‘You lean into it’: RSL relies on faith as league winless streak reaches 11

SANDY — Real Salt Lake keeps creating chances.

It keeps finding ways not to score them.

RSL outshot New York City FC 15-6, put six attempts on target and generated nearly twice the expected goals Saturday night at America First Field.

NYCFC needed six saves from USMNT goalkeeper Matt Freese and put only three shots on target of its own.

It won 2-0.

Nicolás Fernández scored on New York’s first shot of the match in the 41st minute and Luighi added another in the second half, extending RSL’s MLS winless streak to 11 matches and nearly four months.

For head coach Pablo Mastroeni, the answer after another frustrating night isn’t abandoning what RSL is doing. It’s believing that eventually it will work.

“If you’re a person of faith, and to be a teammate, you gotta have faith in your teammates, right?” Mastroeni said. “And in these moments that are extremely difficult, we haven’t had a result in a while. You don’t change faiths, you lean into it.”

RSL had plenty of reasons to believe early.

Luca Moisa forced Freese into a save in the 16th minute, with Saba Lobjanidze pouncing on the rebound only for the goalkeeper to recover quickly enough to deny him as well.

Two minutes later, Sergi Solans released Morgan Guilavogui down the right side. Guilavogui chose to shoot rather than square the ball to an open Lobjanidze, and Freese made another save.

Lobjanidze tested him again in the 20th minute.

RSL controlled the opening half-hour. NYCFC hadn’t even attempted a shot.

Then New York scored.

A free kick outside the penalty area was played short to Fernández in the 41st minute, and the Argentine curled a shot from distance beyond Rafael Cabral and into the top corner.

The chance carried an expected-goals value of just 0.02.

It was enough to send RSL into halftime trailing 1-0.

“You score that first goal, they start to feel the travel, they start to feel the energy in the building,” Mastroeni said. “I think it’s been an Achilles heel where, again, I think this is the third consecutive game where we’ve created the better chances objectively, not just me saying, better than our opponents, and we still find ourselves on the wrong side.”

Another injury, another goal

RSL’s problems grew shortly after halftime.

Juan José Arias pulled up while chasing back in the 54th minute, immediately grabbing his right hamstring. Kobi Henry replaced him two minutes later.

“The hamstring one, when you get it, it feels like you get shot,” Mastroeni said. “The way he pulls up is not a good sign.”

It was another addition to an injury list that has increasingly limited Mastroeni’s options.

Lukas Engel suffered a hamstring injury in Houston on Wednesday, the same night Diego Luna injured a knee. Luna finished the match but underwent an MRI Thursday and was held out of training Friday.

Mastroeni said Luna will undergo further evaluation and declined to give a firm timeline, describing it as “a minimum of weeks to a maximum of unknown.”

“I’d like to say ‘next guy up,’ but we’re slowly running out of guys,” Mastroeni said.

Six minutes after Arias left the field, NYCFC doubled its advantage.

A ball over the top released Agustín Ojeda down the right side. Ojeda squared it into the penalty area, where Luighi peeled away from his defender and finished from close range in the 62nd minute.

RSL went to the bench searching for a response.

Lineker Rodrigues and Aiden Hezarkhani entered in the 67th minute, with Rodrigues quickly setting up Lobjanidze for a shot that curled just wide of the far post.

Taylor Booth followed in the 76th minute, making his RSL debut after joining the club on loan from FC Twente earlier this month.

“Obviously mixed emotions,” Booth said. “Surreal moment to come back home and make my debut for this club after 10, 11 years away when I was playing for the academy. So obviously, that feels good. But yeah, we need three points, so sad also.”

Booth said he felt good physically and is “ready for more minutes.”

‘They’re deserving of more’

RSL kept pushing.

Hezarkhani forced another Freese save with a sharp header in the 87th minute, and Salt Lake continued sending balls into the penalty area through second-half stoppage time.

Nothing went in.

Freese finished with six saves. RSL finished with 15 shots, 10 corners and 1.16 expected goals without scoring.

“He did make some spectacular saves, in particular in the first half,” Mastroeni said. “That’s why he represents the U.S. in goal, right?”

But Mastroeni didn’t put all of RSL’s problems on Freese.

“I think it’s both,” Mastroeni said. “I think there’s moments where the game’s going so fast where we can actually take a little bit of time or use deception in those moments.”

When the final whistle came, so did boos from pockets of the sellout crowd of 20,293.

Mastroeni didn’t object.

“If me as a coach sits here and says that fans, your home fans shouldn’t boo, then I’m in the wrong profession, right?” he said.

The coach said RSL supporters want to see players who care, work for one another and play entertaining soccer. He believes his team is providing that.

What it isn’t providing is goals or wins.

“Those boos are a motivation for us to double down on what we’re doing, to not make excuses, to show up every day and be our best selves,” Mastroeni said. “We have one of the best home fans in the league, and they’re deserving of more.”

RSL hasn’t won an MLS match since May 16, though it did win two Leagues Cup matches against Liga MX opponents. It will get its next chance for a league win Saturday, Sept. 19, when the Vancouver Whitecaps visit America First Field.

Mastroeni remains convinced the way out isn’t to tear everything apart.

“You gotta lean into the faith in these moments,” he said. “Not be an individual, not suffer alone. We suffer as a group.”