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(Monday, June 3, 2024) – For the ninth straight game, first-place Real Salt Lake is fielding at least one player – this week, captain ** Chicho Arango ** – in the Major League Soccer Team of the Day, with the MLS Golden Boot leader named in the imaginary XI after his hat-trick on Saturday, with teammate **Anderson Julio** appointed to bench selection.
First-place RSL extended its active 13-game unbeaten streak in MLS with a surprising four first-half goals Saturday against visiting Austin FC, as Chicho and Julio each scored twice in the first 45 minutes. Arango – now the sole Major League Soccer Golden Boot leader with 16 goals in 17 games, adding nine assists to match Lionel Messi’s lead with 25 assists this season – opened the scoring with a gutsy 16.th-minute laser from 63 yards on a surefire candidate for MLS Goal of the Year, completing his eventual hat-trick from the penalty spot midway through the second half of an eventual 5-1 victory.
Arango’s hat trick was his second of the season (March 30, 3-1 win over St. Louis), joining former RSL player Alvaro Saborio as the only players in RSL history with 210 over 20 years and 631 match to tally multiple career caps. tricks for Claret-and-Cobalt (Arango, 35 matches; Saborio, 127). Arango needs just one more goal this season to match Saborio’s record of 17 goals in an RSL season (set in 2012), while an assist would make Arango just the third RSL player with 10g/10a in 20 years, joining Albert Rusnák (11g/11a in 2021) and Jeff Cunningham (16g/11a in 2006).
Julio’s shutout was his first since April 2021 in Minnesota in his first game for RSL. Saturday’s two first-half goals marked Julio’s fourth and fifth of the season for RSL, for whom he now has 22 MLS career goals, including 14 off the bench. Fifteen of Julio’s 22 career goals have come in the second half, including nine of 80th minute or later.
With Austin’s 5-1 demolition, RSL’s active unbeaten run entering the current FIFA international break has been extended to 13 games, the second-longest single-season unbeaten streak in MLS action in the 20-year history of Club. The head coach Pablo Mastroeni‘s teams have also secured eight straight road results, last losing away on February 21 in the 2024 MLS season opener in Miami. Overall this season, RSL boasts a 3-1-5 road record / 14 points, second only to Minnesota in the West and Miami/Cincinnati/Philadephia in the Eastern Conference.
First place RSL (9-2-6, 33 points, 1str West) returns to action after this week’s international break with two more away games, June 15/19, in Montreal and Kansas City, before hosting the LA Galaxy on Saturday, June 22, at America First Field in Sandy. RSL has turned the Riot into a true fortress this season, posting 6-1-1/19 points on Utah soil in 2024. Tickets are available at www.RSL.com/tickets for the upcoming June 22 (LA Galaxy), July 3 (Houston) and July 6 (Atlanta) home contests.
The final squad of Match Day selections have also recognized RSL MF Diego Luna (Game 15), DF Bryan Vera (Game 12), Alex Katranis (Games 10 and 11) and Captain Chicho Arango (Games 10, 11, 14, 16) honored for their stellar performances, while RSL have also previously seen both Andrés Gómez (Games 3 and 15) and teenage striker Fidel Barajas (Game 5) honored in the League’s weekly recognitions.
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