Lack of structure, transition play lead Real Salt Lake to 3-1 loss to FC Dallas

SANDY — Real Salt Lake tries to play the same style on the road as at home, but that style was anything-but-regular Saturday night.

Santiago Moreno scored his first goal of the season as FC Dallas handed RSL a third loss in four matches, 3-1 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Diego Luna scored for Salt Lake, which fell to 6-4-1 on the year and into a tie for sixth with Dallas (5-3-4, 16 points) in the Western Conference.

RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni pinned the decision on the team’s structure — or lack thereof — and a few transition moments. Salt Lake out-shot the hosts 12-11, but put just three shots on frame and did fairly little with more than 67% of possession.

That goes back to those transition moments.

“When we’ve been great this season, that has been a critical component to us,” the fifth-year RSL head coach noted.

“Let’s make a promise to ourselves that we’re never going to come into halftime again and talk about structure,” he later added. “That is, to me, the biggest takeaway of this game.”

Shorthanded Real Salt Lake struggles in first half

RSL was also without veteran center back Justen Glad after the 29-year-old RSL Academy graduate and homegrown staple was held out with a groin injury suffered in last week’s 2-0 win over Portland. Mastroeni said the club is “optimistic” that Glad will be back by the end of the team’s three-match-in-eight-game run before the month-long international break for this summer’s World Cup.

But for a night, Salt Lake had to deal without him. And Moreno took advantage.

The Colombian international on loan from Brazil’s Fluminense opened the scoring in the 18th minute, sliding a shot between new center back Philip Quinton and DeAndre Yedlin to give Dallas a 1-0 lead in the first half.

Kaick doubled the advantage with a transition goal just over five minutes later. RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral saved Petar Musa’s initial attempt in the 24th minute, but the rebound fell to Ferreira for the putback en route to Dallas’ 2-0 halftime lead.

It was Salt Lake’s second multi-goal deficit in the first 11 matches of the season, the first since a 2-0 loss to Inter Miami and Lionel Messi back on April 22. On that night, the Herons scored two in the second half to take the win.

This time, FC Dallas put RSL in a two-goal halftime hole for the first time in 2026.

“Our structure was really, really poor,” Mastroeni said of the first half. “That was the biggest thing.

“What’s made us a really good, dynamic attacking team has been maintaining structure — and our 10s were drifting. Most of our possession was in deeper areas. Losing games is going to happen. But the most important thing is that we don’t lose any game in vain. As a group, we need to commit to structure. That’s where creativity spawns from.”

Salt Lake eventually worked its way back into Saturday’s match.

Luna pulled one back for the visitors in the 85th minute, finishing a lob into the box from Morgan Guilavogui with a settling touch and a right-footed rip for his sixth goal contribution in six matches.

Insane run by Sam Sarver to make it 3-1 Dallas! 😱 pic.twitter.com/Lt4sBsjZKP

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 10, 2026

“It’s very nice to play with Diego; we talk the same football,” said Guilavogui, the Guinean international who was born in France. “Sometimes it’s a little bit more complicated. But we find the solution … We just need to keep pushing.”

But Sam Sarver clinched all 3 points for Dallas with another fast-break goal in the second minute of stoppage time to move the Hoops into the a tie with RSL on 19 points in the Western Conference table.

Real Salt Lake returns home Wednesday to host the Houston Dynamo. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MT at America First Field in Sandy.

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 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.