It seems Chicho Arango can do it all.
“There’s not a training session that goes by where he doesn’t bury four or five goals,” Real Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni said of his new $6 million striker. “He does it all: with his head, with his feet. And his link play is fantastic as well.”
The only question facing Arango and RSL right now: how long to keep him on the field?
The 28-year-old Colombian had a dream debut for his new team Saturday, finding the back of the net with a 23rd-minute header to open the scoring in a 4-0 win over Orlando City.
“I dreamed of a goal and winning and thank God it was able to come true,” Arango said afterward through a translator. “… It was amazing receiving that support [from the fans] and I knew I needed to give something back on the pitch.”
But, with RSL in control, Arango exited the match in the 69th minute.
“We always planned to play him 60 minutes,” Mastroeni said. “It’s always hard to take a player like that off even though you have your strength and conditioning coaches measuring minutes and volume.”
For now, it seems RSL will continue to closely monitor Arango’s minutes with games against Sporting Kansas City (Wednesday) and New York Red Bulls (Saturday) on the horizon.
“The next step for Chicho is just that game fitness,” Mastroeni said. “We’ve got three games this week. He’s a huge asset to the group and we’ll make sure we manage that the right way.”
Mastroeni, meanwhile, credited Arango for how he has integrated himself into the team since RSL made a club record signing to acquire him from Liga MX’s Pachuca last month.
“Chicho coming into the group early was really important,” Mastroeni said. “He got time to acclimate to the way we want to play to his teammates.
“He’s been a fantastic mentor to some of the young guys, a fantastic teammate to his peers. Just a top class character. … He has been electric in training; he’s been unbelievable in the locker room in the community. And everyone’s received him with open arms. And so I think, the goal tonight, I kind of put a stamp on his introduction, you know, to the group and really have high expectations for both him and the rest of the team.”
