Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

The 2024 season is upon us. Real Salt Lake start the year on the road for a Wednesday night game against a star-studded Inter Miami. Miami are coming off a long and busy offseason, having missed the 2023 playoffs, but their recent world-tour, which seemed to be something of a Messi exhibition, was a massive disaster. With this being the first game of the MLS season, and with some of the stars on Inter’s squad, all eyes will be on this game.

A change of formation

With the departure of players like Jefferson Savarino, Damir Kreilach, Rubio Rubin, and Danny Musovski RSL has lost some firepower. They’re not weak in the attack, but it does change things for them. RSL often used a lone striker up top during preseason, and they’re likely to continue that into the season. This means RSL will play some variation of a 4-2-3-1. It’s expected that new signing Matt Crooks, who will miss this game, will play the 10, with Luna and Gomez on the wings, and Chicho as the 9. This formation allows for RSL to have more control in the midfield, and with Pablo Ruiz back from a long injury, this could prove a big strength for the team.

Diego and Chicho

The two most exciting players on this team are Diego Luna and Chicho Arango. Chicho is an incredible and well developed striker. He’s a fantastic forward and reliable goal-scorer, something RSL have been missing since Álvaro Saborío left the team in 2015. With Chicho being given the captain’s armband, he’s now the clear leader on this team. Luna is dynamic, creative, and exciting, but still growing as a player. His third season on the team means he should be more comfortable with his role, what is expected of him, and how to execute.

Defense

There’s no doubt that Miami have some of the most exciting players in the league, many of whom were teammates at FC Barcelona during their glory days. While older, those former Barca players are an average age of 35+ years old, they’re still very dangerous. RSL newcomer Alexandros Katranis is expected to take up left back duties, but he will miss this game. We should see Brody at right back, Glad, and either Vera or Silva at CB, and Oviedo on the left. They’ll have a lot to do in this game and the midfielders need to be active to help shut down Miami’s attack.

Player availability

Out: Kevin Bonilla - Left Knee Matt Crooks - Not Due to Injury Alexandros Katranis - Not Due to Injury

Predicted lineup