‘Next game up’: RSL works to stay positive as winless streak reaches 10

HERRIMAN — Luca Moisa has already learned that progress doesn’t always come in a straight line.

The 18-year-old Real Salt Lake midfielder began the season with the first team, spent time with Real Monarchs and has since worked his way back into Pablo Mastroeni’s plans.

“I remember having a conversation with Pablo in his office about, it’s not gonna be linear,” Moisa said Friday after training. “It’s not gonna be all the way just straight up. So I might have been down with the Monarchs for a bit, but then I’m back up. So just keep going and keep growing.”

RSL could use some of that patience with its season right now.

Salt Lake returns to America First Field on Saturday against New York City FC still searching for its first MLS victory since May 16. Wednesday’s 2-1 loss at Houston extended the club’s league winless streak to 10 matches.

The results haven’t come, but Moisa said the mood inside the locker room hasn’t changed much.

“I think after some games it’s easy to say things didn’t go well and easy to be negative about it, but I think we’ve been pretty positive on every game,” Moisa said. “There’s been something good to look at. So I think it’s just our mentality right now is next game up.”

Saturday provides the next one, and quickly.

RSL will play its third match in eight days when NYCFC visits Sandy, following last Saturday’s 2-2 draw against LAFC and Wednesday’s loss in Houston.

RSL twice came from behind against LAFC, then erased another deficit in Houston when Lineker Rodrigues sent Saba Lobjanidze behind the Dynamo defense for the tying goal in the 76th minute.

Lobjanidze has now scored in consecutive matches, while several young players have taken on larger roles as injuries have thinned RSL’s roster.

Nineteen-year-olds Colin Guske and Aiden Hezarkhani both went 90 minutes in Houston, Jason Shokalook made his first RSL start and 19-year-old Owen Anderson became the 13th player to make his RSL first-team debut this season.

Moisa has made five starts himself during his first full season with the first team.

“I think I’m proud just on how many starts I’ve been getting,” Moisa said. “Always your first year you’re not gonna start as much, but I think I’m at five now, so I think just keep getting these starts.”

We meet NYCFC again after a 3 year hiatus#RSLvNYC | @EnglandLogistic pic.twitter.com/Gz2sHisjve

— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 11, 2026

Finishing the job

Encouraging performances haven’t been enough to move RSL back above the playoff line.

Salt Lake enters Saturday 10th in the Western Conference with 29 points, one point behind ninth-place San Diego and three behind both Portland and Colorado.

Juan Jose Arias believes one area in particular has repeatedly cost RSL points.

“If you go and look at the games that we lose or tie in the last minutes, it’s more like a team defense, not like a specific defense,” Arias said Friday. “I think all of us need to improve in that situation in the last 10, 15 minutes of every game to start getting the result that we want.”

Wednesday was just the latest example.

RSL was level with Houston entering the final minutes before Dynamo designated player Mateusz Bogusz curled the game-winner into the far corner in the 87th minute.

“It’s hard because we are 10 games in a row without winning,” Arias said. “That’s hard for us.”

A World Cup keeper comes to Sandy

NYCFC arrives with problems of its own.

New York has gone five consecutive matches without a victory, including a 2-1 home loss to New England on Wednesday. NYCFC sits ninth in the Eastern Conference with 29 points, the same total as RSL.

Breaking RSL’s own winless streak will mean finding a way past USMNT goalkeeper Matt Freese, who started for the United States at this summer’s World Cup before returning to NYCFC.

New York has allowed 1.38 goals per match this season and recorded four clean sheets. At the other end, Nicolás Fernández leads NYCFC with 14 goals in 23 appearances.

RSL rookie Sergi Solans remains the club’s leading scorer with nine goals, while Lobjanidze has provided a spark with his first two goals for the club in the last two matches.

The two teams haven’t met since playing to a scoreless draw at America First Field in June 2023.

For RSL, the objective Saturday is considerably less complicated than the path it has taken to get there.

Next game up. Find a way to win it.

How to watch

Who: Real Salt Lake vs. New York City FC
When: Saturday, Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m. MT
Where: America First Field, Sandy
TV/Streaming: Apple TV

Saturday is also RSL’s annual Kick Childhood Cancer Night and the club’s fifth Teddy Bear Toss. Fans who want to participate should bring a new, soft stuffed plush toy to throw onto the field at the halftime whistle.

The 4th Annual Teddy Bear Toss tradition is scheduled for Saturday

In English: https://t.co/8veTHKb57E
En Espanõl: https://t.co/9AlRtYuw9B#RSLvNYC | @AFCU pic.twitter.com/EdhXslPyUm

— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 11, 2026