Herriman • Real Salt Lake had a strange year.
It started with losing four straight games in March and April. Then they didn’t score a goal for four straight games. Then they didn’t lose in June or July, a stretch that spanned nine games. To end the season, they were up down with four wins, three losses and a draw.
Compared to recent years, they’ve been better on the road and worse at home — a sentence not often typed about most Major League Soccer teams. Not to mention they’ve dealt with injuries to key players the entire time.
That’s all translated to RSL finishing fifth in the Western Conference, which slates them for a first-round playoff matchup against the Houston Dynamo, who will have home-field advantage in the three-game series that starts Sunday at 4 p.m.
“The next two or three games we know [are] going to be really tough,” defender Bryan Oviedo said earlier this week. “But we are ready for that.”
RSL played Houston three times during the season — twice in MLS competition and once in U.S. Open Cup play. Salt Lake did not win any of those, drawing one game and losing two.
The Dynamo beat Miami to win the U.S. Open Cup, and lost only once in their previous 13 games across all competitions. They finished fourth in the West.
“For us, it’s going to take everything that we’ve learned along the way,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said.
Injury report
RSL will be without some of its key players going into the first round. Veteran defender Justen Glad is nursing an injury and it’s unclear whether he’ll play against Houston. Mastroeni said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that Glad and defender Brayan Vera, who is also injured, will be available.
Then there’s the team’s star acquisition, striker Cristian “Chicho” Arango. Mastroeni said Arango, who has scored six goals and added two assists in his first RSL season, wasn’t expected to be available for the first round of the playoffs. But that could change.
“He’s a lot further along than what we anticipated,” Mastroeni said. “The projection was that he wouldn’t be available for the first round of the playoffs, and now that’s looking like it’s a possibility at some point.”
New MLS playoff format
The playoff format for this season is different than in recent years. The first round is now a best-of-three as opposed to a one-game knockout. And there’s no extra time — if a game is tied after 90 minutes, it goes straight to penalty kicks.
Mastroeni called the new format “pretty cool.” While he thinks it’s fair the format favors the home team, RSL’s success on the road has him feeling confident about his team’s chances.
“I think we’re going to have to do our damage on the road,” Mastroeni said. “But given the way our season looked this year, I feel comfortable going on the road and doing the job there.”
Mastroeni added that going straight to PKs is the “trickiest” part of the setup.
Underdog mentality
RSL is a plus-2,000 underdog to win MLS Cup, per DraftKings. For Mastroeni’s money, Salt Lake is a nightmare matchup this postseason.
“I think if we can get past the first round in a good way,” Mastroeni said, “I don’t think too many teams would want to play a group that like we have, that will never quit, that will keep going, that has great quality and that has had a really good campaign.
“I wouldn’t want to play a group like that.”
RSL Playoff Watch Parties
The club is hosting watch parties at two locations during the playoff run. There will be giveaways and merchandise available throughout the game.
• Calle (all ages), 625 S 600 W, Salt Lake City, 4 p.m.
• Beer Bar (21+), 161 E 200 S, SLC, 4 p.m.
