Real Salt Lake’s winless skid against Minnesota continues as depth concerns rise with Booth injury

SANDY — Real Salt Lake’s struggles against Minnesota United continued Saturday night, but more concerning than a late draw was another injury to a key player.

Sergi Solans scored his 12th goal across all competitions of his rookie season, but Minnesota rallied with a last-minute equalizer to snatch a point on the road with a 1-1 draw in front of an announced crowd of 20,119 fans at America First Field.

Real Salt Lake (8-4-6, 28 points) hasn’t beaten Minnesota outright since August 2022, a run of 1o consecutive matches without a win.

The Loons (6-7-6, 25 points) out-shot RSL 15-13, but put just three of their shots on target including an 89th-minute equalizer by Joaquin Pereyra that secured a point on the road.

“The way I look at it, objectively, is did we create enough opportunities to win the game? And the answer was yes,” RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni told reporters after the match. “If we convert our chances, the game is put to rest early.”

The greater concern happened in the opening moments of the contest, and could leave RSL even more shorthanded than it was Saturday night.

That's now the fourth goal in five games across all competitions for Sergi Solans to put @realsaltlake in the lead! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/dwEN94661v

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 16, 2026

Real Salt Lake drops points to Minnesota, but Booth injury a heavy concern

Facing a Minnesota side that was winless in its previous seven MLS matches and with designated player Morgan Guilavogui unavailable while in concussion protocol, Mastroeni put out a first-choice starting lineup featuring talisman attacker Diego Luna and JuanMa Sanabria on the left and homegrown winger Zach Booth behind Real Monarchs goal scorer Lineker Rodrigues dos Santos on the right, with rookie standout Solans up top.

But Booth pulled up while grabbing at his right hamstring in the 12th minute, forcing an early substitution with Dominik Marczuk as the Utah native was helped from the pitch by team medical personnel. The club confirmed the Utah native’s injury before halftime.

“Really unfortunate for the young man, because he’s been doing great,” Mastroeni said of an injury that he projected could keep Booth out of action for at least six weeks. “But the expectation is he’s going to take some time before he gets back.”

That led to RSL fighting for its own possession, including Lukas Engel backtracking to clear a potential own goal off a loose-ball turnover off the line in the 34th minute.

Without Guilavogui and Booth — and with star winger Zavier Gozo finalizing a reported eight-figure transfer to Premier League club Crystal Palace — Real Salt Lake’s offense grinded to a halt in the first half.

Minnesota out-shot the hosts 7-3 before halftime, though RSL held the visitors to just one shot on goal. Still, 62% of possession yielded just two shots on target and 0.09 expected goals (xG) before the break.

With time — and help from the chaotic injection of former Atlanta United attacker Saba Lobjanidze in the 60th minute — Salt Lake flipped the game upside down.

“I think it’s natural that teams coming here, with the altitude and football games in general and with fatigue, teams start to open up a little bit,” RSL midfielder Noel Caliskan said. “And obviously, we made some tactical tweaks as well.”

Solans paid off the chaos in the 82nd minute, scoring for the fourth time this month with a right-footed shot at a tight angle to put Salt Lake up, 1-0 in the 82nd minute.

The Spanish-born striker and 2025 first-round SuperDraft pick out of UCLA scored his eighth goal in MLS play, and 12th across all competitions, off a glancing header from Luna to give the hosts the advantage on their final connection of the night.

JOAQUÍN PEREYRA! 🤯

Late-game heroics bring @MNUFC level heading into stoppage time! pic.twitter.com/5C0DOTIHDa

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 16, 2026

The duo were substituted off four minutes later, and Pereyra converted a counter-attacking opportunity with his left foot to equalize for Minnesota in the 89th minute.

Real Salt Lake’s numbers dwindling as schedule tightens up

Real Salt Lake continues MLS play next Wednesday against FC Dallas (7:30 p.m. MT, Apple TV). DeAndre Yedlin will be eligible after sitting out a game due to yellow-card accumulation, but the right-sided center back could see extended minutes at right wing back with Booth’s medium- to long-term injury absence.

The MLS secondary transfer window closes Sept. 2. Before then, Salt Lake has a growing list of concerns to fill that now includes another option at right wing back.

“Dre is really the short-term option, obviously not available tonight,” Mastroeni said. “But when you don’t have J-Glad, you don’t have Dre, you don’t have Gozo, and you don’t have Morgan Guilavogui, these guys are fighting like dogs to make up for the loss of those guys.

“Now that Zach is out,” he added, “Dre needs to move out to that wing back position — and we need reinforcements.”

But the first target is squarely on Wednesday.

“We need to win that game,” Engel said. “Three points is needed, and it’s a good chance to bounce back quick.”