer play since February.

“Oh wow; that’s a long time,” Reus quipped on Apple TV when he heard that last part. “The key was to not give up. I think we played a very good first half. 

“That second half, we saw that we don’t have the power anymore; we struggled a bit to protect the ball,” he added. “It was a hard time, but we spoke before the game that the goal was to give 100% — and at the end, we won it. I’m very proud of the team.”

The win lifts the Galaxy (3-4-3, 12 points) to ninth place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference, and four points behind a sixth-place RSL (5-3-1, 16 points) that collected just one win in an eight-day, three-match run and four days after a 2-0 loss to Inter Miami CF.

It’s just the 19th time in 192 matches under Real Salt Lake manager Pablo Mastroeni the club has suffered consecutive losses in MLS play.

But clearly frustrated by the officiating for a series of matches, RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni dryly quipped that the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) will likely “go back and analyze this game, and they’ll definitely send us an apology on what took place,” before adding his team can only focus on the things they can control — and not the refs, or eight consecutive referee or vide review decisions that have gone against his team.

Clearly frustrated, RSL defender Justen Glad took it a step further.

“From this match, honestly, I feel like we were hard-done by the ref,” said the 29-year-old homegrown center back, noting specifically a non-call against Victor Olatunji where the striker was pulled down near the edge of the penalty area in the first half — without a foul. “Obviously, we weren’t very good in the first half. But at the end of the day, I felt like they missed a clear foul on Victor.

“I’m not even sure what the point of VAR is if they’re going to keep missing these calls,” he added.

Reus has a brace, and LA have the lead! 👊 pic.twitter.com/kINMdmzjfd

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 27, 2026

The 2024 MLS Cup champions are coming off their worst season in franchise history a year ago. But the former club of MLS legend Cobi Jones — who had a statue of his likeness unveiled Sunday in front of Dignity Health Sports Park — are not without offensive force, including former Borussia Dortmund star Reus in midfield.

The German international struck first, striking a well-placed free kick with his right foot into the top left corner to give the Galaxy the 1-0 advantage in the ninth minute.

LA conceded possession, but out-shot Salt Lake 10-3 in the first 40 minutes including three shots on target. But Rafael Cabral made two saves, and Glad prevented another goal from Gabriel Pec in the 38th minute.

That left Zavier Gozo with a chance to equalize on the final touch of the half. The Utah native took a touch from Aiden Hezarkhani, who beat two-time MLS Best XI defender Jakob Glesnes off the end line and found Gozo across the face of goal for a shot off the post that bounced off Galaxy goalkeeper James Marcinkowski and tied the match, 1-1 at the break.

Let them cook 😱

Aiden Hezarkhani finds Zavier Gozo for the Salt Lake equalizer just before half! pic.twitter.com/P1l6JA2dNm

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) April 27, 2026

“We were fortunate to come out tied in the first half,” Mastroeni said. “But the second half was completely different, where I felt like we definitely kept the game on our terms. We just lacked the final decision.”

Salt Lake held firm in the second half, until Sam Junqua was called for a foul (and yellow card) for grabbing Elijah Wynder’s jersey in the penalty box. That’s when Reus stepped up to the spot and laced his second goal of the match in the 85th minute to hand the Galaxy just a third win in MLS play this season.

“I’m still here kind of scratching my head at some of the calls,” a more diplmatic DeAndre Yedlin said. “I think that definitely played a part in the game, as well. It’s disappointing. People can have bad days and make mistakes. But when you’re changing the outcome of games, it starts to become a problem.”

Next up

Real Salt Lake returns home Saturday, May 2 to host the Portland Timbers. Kickoff from America First Field is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on FOX and Apple TV.

The Timbers (3-5-1, 10 points) have won two of their last three matches, including a 2-1 road win Saturday over San Diego FC.

Follow Real Salt Lake with KSL Sports

All Real Salt Lake matches are broadcast on Apple TV as part of Major League Soccer’s exclusive broadcast deal with the tech giant.

 Real Salt Lake English-language radio coverage for the 2026 season will air live on KSL radio, including KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM/1280 AM) and KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM / 1160 AM).

You can find KSL Sports coverage of Real Salt Lake here.