Real Salt Lake looks to clean up mistakes, halt skid against surging St. Louis

ST. LOUIS — Real Salt Lake heads to St. Louis on Saturday looking to solve the mistakes that have turned promising performances into consecutive defeats.

Saturday’s road match against St. Louis City SC is the club’s last opportunity to halt a two-match losing streak before turning its attention to a busy August that begins with three consecutive home matches in Leagues Cup.

The losses to LAFC and Portland exposed different weaknesses. Against LAFC, Real Salt Lake controlled possession and created chances but paid for defensive lapses in transition. Four days later in Portland, Juan Manuel Sanabria’s first MLS goal gave RSL an early lead before Morgan Guilavogui’s first-half red card forced the visitors to defend with 10 men for nearly an hour in a 2-1 defeat.

Head coach Pablo Mastroeni believes there were positives to build on despite the losses.

“I would say our attack and our ability to build and control the game has been elite in both games when we’ve had 11 players,” Mastroeni said. “I think our chance creation when we’ve had 11 players has been really, really good.”

Building on the positives

Despite returning from the FIFA World Cup break without a point, Mastroeni doesn’t believe the overall performances warrant panic.

Against Portland, he felt his team had already corrected one of the biggest issues exposed by LAFC.

“I thought tonight, for the first 30 minutes, we did a great job of that,” Mastroeni said of his team’s defensive compactness. “We were much more compact between the lines.”

Midfielder Noel Caliskan shared that assessment.

“I think we controlled the game well with the ball,” Caliskan said. “I think we controlled the game well without the ball. I think we were very compact defensively. That’s something we were talking about after the LA game.”

The loss was especially difficult to take given how brightly the match started.

“It hurts,” Caliskan said. “Especially with the way the games went. I think we deserved a couple points for sure. But that’s football. If you make some bad decisions, and you don’t win the boxes, the quality of LAFC and Portland is so high that you get punished.”

Set pieces become the priority

If LAFC exposed issues in transition defense, Portland highlighted another painful weakness.

Both Timbers goals came from second-half corner kicks after Guilavogui’s dismissal.

“To concede two goals on set pieces is really poor,” Mastroeni said. “If you’re going to take anything when you’re down a man, you’re going to take set pieces because you can actually set up for it. You can get mentally prepared for it.”

That area will receive plenty of attention this week.

“This week, the focus is going to be on defensive set pieces,” Mastroeni said.

Caliskan agreed.

“I feel like the easiest way, quote-unquote, to defend is a set piece because you have all the guys behind the ball,” he said. “Our zone needs to be a little more aggressive there, but again, we need to look at the video.”

Asked whether the locker room took encouragement from battling for nearly an hour with 10 men or frustration from another loss, Caliskan admitted the emotions remained raw.

“I think right now it’s still frustration,” he said. “I think once we look at the film and talk about it, maybe we’ll leave with encouragement because I did think we defended pretty well for a long time.”

Another difficult road test

While Real Salt Lake seeks its first points since returning from the World Cup break, St. Louis has surged in the opposite direction.

CITY SC has gone unbeaten in seven straight MLS matches and won its last four, defeating Sporting Kansas City, the LA Galaxy and Colorado Rapids since league play resumed after the World Cup while climbing to within a point of Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference standings.

The resurgence has come behind a balanced attack. Midfielder Marcel Hartel leads the club with five goals and four assists, while Simon Becher has added five assists and two goals. Right back Tomas Totland has also found his footing, recording game-winning assists in consecutive matches.

Former Swiss international goalkeeper Roman Bürki has started every league match this season and boasts a 77% save percentage, giving St. Louis one of the league’s most reliable last lines of defense.

The club reinforced its attack this week, signing Danish midfielder Carlo Holse as a Designated Player from Turkish side Samsunspor. Holse recorded 22 goals and 14 assists during three seasons in Turkey and led last season’s UEFA Europa Conference League with five assists, though his availability for Saturday remains uncertain.

St. Louis also secured the future of a familiar face, signing former Real Salt Lake homegrown defender Jaziel Orozco to a contract extension through the 2028-29 season with a club option for 2029-30. The 22-year-old came through the RSL Academy, began his professional career with the Real Monarchs and made his MLS debut with Real Salt Lake before joining the St. Louis organization last season. 

Real Salt Lake missed a reunion with former striker Sergio Córdova, whose loan spell with CITY lasted only from February through June.

Despite its recent run of form, St. Louis has never beaten Real Salt Lake at Energizer Park, going winless in its first three home meetings.

Discipline could again play a major role. St. Louis’ last two opponents, the LA Galaxy and Colorado Rapids, both finished with 10 men after second-half red cards. RSL suffered the same fate in Portland, where Guilavogui’s dismissal dramatically altered the match and earned the striker a one-game suspension.

For Mastroeni, however, the focus remains less on St. Louis than on his own team.

“It’s not so much the rival,” Mastroeni said. “It’s the things that we need to improve for our team.”

How to Watch

Match: Real Salt Lake at St. Louis City SC

When: Saturday, Aug. 1, 6:30 p.m. MDT

Where: Energizer Park, St. Louis, Missouri

TV/Streaming: Apple TV

Radio: KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM / 1280 AM)