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KEY TAKEAWAYS
- RSL drew 0-0 against Portland, thanks to key saves by Cabral and Junqua.
- Pablo Mastroeni praised 18-year-old Zavier Gozo for his standout performance.
- RSL aims to improve its attack with Gozo and Agada ahead of Saturday’s match in Colorado.
SANDY — A pair of saves in the 89th minute by Rafael Cabral and Sam Junqua earned Real Salt Lake its first clean sheet since April 5 on Wednesday in a 0-0 draw against the Portland Timbers at America First Field.
Portland came in with 12 goals over its last five games to just six for RSL, but a “fantastic” performance by Cabral and a back line missing its two starting center-backs was the difference for head coach Pablo Mastroeni against what he called “one of the most dynamic attacking teams in the league.”
“To have so many absences on the back line, I’m just so proud of the commitment, the decision-making and the execution,” Mastroeni said. “Just really proud of that defensive performance.”
The next line out of Mastroeni’s mouth was a bit of a surprise, however, as the 10-year MLS coach decided to single out 18-year-old Utah native Zavier Gozo unprompted for what he called a “standout performance.”
“It’s what we talk about as far as the work is concerned, and the drive,” Mastroeni said. “I see him improving with every game, regardless of where he plays, and we’ve just got to get that final pass and final shot in the back of the net.”
Diego Luna is the only player to score a goal for RSL through three games in the month of May, but Mastroeni and Gozo feel like the Eagle Mountain resident might not be far off from providing some scoring assistance for RSL’s talisman.
The teenager has clearly earned the trust of the coaching staff with four consecutive starts in place of the 21-year-old Dominik Marczuk, who was supposed to be the replacement for Andres Gomez after last summer’s transfer. Now it looks like Gozo might be closer to the long-awaited replacement for Gomez on the right wing.
“I feel like I’m really close,” Gozo said of his first MLS goal. “I feel like I just need to take a better shot at goal. I just need the final product, and just need to smooth a couple things out.”
RSL was held scoreless for just the third time this season against Portland and Luna is still the only player with multiple goals for the Claret and Cobalt at seven. Mastroeni feels like things might be coming together for the RSL attack, though, with Gozo’s emergence and new striker William Agada returning from suspension on Saturday in Colorado.
The first leg of the 2025 Rocky Mountain Cup kicks off Saturday in Commerce City, Colorado, at 7:30 p.m. MDT between rivals separated by just 2 points in the Western Conference standings. RSL is currently two spots out of the playoffs with 14 points, while Colorado occupies the final playoff spot at 16 points.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.