Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

Defense

Zac MacMath: 7.0

Goalkeeper

While only one save comes to mind from this game, it's not like Zac was enjoying a picnic while watching the match. On more than one occasion he had to run out to stop an unopposed attacking player, and thankfully in all cases, added enough pressure to prevent an impending goal. MacMath has been very strong in his rushes this season, managing sweeper-keeper duties without inducing a great deal of panic. The goal allowed was to no fault of his own, and thus adds up to a good showing from the starting keeper. 

WhoScored Rating: 7.2 | SofaScore Rating: 7.2 | FotMob: 8.2

Andrew Brody: 6.75

Left-back

I think Andrew actually put in a solid shift Saturday night. While it was by no means clean, frantic defending that works is just as effective as any other kind - and Brody was frantically getting the job done. In the first half he sprung a wonderful attack to Musovski, who had he picked out the right pass, would’ve resulted in a goal with certainty. Given his strong possession on the night, Brody didn’t drop the ball in too many areas and gave a decent account of himself.

WhoScored Rating: 6.2 | SofaScore Rating: 6.6 | FotMob: 6.5

Justen Glad: 7.5

Center-back

Glad once again outshined his center-back partner, carrying the calm and composure we’ve come to expect from the 26-year-old veteran. Not only was he able to connect on many of his long diagonal passes, but his duel % was fantastic to boot. In the second half he made a wild 1-1 defensive tackle that prevented a goal, coming up clutch in a big moment. Aside from getting his head on a corner, there isn’t too much more to note. A good outing overall. 

WhoScored Rating: 7.2 | SofaScore Rating: 7.4 | FotMob: 7.4

Brayan Vera: 6.5

Center-back

Compared to Glad, it was a pretty quiet night for Vera, who found himself looking less sharp, but still effective overall. I don’t think his defense was at fault for the Red Bull goal in the second half, and generally stayed in position throughout the night. My big gripe would be from the manner in which he collected his yellow card. While I often defend the hard tackles and defensive effort, a meaningless yellow like that when you’re one away from suspension is a bit of a boneheaded move. Thankfully Silva can slot in just fine during his one-match absence. 

WhoScored Rating: 6.7 | SofaScore Rating: 6.7 | FotMob: 6.9

Bode Hidalgo: 7.0

Right-back

One of the better games we’ve seen from Hidalgo all season, and while it wasn’t full of highlights, it was full of good attacking contributions and defensive moments. It’s hard to tell who Pablo prefers at this position, given that the best-11 home lineups include Eneli just as often. I think Bode helped his case against Red Bull, and won’t be surrendering too many minutes at right-back any time soon. 

WhoScored Rating: 6.8 | SofaScore Rating: 6.7 | FotMob: 7.3

Midfield

Pablo Ruiz: 6.25

Center Midfielder

Boy, it’s been some time since Ruiz has put on a less than stellar performance, however Saturday night he undoubtedly had one of his meandering matches. Not only was his passing less than excellent, but he didn’t really create many opportunities either, fashioning just one key pass in his 75 minutes. Given the way RSL’s double pivot works, he’d be forgiven for focusing on defensive duties instead, but also clearly lacked in that department as well. Stat sheet aside, it was a game where Ruiz was constantly sprinting backwards to correct his positioning. While it wasn’t an awful performance by any means, it comes well short of the Ruiz we’ve seen the last month.

WhoScored Rating: 6.3 | SofaScore Rating: 6.7 | FotMob: 7.0

Braian Ojeda: 6.75

Center Midfielder

Speaking of sprinting backward to recover, Ojeda was doing a lot of that as well. Had this game played out in April, we’d have somehow tied the match 3-3 with the opposition executing on these attacks with some banger goals. This issue has plagued the team, and one reason why RSL had the worst goals against record for large spells of this season - but more on that below. Ojeda didn’t impress with his passing numbers, but did in his general defensive effort. There were many moments he displayed strong ball-winning skills, and completed the most duels of any player in claret. We’ve seen much better games from Ojeda, but this one was satisfactory. 

WhoScored Rating: 7.2 | SofaScore Rating: 6.9 | FotMob: 7.8

Diego Luna: 8.5 (MVP)

Left-winger

Post U-20 World Cup Luna continues to be all hits, no misses, as he once again put on another strong performance from the starting role. While his position out wide doesn’t exactly give him all the touches you’d want to see, he still gets on the ball enough to impact the game and create for himself and others. His positioning Saturday is what made the big difference for the MLS player-of-the-matchday, getting himself in good spots to put away very makeable chances. Particularly on his second goal, his hustle and quick pass to Musovski were both class moves, let alone the chip shot to put it away. Luna has the left winger position on lock at the current moment. 

WhoScored Rating: 7.8 | SofaScore Rating: 7.8 (co-MVP) | FotMob: 8.6 (MVP)

Jefferson Savarino: 8.25

Right-winger

Savarino had himself a day against a young Red Bull side, not only obtaining the opening assist of the match, but masterfully curling a late second-half goal to secure the result. I think there is actually a pretty reasonable argument that Savarino was as good or better than Luna on the night, as even the rating sites were split down the middle on who to give MVP to. What is obvious is that Jefferson had a massive impact on this game, adding sharpness to the RSL attack all night long. A lot of players can score a goal or two a season by bending shots from outside the 18, but the frequency in which Savarino executes those into goals is no less than world-class. 

WhoScored Rating: 7.9 (MVP) | SofaScore Rating: 7.8 (co-MVP) | FotMob: 8.3

Attack

Daniel Musovski: 7.25

Advanced Forward

While it was just a 65 minute outing for Musovski, he left his mark on the game by providing an assist on the second RSL goal. In all honesty, he could consider himself unlucky to only walk away with a single assist on the night, having set up Chicho for most of his clear chances as well. Based on his combination play alone, it was a good night for the striker who ended up without a shot to his name. It’s hard to imagine Danny won’t get plenty more chances to show his chemistry with Arango in upcoming games, still well and truly maintaining his good run of form.

WhoScored Rating: 7.7 | SofaScore Rating: 7.2 | FotMob: 7.7

Chicho Arango: 6.5

Advanced Forward     

Despite a subdued performance, there are still clear points you can identify to see that Chicho has made the team better. 31 touches is genuinely sky high for an RSL forward this year, and he got it done in 75 minutes (Musovski by comparison had 18 in 65). While in this match he lacked the end-product fans so desperately want to see, his goal-threat is still creating more space on the wings and half channels. Given how often he was fouled (and not fouled, but actually fouled), it's clear opposing teams are putting much more defensive focus into RSL’s attacking vanguard.  

WhoScored Rating: 6.5 | SofaScore Rating: 6.7 | FotMob: 6.5

Substitutions

Anderson Julio: 6.0

Advanced Forward

The hottest super sub in the league featured for 25 minutes this game. However, even after watching the match twice over, it's hard to recall just what he was doing, hardly showing up on the stat sheet at all. Regardless, I still approve of throwing Julio into games around this minute mark. 

WhoScored Rating: 6.1 | SofaScore Rating: 6.6 | FotMob: 6.3

Bryan Oviedo: 6.5

Left-winger

Left-winger Oviedo gets yet another appearance, and this time it resulted in an assist for the good guys. I say assist here in the loosest terms possible, Savarino collected the ball and then did all the work, but official credit still belongs to Oviedo. What was much more impressive was his hustle to keep the ball from going out of bounds on that play, when he very easily could’ve let it roll out for a throw-in. 

WhoScored Rating: 6.5 | SofaScore Rating: 6.8 | FotMob: 7.1

Damir Kreilach: N/A

Advanced Forward

Had 7 touches of the ball during his 15 minutes, not much to say about Kreilach’s contributions this time around.

WhoScored Rating: 6.0 | SofaScore Rating: 6.2 | FotMob: 6.1

Nelson Palacio: N/A

Center Midfielder

Matched Damir on both stats, but was on the field - and perhaps slightly out of position - on the NYRB goal. So far the new signing has looked a lot like a central midfielder, and not the defensive-minded destroyer we were told to expect. He, like those before him, got some good sprints in trying to recover positioning. 

WhoScored Rating: 5.9 | SofaScore Rating: 6.1 | FotMob: 6.0

Carlos Andrés Gómez: N/A

Right-winger

Carlos absolutely did play 5 minutes in this match. 

WhoScored Rating: 6.5 | SofaScore Rating: 6.5 | FotMob: N/A