Real Salt Lake travels to Atlanta for first time since 2022

Match Coverage

Real Salt Lake travels to Atlanta for first time since 2022

What's up with RSL's forward corps, and will youngster Luca Moisa get another start in the midfield?

Atlanta United vs. Real Salt Lake:Piol out for season

Lucas Muller | Wasatch Soccer Sentinel

Matt MontgomeryJoseph Hutchison

March 06, 2026

Real Salt Lake takes on Atlanta United on Saturday, traveling to their stadium for the first time since July 2024, when RSL put a staggering 5-2 win over them. That game saw a first-minute strike from Matt Crooks.

First, we'll talk through the team's midfield options. Following that, the player starting at striker is a bit more of a question mark. Joseph Hutchison walks us through some of RSL's options up front.

Midfield pairings — does Moisa start again?

Luca Moisa has to start. That's a weird thing to say! He's 17! But honestly, he's been good enough that I'd start him again on the road. I don't know how good Atlanta United is these days (with over 300 teams in the league, it's truly hard to keep track), but Moisa has deserved to continue starting. So, too, has Noel Caliskan. I don't know that either deserve to be dropped just yet. Now, Stijn Spierings ought to be available, though the club has generally taken their time just a bit with starts, excepting in the case of Juanma Sanabria.

Now, I don't know if that's what'll actually happen, in reality. Moisa is just 17. He'll probably go to the bench for Spierings. But I also don't really know the fitness of the newcomers, what with the delays around visa procurement. I'm guessing — just guessing — that Moisa starts and plays about 60 minutes.

— Matt Montgomery

Who starts at striker?

With up to 7 players possibly missing this Saturday’s game due to injury, RSL’s been hit by the injury bug really early this year. Our striker position is probably in the worst shape right now because of it with Mastroeni’s projected first-choice and backup 9’s now out. Victor Olatunji has been out since late February with an eye injury and Ari Piol had a possibly season ending Achilles tendon injury during the last match against Seattle. Fortunately Olatunji should be back in the next few weeks based off of FotMob’s estimates of a late-March return, which tracks in my experiences with bruising my retina playing intramural soccer in college after getting drilled in the face with a cleared ball at close range. 0/10, would not recommend, but I did get to wear an eyepatch. But that leaves a big question mark on the projected starting #9 heading into this weekend.

Looking at the depth chart, there are a few options we could go with that I’ll put in a category I’ll call “The Realistic Options.” In order of who I think is most likely to start there on Saturday, we have Sergi Solans, Morgan Guilavogui, and Zavier Gozo. Out of the bunch, I picked Solans to play the 9 mostly because he stepped in to play there after Piol went out against Seattle, and Gozo and Guilavogui played in the attacking midfield role behind him. Especially where Guilavogui and Gozo are preferred starters in other positions, I’d expect Solans to start at the 9 to let the others run in their more regular places. I could also see Guilavogui start up top with Zach Booth and Aiden Hezarkhani behind him, but that also depends on how fit he is and Pablo’s tactical preference

But those three aren’t the only options we have for that position, so I have my second group I’ll call “The Backups to the Backups.” My guess is that one of these players will be on the bench and maybe get a few minutes. In no particular order, there’s Marcos Zambrano, Jesus Barea, and Van Parker. All three have RSL contracts, but are likely going to get minutes exclusively with the Monarchs this year. Barea got a few minutes with RSL last year, so he’d be the most likely to fill that spot on the bench, but from what The RSL Show reported on their pod this week, he’s on a season long loan to the Monarchs, possibly due to international roster spot limitations, so he’s in doubt. Zambrano was signed last summer and has put up some ok numbers with the Monarchs, and Parker is an academy teen who signed his first-team deal this offseason. Parker is Canadian, so he may also fall into the international roster spot limitations Barea has, so Zambrano is my guess to be that backup on Saturday. But, if Parker doesn’t count against international spots, he could get a shout since RSL’s been giving other academy teens like Luca Moisa and Aiden Hezarkhani well deserved minutes this year.

So the TLDR is that I predict that Solans gets the start and Zambrano will be on the bench for depth.

—Joseph Hutchison