Zac MacMath, Real Salt Lake shut out Orlando City

Updated: Jul 9, 2023, 05:05 am

Cristian "Chicho" Arango scored a first-half goal in his debut to lead Real Salt Lake to a 4-0 victory over Orlando City SC on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.

Justen Glad also scored a goal before halftime to lift RSL to its first home victory in the league since April. Jefferson Savarino and Anderson Julio each added a goal after the break. Pablo Ruiz assisted both first-half strikes off set pieces. Zac MacMath (four saves) earned his sixth clean sheet in 18 appearances this season.

Salt Lake (9-7-6, 33 points) is now unbeaten over its last seven MLS regular-season matches. The Utah club has not tasted defeat since falling to the Los Angeles Galaxy at home on May 31.

Orlando (9-6-7, 34 points) put the RSL defense on its heels with a flurry of attacks during the opening minutes. Kyle Smith and Facundo Torres forced MacMath to make back-to-back saves in the third minute.

The Florida club, which came in 5-1-5 overall in its last 11 league matches, could not keep up the early energetic pace on offense.

Arango joined RSL with high expectations after scoring 32 goals in 58 appearances with Los Angeles FC in 2021 and 2022. He delivered in his first game.

Salt Lake got on the board in the 23rd minute when Arango latched onto a cross from Ruiz outside the top of 6-yard box and pushed a header home.

Glad tacked on a second goal off a corner kick in the 41st minute. Like Arango earlier, he snagged a cross from Ruiz outside the top of the 6-yard box and headed it across the line.

Savarino scored his fifth goal of the season in the 78th minute. He settled a cross from Bryan Oviedo off his chest and blasted home a right-footer from the right side of the box.

Julio scored a late goal for the second straight match in the 88th minute, burying a right-footer after slipping past several Orlando defenders.

Salt Lake finished with a 15-11 edge in total shots and 6-4 advantage in shots on frame.

--Field Level Media