Real Salt Lake have their sights set on continuing the second-best start in franchise history when they oppose San Diego FC on Saturday night at Sandy, Utah.

The only time Real Salt Lake (4-1-1, 13 points) have notched a better six-match start during their 22-season history came in 2011 when they were 5-1-0.

“Going into the season, nobody really gave us a chance this year,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the fast start that includes a five-match unbeaten stretch (4-0-1).

Real Salt Lake’s tie came on the road against San Diego FC on March 22 when Victor Olatunji scored in the 85th minute to forge a 2-2 final.

Though RSL is 3-0-0 at home, Mastroeni expects a fierce challenge in the rematch.

“San Diego is a fantastic team,” Mastroeni said. “They are going through a bit of a (rough) patch at the moment, but they have quality players who can make a difference in any games. … I anticipate a hard-fought match.”

Salt Lake notched a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City last weekend. Diego Luna, Sergi Solans and Zavier Gozo scored the goals.

San Diego FC (3-2-2, 11 points) is winless in their past four matches (0-2-2). They lost their last two games, falling 3-0 to the host San Jose Earthquakes and 2-1 to visiting Minnesota United.

“Last game was a step in the right direction even though the result didn’t go our way,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said of the Minnesota match. “We feel like we’re getting back on track.”

During that setback, stellar defender Chris McVey drew a red card in the first minute of the second half to leave San Diego short-handed. McVey will miss the match against Salt Lake.

Luca Bombino scored the San Diego goal against Minnesota. He feels the club is close to regaining last season’s expansion form when the club finished first in the Western Conference.

“It’s definitely frustrating because we expect a lot of ourselves and we proved in the first year that we can do it,” Bambino said. “Things haven’t necessarily gone our way, but we know we have all the talent and hard work within the squad to achieve the things we want to do on the field.”

In last month’s matchup, Marcus Ingvartsen and Anders Dreyer scored the San Diego goals. Solans joined Olatunji in scoring for RSL.

–Field Level Media

As Orlando City prepares to host the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night, both teams are coming off victories in the U.S. Open Cup.

But wins have been rare this season for both sides when it comes to MLS league games.

Orlando City (1-5-1, 4 points) and Houston (2-4-0, 6 points) still have time to battle back into playoff contention. Saturday’s matchup provides an opportunity to build toward those goals.

Orlando City’s only MLS victory came March 14 against Montreal, but was followed by losses to LAFC and Nashville by a combined score of 11-0.

This week, though, has been the most positive yet for the Lions after dueling Columbus to a 1-1 tie and scoring a 1-0 win over FC Naples to advance to the U.S. Open Cup’s Round of 16.

Orlando City, which parted ways with coach Oscar Pareja after starting the season with three losses, announced Friday that Argentina native Sebastian Setti, who has coached in MLS, Europe and Liga MX, will join interim coach Martin Perelman as an assistant coach. Martin Ojeda and Marco Pasalic lead the Lions with two goals each.

“It’s important,” Orlando City forward Tyrese Spicer said about the U.S. Cup win this week. “Every game is like a final, as Martin (Perelman) says. We have to stack up the victories one by one and we have to keep building.”

Houston rebounded from an ugly 6-2 loss to Colorado last Saturday with a 4-1 win over El Paso in the U.S. Open Cup.

“We were able to manage the game in the best way possible to set us up hopefully with some success here on the weekend — and on the road where we have not performed well, to be honest,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said.

Midfielder Guilherme has been one of the bright spots for a team looking for consistency. Before the lopsided loss to the Rapids, two of the Dynamo’s losses have been by one goal and another by two goals.

Guilherme has five goals this season, tying him with reigning league MVP Lionel Messi and others for the fourth-most in MLS.

–Field Level Media

The Portland Timbers might be the more desperate team. The Minnesota United could be the more fatigued team.

The clubs meet Saturday night at Saint Paul, Minn.

Following Saturday’s match, Portland (2-4-1, 7 points) travels to San Diego and Salt Lake. The Timbers are 0-3-0 in road matches.

“It’s a group of fixtures we have to pick up points,” coach Phil Neville said. “We have to develop a different type of mentality. We’re going to have to dig in. We’re going to have to get victories. We’re going to have to get results.”

Portland became the first team this season to score on LAFC in last week’s 2-1 victory. That might be a spark that can lead to more consistent results.

“We’re gaining and building some leaders in the group,” Neville said. “Results help the confidence and belief, but also having the trust of your teammates.”

Portland gave up three goals in both of its last two outings away from home.

Minnesota (3-2-2, 11 points) has won its last two MLS games by 2-1 scores, including last Saturday at San Diego. But the Loons had a midweek detour from MLS play, edging host Sacramento Republic in 12 rounds of penalty kicks. That came with a revised lineup, though a few of the regulars were on the field.

The Loons plan to work new player combinations into the lineup in upcoming games.

“There’s going to be the opportunity for us to balance the minutes out across the squad,” Minnesota coach Cameron Knowles said. “Being able to stretch some guys that haven’t played a lot of minutes that we might be calling on in the next week or two.”

With four goals, Kelvin Yeboah is the only Minnesota player with more than one goal this year as he has half of the team’s eight goals. Kristoffer Velde has scored three goals to lead Portland.

The Timbers might have to wait to determine the availability of forward Alexander Aravena, who trained on the side this week.

“I think he’s going to be OK,” Neville said. “He felt something tight (in his thigh). But he felt a lot better (Thursday).”

Meanwhile, the Timbers are preparing for chilly conditions.

“It’s going to be cold,” Neville said. “You think about pitch conditions … It’s probably perfect for football, that’s the view of a lot of those players who are used to playing in those temperatures.”

–Field Level Media

Is dynamic offensive threat Talles Magno finally ready to pay dividends in his second stint with New York City FC?

That question may be answered when NYCFC (3-2-2, 11 points) play host to Charlotte FC (3-2-2, 11 points) on Saturday at Citi Field in a matchup of teams part of the four-way fourth-place logjam in the Eastern Conference.

Magno first made noise as a high-profile teenager in 2021 for the eventual MLS Cup champions. He scored the winning goal as New York City topped Philadelphia Union 2-1 in the conference finals. A year later, Magno posted seven goals and 10 assists.

After being on loan for 17 months to Brazilian team Corinthians, Magno, now 23, returned this season but has yet to start an MLS match.

“There’s a few things he needs to take care of,” coach Pascal Jansen said. “Physically, he’s not at the level yet where he needs to be in order to be competitive enough with the guys that are the starters at the moment.”

Magno flashed his scoring ability on Tuesday, achieving the first hat trick of his professional career while leading NYCFC to a 5-2 win over Westchester SC in a U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 match.

“I’m working very hard on getting my opportunity to start, given everything that’s possible for the team,” Magno said through an interpreter on Thursday. “I’m working with Pascal to see what I can do to get that opportunity.”

In the meantime, Nico Fernandez (five goals), Maxi Moralez (five assists) and Agustin Ojeda (two goals, one assist) have been supplying firepower for NYCFC.

After a hot start, New York City has gone 0-2-1 in its last three MLS matches. That includes last week’s 2-0 loss at Western Conference leader Vancouver.

Charlotte FC have been heading the other direction. They played four straight matches without a loss before falling last week at home to Eastern Conference leader Nashville SC, 2-1.

Pep Biel paces Charlotte with four goals and two assists while Archie Goodwin has notched three goals.

Charlotte FC also are coming off a 6-0 U.S. Open Cup win on Wednesday over Charlotte Independence as six players dented the net.

NYCFC topped Charlotte FC in the opening round of the MLS playoffs last year, holding them to one goal in the three-match series.

“Some of the players might feel scars because of that,” coach Dean Smith said. “There may be some scars where people have some things to prove but for me, it’s just a new season, new game.”

–Field Level Media

The New England Revolution set out to continue their dominant home form when they host the Columbus Crew on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.

The home/away splits are as stark as they come for New England (3-3-0, 9 points). The Revolution have been outscored 8-2 while going 0-3-0 on the road, but are 3-0-0 with a 10-1 goal differential on their own field.

New England hasn’t allowed a goal in either of its last two home matches, which defender Mamadou Fofana felt was due to a strong effort from the entire lineup.

“We are a team. So it’s (from) the defense up to the striker … To win the game with a clean sheet, it is perfect,” Fofana said.

The offensive credit has also been spread around, as New England’s 12 goals have come from nine different players. Brayan Ceballos, Peyton Miller and Alhassan Yusuf share the team lead with two goals apiece.

By contrast, five of the Crew’s nine goals this season were scored by striker Wessam Abou Ali, who sustained a season-ending torn ACL in last Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Orlando City.

“When you don’t have Wes … we don’t need to change everything, but of course we need to find other ways to get more out of more players,” Columbus coach Henrik Rydstrom said.

Diego Rossi has three goals for Columbus (1-3-3, 6 points), and Max Arfsten is the only other Crew player to score.

Abou Ali’s injury is an unwelcome obstacle for a team that seemed to be finding its form. The Crew were winless (0-3-2) in their first five matches before recording a 3-1 road win over Atlanta United on April 4 and then overcoming the loss of Abou Ali to salvage the draw with Orlando.

Forward Jamal Thiare left Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup match with an apparent leg injury and is questionable for Saturday.

The Crew are 8-2-6 in their last 16 matches with the Revolution (regular season plus playoffs) and 3-0-2 in their last five trips to Foxborough.

–Field Level Media

A massive opportunity to right the ship awaits FC Cincinnati Saturday night when they host the Chicago Fire.

Cincinnati (2-4-1, 7 points) has struggled mightily since winning its season opener. It has been plagued by a sluggish offense and a suspect defense, with its minus-6 goal differential tied for third-worst in the Eastern Conference. To be fair, a 6-1 drubbing on March 15 at New England represents most of that goal differential.

“It’s been inconsistent,” head coach Pat Noonan said about his team’s performance. “We just need to be more consistent with our play, home and away. We just need to be better all-around in our play, wherever we’re playing.”

Kevin Denkey will not play for Cincinnati Saturday night. He is suspended after a red card in Cincinnati’s previous match, a 1-1 draw against Toronto on April 11. Denkey leads Cincinnati with two goals, but it feels far removed from when he and Evander combined for 33 MLS goals for Cincinnati in 2025.

FC Cincinnati are 2-1-0 at home in MLS regular-season competition, and this is their first home match since March 22. They will play four home matches in the next five weeks.

Chicago (4-2-1, 13 points), currently sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference, is off to a strong start in building on its long-awaited return to the MLS Cup playoffs a year ago.

“Since the beginning of the season, we have always shown that we have something to prove this year,” midfielder Mauricio Pineda said. “That’s what really keeps us driving: approaching every game with the mentality to win.”

The Fire are on a three-match winning streak, and this is their only road match in a six-match span stretching from April 4 through May 9.

Hugo Cuypers leads the Fire with four goals, with Jonathan Bamba next at two goals.

Cincinnati leads the all-time series 7-4-3 and swept the series in 2025. The teams will play their return match on May 2 in Chicago.

–Field Level Media