CARSON, Calif. — No MLS team has ever gone 17 games without a win, and the Los Angeles Galaxy won’t become the first, earning their first win of the season Saturday after a 16-game winless start to their MLS Cup defense campaign.
Real Salt Lake’s cold streak continues, however, finishing the month of May and the first half of the MLS season on a seven-game winless streak thanks to a 2-0 loss in Southern California. It’s the longest such streak since a similar seven-game run at the end of the 2016 season, when RSL also lost four games and tied three.
RSL conceded its first goal in the opening 20 minutes Saturday as opposed to the final 20, as in recent fixtures. Matheus Nascimento got deep into the left side of RSL’s box and cut back a perfect pass to Lucas Sanabria for the Uruguayan’s first MLS goal in the 17th minute.
Zavier Gozo looked to follow up his own MLS opener last week with another score Saturday, getting two shots on frame and another off the post for an impressive first half. RSL more than doubled LA’s shot total with 20 attempts to just nine for the Galaxy, though RSL put just four on frame to the home team’s five.
“We created four big chances and didn’t score one,” head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “The only thing LA did better than us tonight was hit the back of the net twice.”
Serbian goalkeeper Novak Micovic came up big for the Galaxy to keep the shots out of the back of the net, getting four saves en route to LA’s first shutout in 25 matches.
The insurance goal for the Galaxy came in the 55th minute, when Joseph Paintsil got the ball on a counterattack and fired one past Rafael Cabral for his first goal of the season after reaching 10 in 2024.
The 2-0 result marked RSL’s 10th loss in the opening 17 games of the 34-game season, with the 12-loss Galaxy joining the Claret and Cobalt as the only teams with double-digit losses in the Western Conference. The most losses an RSL team has earned in a season, outside of the 22-loss inaugural campaign, is 15.
RSL gets two weeks of rest now, and it couldn’t come at a better time, with three starters — Emeka Eneli, Justen Glad and Diogo Goncalves — on the injury list.
The club’s attacking trio won’t get as much rest as the rest of the team, however, with Diego Luna, Zavier Gozo and Dominik Marczuk each reporting for national team duty during the international break.
Gozo joins the U.S. U-20 national team, while Luna joins the senior USMNT and Marczuk the Polish U-21 team. The USMNT takes on Turkey on June 7 and Switzerland on June 10, with both matches on TNT.
“From my experience of going with the national team, there’s a sense of pride when you play representing your country,” Mastroeni said. “And the energy that you bring back to your club team is infectious.”
RSL’s next match is Saturday, June 14, when Hall of Fame goalkeeper Nick Rimando will have his name added to the Ring of Honor at America First Field against his former team, D.C. United.
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