By Carson Lantz
Real Salt Lake opened their 2024 season campaign in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at Chase Bank Stadium, where they faced the recent Leagues Cup winners, Inter Miami. This match marked the first encounter between Real Salt Lake and Inter Miami, setting the stage for an exciting chapter in MLS history.
Head Coach Pablo Masteroni started Zac Macmath in goal, Andrew Brody and Emeka Eneli at outside back, Brayan Vera and Justen Glad at center back, Braian Ojeda and Nelson Palacio in midfield, with Pablo Ruiz pushed up to attacking midfielder. Young stars Diego Luna and Andres Gomez were deployed out wide, with captain Christian “Chicho” Arango leading the line as the lone striker.
Head Coach Tata Martino chose Drake Callender to start in goal, with Jordi Alba and Deandre Yedlin on the outside. Julian Gressel, Sergio Busquets, and Diego Gomez filled the midfield, while the star-filled front three consisted of Robert Taylor, Luis Suarez, and Lionel Messi.
The first half started slowly for both sides, with not much action until the fifteenth minute, where Pablo Ruiz put in a soft tackle on Lionel Messi, resulting in Ruiz being booked with a yellow card caution. Goalkeeper Zac Macmath commanded Justen Glad and Chico to line up on both goal posts for the free-kick, which isn’t something you see every day, but you’ve got to do what you can to stop Messi from scoring a free-kick. In fact, Justen Glad managed to prevent a goal by heading away the attempted shot.
Tata Martino’s counter-press was getting the better of Real Salt Lake, as every time they gained possession, Miami would swarm with two to three players immediately, aiming to regain control. This relentless pressure led to a barrage of shots directed at Zac Macmath, with some narrowly missing or being saved. Macmath proved to be the sole reason Real were still in the game. However, in the 39th minute, Busquets and Messi combined to release Finnish international Robert Taylor through on goal, where his shot narrowly crept under Macmath’s hand and into the back of the net. Real Salt Lake headed back to the locker room trailing 1-0 at halftime.
Real Salt Lake didn’t have the best first half. The build-up to the attack was almost shut down every time by Miami’s press, and possession wasn’t great at all, as Miami held 61 percent and RSL only had 39 percent. The only players that seemed connected and eager were Chicho, Ruiz, and Luna, but still, those three weren’t enough to get a goal on the board. Not to mention, Miami was outshooting Salt Lake 9 to 4.
Real Salt Lake would come out looking like a different team. It seemed that whatever happened during the halftime pep talk worked. Salt Lake was raining shots in the second half, getting chance after chance, and their best chance would come in the forty-eighth minute. Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets were under pressure from the young duo of Andres Gomez and Diego Luna. Gomez would come in from the right wing to poke the ball from Busquets and have a clear path to goal where Salt Lake outnumbered Miami 3 to 1. Gomez had Chico on his left and Ruiz on his right but opted to take the shot himself. His shot would barely miss the bottom right corner of Callender’s goal. Captain Chicho Arango was shown upset with Gomez as one more pass could have led to the game being leveled at 1-1.
Real Salt Lake would later bring on debutants, Mexico youth international Fidel Barajas in the sixty-sixth minute and former Portland Timbers first-round pick Noel Caliskan in the seventy-third minute. Both players were brought in this offseason, with Barajas coming from Charleston Battery and Caliskan being called up from the Monarchs after an impressive preseason.
Although calling for reinforcements off the bench, this wouldn’t change the outcome of the game as Miami would break Salt Lake’s defense once again, this time being scored by Diego Gomez and assisted by Luis Suarez in the eighty-third minute. Even after dominating the second half, Salt Lake couldn’t find the back of the net with 13 shots. The game would end 2-0 in favor of Miami. This would be Real Salt Lake’s first opening game loss since 2009, a season in which they went on to win the MLS Cup.
Real Salt Lake will be looking to get their first win this Saturday, February 24th at CityPark, where they played a memorable match versus Western Conference opponent Saint Louis City SC, beating them 3-1 in the 2023 season.