RSL's collective step forward, the Fire get a lesson & more | Matchday 11

Ahh, May. The scent of spring in the air, warm and threaded with lilac, the earth finally exhaling after its long winter slumber. The days stretch longer now, golden at the edges, and somewhere a lawn mower hums its first song of the season. Children reappear on sidewalks as if by magic. Windows are thrown open. The MLS schedule-makers grab unsuspecting teams and push their heads under water, holding them there against the thrashing, until the bubbles slow and finally stop.

Three-game weeks add up, man, and most of the league have been stringing them together, one after another, for a while now. There is a price for competing across multiple competitions – be it ConcaChampions or US Open Cup – while trying to yes, keep your head above water in either the Supporters' Shield or playoff race. Virtually everybody's paying it these days.

Let's take a spin through and see what we saw:

Assured Destruction

I'm going to start with RSL, who have been one of the two or three happiest stories in MLS this season. Their 2-0 win over Portland on Saturday afternoon broke a little two-game losing streak for the Claret-and-Cobalt, and moved them back up to sixth in the West with a 6w-3L-1D record and underlyings that say it's not an acccident.

A lot has been going right for RSL this year: Morgan Guilavogui looks like a high-end DP, and Diego Luna's taken another step forward as a playmaking hub. The shift to the 3-4-2-1 has steadied a defense that is still not exactly rock-solid, but much better than last year's gang, while unlocking a pair of wingbacks who both have World Cup arguments. Up top, Sergi Solans has proved to be manna from heaven:

There's been a lot of deserved love for Zavier Gozo and Diego Luna this year, but Sergi Solans is a DP-level striker in MLS. Plucked out of college soccer. Fantastic, well-rounded striker for Real Salt Lake.

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— Joseph Lowery (@joeclowery.bsky.social) May 2, 2026 at 5:40 PM