Hackett: If Real Salt Lake Does Not Hire Mastroeni Then Another Club Will

SALT LAKE CITY – Real Salt Lake interim manager Pablo Mastroeni has provided himself with a lot of security following the month of November.

Mastroeni and Real Salt Lake overcame the odds, again, by beating Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park to book a date with the Portland Timbers in the Western Conference final. The club does not have an owner, they are led by an interim manager, and only made the playoffs following a last-second Damir Kreilach goal on Decision Day, yet, they are now just one of four teams remaining that are still in the hunt for the MLS Cup.

What Mastroeni has been able to accomplish is nothing short of remarkable.

We vibin all the way back to SLC pic.twitter.com/vZvpiFg3jm

— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) November 29, 2021

Mastroeni began the 2021 MLS season as Freddy Juarez’s first assistant. Since then, he has taken complete control of the Real Salt Lake dressing room, instilled a sense of belief within the playing group, and guided a club that many so-called experts predicted would finish towards the bottom of the conference at the start of the year to the conference final.

Real Salt Lake General Manager Elliot Fall is still yet to make a public decision on who the next manager for Real Salt Lake will be. That decision is only becoming easier to make the more Real Salt Lake games are won, however.

Either way, if Real Salt Lake opts to go in a different direction at the end of the year, Mastroeni has likely earned himself a managerial job elsewhere.

FC Dallas, LAFC, Vancouver Whitecaps, Houston Dynamo, and FC Cincinnati are all currently without full-time managers.

If Real Salt Lake does not hire Mastroeni then one of the clubs listed above will.

Next Match

Real Salt Lake will travel to Portland for the Western Conference Final this upcoming Saturday, December 4th, with kickoff scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

It will mark the first conference final appearance for Real Salt Lake since 2013.