Cristian Arango's standout form continued with a massive Matchday 10 performance that saw the Real Salt Lake striker earn MLS Player of the Matchday for the second time this season.
Arango notched 2g/2a for RSL in Saturday's 4-0 rout at Chicago Fire FC, claiming Matchday 10 honors less than a month after taking Matchday 7's top prize for a hat-trick performance in a 3-1 win over St. Louis CITY SC.
The 29-year-old Colombian leads the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi race with eight goals, and he's also tops in the league with 14 goal contributions (8g/6a).
Arango additionally became the first Salt Lake player to earn two Player of the Matchday nods within the first 10 Matchdays of a season since Nick Rimando in 2014 (Matchdays 1 and 7).
Arango, who played for LAFC between 2021-22 before signing for RSL from Liga MX side Pachuca midway through last season, is one of four players to win the award at least four different times since the start of 2021. The other three are Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar (seven), Philadelphia’s Julían Carranza (four) and Seattle’s Raúl Ruidíaz (four).
Arango and Real Salt Lake return to action on Saturday night in Matchday 10 when visiting the undefeated Philadelphia Union (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
The MLS Player of the Matchday is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75% of the vote, while an X (formerly known as Twitter) fan vote represents the remaining 25% of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
