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- RSL lost 1-0 to FC Dallas after an early red card.
- Goalkeeper Rafael Cabral saved a penalty but couldn't stop a stoppage-time goal.
- Coach Pablo Mastroeni praised the team's effort, despite three losses in five matches.
SANDY — Fresh off a win in Houston last week, Real Salt Lake fell victim to an early red card and lost 1-0 to FC Dallas Saturday at America First Field.
RSL used two strikers instead of one in a new formation to start the match, but was back down to a single forward after just 23 minutes when the referee went to the replay monitor and gave a red card to Ari Piol for "serious foul play" on what appeared like a routine challenge for the ball in real-time.
Forster Ajago was the lone striker for the remainder of the game, until the final 10 minutes when defender Kobi Henry was brought on as an emergency striker due to his ability to head the ball as times got desperate for an under-manned RSL squad down a goal late in the game.
Goalkeeper Rafael Cabral kept the match tied at 0-0 for much longer than it should have been following the red card ejection, including a penalty save on 2023 MLS MVP Lucho Acosta in the 34th minute. Acosta got his goal eventually, however, using all seven minutes of first-half stoppage time to slip one past Cabral.
Lucho Acosta with the goal off the header to give @FCDallas the lead just before the break! pic.twitter.com/2ROqXgCHI3
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 23, 2025
RSL put all its chips in the middle of the table to try and get the equalizing goal in the second half with attacking players Tyler Wolff, Lachlan Brook and Alex Katranis joining the fray.
"You've got to go for it, man," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the second half. "And if it means you take someone's arm along the way, then so be it. But, like, we're only here for a short time, and let's go for it. What are we doing? What I didn't want to do in this game the second half was die on my knees."
The team went out swinging as Mastroeni would have it, getting a pair of shots on goal after none in the first half and launching the ball toward the Dallas box at every opportunity.
The tying goal never came, though, and RSL now begins its season with three losses in its first five matches to fall back out of the early playoff picture.
Cabral and midfielder Braian Ojeda felt the team "left everything out on the field" in the lopsided matchup, but Mastroeni added that he would use the match as an example of what the team could achieve if they had that 11th player for the full 90 minutes.
"We want to be consistent and win more games," Cabral said. "We've got a very good team and our atmosphere, our friendship, is very nice, so we've got everything to have a great season. I think we've been doing well, but now we have to get more results."
RSL hits the road next week for a meeting with Minnesota United before returning home for a marquee matchup against longtime rival LA Galaxy on Saturday, April 5.
