SANDY, Utah – Real Salt Lake have played a lot of their roster already this year. On Saturday, center back Justen Glad finally stepped on a field for RSL in 2017 and became their 27th player to play in a game.
His addition to the lineup wasn't the only factor contributing RSL's 1-0 win over Minnesota United FC, but it did provide a presence on the backline that the team had been sorely missing.
“Justen is not the missing link,” RSL head coach Mike Petke said. “I think that him with the experience he has had, him coming back, being young, being energetic, he’s the spark we needed.”
Salt Lake now boast a three-game win streak at home and has shut out their last two opponents at Rio Tinto Stadium. Now, RSL's big challenge is taking that form on the road and carrying it through the rest of the season.
Glad, who picked up an injury in qualifying for the U-20 World Cup, had missed the first part of the season for RSL and only returned to the field in games at the World Cup. His 2017 debut went well, but he’s putting everything else behind him and looking forward, as the team should as well.
“This is now the second half of the season and it can be all uphill from here,” Glad said.
That foresight is just one of the things Glad has that most 20-year-olds don’t.
“As young as he is, he calmed things down defensively for us,” Petke said. “That was the piece we were missing. The kid is wise beyond his years with his communication, his experience and everything.”
With RSL’s roster returning to health, Petke now has a full roster to do with what he pleases.
“Tonight was one game, where I had a lot of options,” Petke said. “It’s having options now. It’s moving forward now. Hopefully, we are able to put into play more of how we want to play going forward.”
Losing 5-1 and 6-2 last week on the road did make Petke play a little different then he wanted to, but his few steps back should lead to some steps forward and hopefully soon in case a 1-0 win isn’t enough progress.
“After the last couple of games it got to the point where I didn’t want to get scored on anymore. We did sit back a little deeper tonight, but right now I don’t care because we won 1-0,” Petke said.
Real progress can be shown on Saturday when RSL head to San Jose for another test on the road (10:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE). Salt Lake have given up nearly four goals on average over their last five road games and after a good showing at home, the road is still a question mark for some, but Glad saw what he recognized as a winning effort either home or away.
“We were organized and there was a lot of communication back there. Everyone knew what was going on,” Glad said.
“Absolutely (we can do this on the road), the heart and the fight were there tonight. When we have that we can beat any team in this league.”
