Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

Defense

Zac MacMath: 8.0

Goalkeeper

Zac very reasonably gets an MVP shout for this match, and managed to win those honors on two of the rating sites. His performance had just about everything you want to see outside of any world class save. There was no one single moment where he had to stand on his head and salvage the game, but he did make quite a few decent saves amongst his 8 total. While nothing that went his way looked unstoppable, he did have a variety of powerful and tricky attempts to contend with. MacMath played close to error free, and even with a poor run of attacking form from LAFC, a shut out to them away is an extremely rare feat.

WhoScored Rating: 7.9 | SofaScore Rating: 8.6 (MVP) | FotMob: 8.1 (MVP)

Bryan Oviedo: 7.25

Left-back

Without a doubt one of the more solid games we’ve seen from Oviedo at left back this year. This is perhaps most present in the fact that his direct opposition was Christian Olivera and Kellyn Acosta, who compared to the rest of the LAFC attack had very little joy going forward. While there were a few flashy moments, what we really got was stout defending. He was dialed into his defensive work, and while perhaps a bit too cautious at times, was reliable through the entire night.

WhoScored Rating: 7.4 | SofaScore Rating: 7.3 | FotMob: 7.6

Justen Glad: 7.25

Center-back

Something in the algorithm really liked how Justen played this match, but having watched over the 90 minutes twice, I think it was a rather quiet evening for the homegrown. While the defense was highly involved through the whole match, most of the critical moments to the back line were handled by Vera in this contest. That’s not to say Justen was a spectator, he did have to win a number of important aerial duels and maintain good discipline. Overall it was a solid evening for Justen, who certainly played his part in getting the clean sheet.

WhoScored Rating: 8.2 (MVP) | SofaScore Rating: 7.9 | FotMob: 8.1

Brayan Vera: 7.75

Center-back

As mentioned above, most of the really testing LAFC attack’s happened to put Vera under the spotlight. Given the result was a shutout, he clearly did well enough in those moments to get the job done – and for my money, was perhaps Vera’s best performance as a CB this season. Denis Bouanga was a constant threat in this contest, and despite his 4 shots, never really managed to get the best of Vera and create a clear opportunity. While his xGoal was 0.11 on the night, Vela and Olivera only combined to add 0.20 more. Basically, the attacking front three for LAFC never really got any clear looks at goal, and credit goes to Vera and the assisting members of the back line for that..

WhoScored Rating: 7.4 | SofaScore Rating: 7.2 | FotMob: 7.8

Andrew Brody: 6.5

Right-back

Brody at times was doing his wide-back duties well, and put in a 90 minute performance that’s acceptable by most metrics. In the first half he took down a long ball so flawlessly that I had to double check that it was really Brody who had done so. Despite the long sections of defensive play, he was by chance or design, often on the side being attacked, and managed to get dribbled past almost a half dozen times. That’s the sort of thing you expect against a talented attacking side like LAFC, but it still isn’t a stat one loves to see. It wasn’t the best game from Andrew, but it got the job done in the end.

WhoScored Rating: 6.8 | SofaScore Rating: 6.5 | FotMob: 7.4

Midfield

Nelson Palacio: 6.25

Center Midfielder

I still don’t think Nelson has fully settled into playing on this team, but at least his defensive identity has slowly been becoming more apparent. One might think that given the shut out, our central midfielders must have put down some good work, but Palacio was mostly on the pitch to cover ground and protect passing lanes. He was dribbled past even more than Brody (probably half of which were Ilie) and had a rather poor success rate on his tackles. Just on the eye test, it was a quiet evening from the new signee, and one that doesn’t answer many questions as to how the partnership with Ojeda is trending.

WhoScored Rating: 6.6 | SofaScore Rating: 6.3 | FotMob: 7.1

Braian Ojeda: 7.0

Center Midfielder

Ojeda looked a good bit more reliable on the pitch, and the stat sheet backs up this take. He was far less often caught out of position, and kept the actual stability in the central areas on the night. He led the team in touches and tackles, clearly leaving his impact on this tough contest. In many ways he was running the show in central midfield, with Palacio more of a supporting actor to cover the spaces that opened up. It’s an encouraging performance to see given we’ve entered the most critical stages of the year, and hopefully he can maintain this level to help keep RSL on the top side of the table.

WhoScored Rating: 6.9 | SofaScore Rating: 6.6 | FotMob: 7.6

Diego Luna: 6.0

Left-winger

It was a night void of any real joy for the young playmaker. Obviously given the LAFC favored possession numbers, Luna didn’t get many chances to show off his creative prowess. Still, with the 28 touches he managed in his 70 minutes of game time, all he contributed was simple possession and a notably high amount of bad passes to lose the ball. With younger players games like this can happen, and illustrates that Luna still has a ways to go before he can become a creative powerhouse in MLS. The important thing for Diego is he is getting these minutes to continue to grow and learn to one day become a real force.

WhoScored Rating: 6.4 | SofaScore Rating: 6.8 | FotMob: 6.5

Carlos Andrés Gómez: 5.5

Right-winger

Gómez in many ways had a very similar night to Luna, but managed to put on an even worse display of it. Like Diego, he is young and should be expected to put out some disappointing games, but this one somehow hurt more than usual. Carlos has had close to a full season to adapt, and still clocks in too many of these bogey games. His only shining moment in this match was a deflected shot that Crépeau clawed out of the top corner. Aside from that? Relatively lethargic passing and possession over 70 minutes.

WhoScored Rating: 6.2 | SofaScore Rating: 6.2 | FotMob: 6.3

Attack

Jefferson Savarino: 7.0

Advanced Forward

Fresh from a good bit of Twitter (or X, I don’t know) controversy and being left out of last week’s game, I’m sure most of us were dialed in on Sava’s performance for this one. For the most part, it was a typical Savarino game where the team struggles to get the ball forward. He tried some shots, tried some risky passes, and came up empty handed on most of his creative forays. Without a doubt his most notable moment was later into the second half, where he did a full-pitch sprint back to shut down Carlos Vela on a dangerous counter attack - likely ending any questions as to whether his off-field issues have any impact on his on-field dedication and work ethic.

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

Chicho Arango: 8.0 (MVP)

Advanced Forward     

Earlier in the year when RSL had woefully bad striker play, the amount of wasted chances and missed points helped spur on the signing of Chicho to solve those issues. This match, however, was not from the same mold as those. Rather than wasting a pile of clear cut opportunities, this game really only had one moment RSL could’ve secured the win. In a very Joe Gaetjens moment, Arango used his head to steal a win from a game where only the opposition looked destined for three points. I don’t think an open header goal is more impressive than an 8 save performance by any means, but what gives Chicho the game MVP for me is his dedication and fight. Captaining against his former team, he was fouled and bruised all night, quite literally taking a beating, all to survive and cash in on that one moment to lift the team.

WhoScored Rating: 7.9 | SofaScore Rating: 7.5 | FotMob: 7.8

Substitutions

Maikel Chang: 6.75

Right-winger

Chang came on and did well during his time on the right-wing. His combination play created the eventual assist from Rubio, and his defensive effort was present as always. While he came on just before the goal, his veteran presence helped see out the result.

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

Rubio Rubin: 7.25

Left-winger

For 19 of the 20 minutes on the pitch, Rubio was frantically defending the left side of the pitch against LAFC attacks. While nothing too noteworthy, he was almost exclusively defending. Still, Rubin was likely the catalyst that led to victory. Despite being lined up on the left, in the 72nd minute he by chance ended up dribbling centrally, after passing the ball he continued his run and promptly created an overload on the opponent's right flank. This creative move, while not structurally sound (leaving the RSL left defense totally exposed), did create an attacking imbalance for him to dish out a perfectly placed cross to take the lead.

WhoScored Rating: 6.8 | SofaScore Rating: 7.0 | FotMob: 6.9

Daniel Musovski: N/A

Advanced Forward

Moose was poor on the ball, but involved in a lot of duels during his 9 minutes of game time.

WhoScored Rating: 6.9 | SofaScore Rating: 7.2 | FotMob: N/A

Bode Hidalgo: N/A

Right-winger

Bode came on in the 88th to help secure the shut out.

WhoScored Rating: 6.0 | SofaScore Rating: 6.4 | FotMob: N/A