The Atlantic Cup – Game One

Published on January 24, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release

FARO, Portugal – In its 2026 preseason opener, Real Salt Lake emerged with a 2-1 victory over Danish SuperLiga side Brøndby IF by a 2-1 score Thursday evening. RSL found the back of the net once in each half, with Polish international winger Dominik Marczuk opening his 2026 account in the 32nd minute, his goal set up by MF Noel Caliskan and playmaker Diego Luna. A new-look three-man RSL backline of veteran homegrown Justen Glad flanked by DeAndre Yedlin on the right and newcomer Lukas Engel on the left allowed RSL goalkeeper and Captain Rafa Cabral to keep his sheet clean in the first 45 minutes.

With wholesale changes for the second half, RSL doubled its lead in the 47th minute on a goal from MF Tyler Wolff. After Randers – a past club of former RSL Cup-winning striker Yura Movsisyan – pulled a goal back in the 52′ by Senegal’s 18-year-old attacker Ousseynou Seck to cut the lead in half, RSL saw a third goal from second-year player Jesus Barea controversially disallowed, with assist man Pablo Ruiz adjudged to have been offside on the sequence.

Several players made their first-team debuts in the match, as Eden, Utah native Zach Booth and 2025 Real Monarchs standouts Griffin Dillon and Ruben Mesalles showed well in the first half. Second-year GK Mason Stajduhar saw his first 45 between the pipes with the Claret-and-Cobalt, while RSL Academy products Omar Marquez and Juan Gio Villa – teenagers now on MLS contracts – showed well in the second 45.

RSL plays its second match of the 2026 Atlantic cup against another Danish side, Brøndby IF, on Monday at 7:00a MT, with the match available on RSL.com and the club’s YouTube channel, where both games will be archived for later viewing.

GAME NOTES:

22nd RSL season in Major League Soccer kicks off Feb. 21 at Vancouver

RSL owns longest active playoff qualification streak in Western Conference (5 consecutive years)

Perennial postseason qualifier has seen RSL advance in 7 of last 8 seasons (2020) and 15 of last 18 years (2015, 2017 other exceptions)

RSL also appeared in The Atlantic Cup in 2024

Five current players – Justen Glad, Alex Katranis, Diego Luna, Zavier Gozo, Pablo Ruiz – also part of that squad

Former RSL MLS Cup 2009-winning striker Yura Movsisyan transferred to Randers in 2010

Captain and GK Rafa Cabral played every minute of all 40 RSL games in 2025 across multiple competitions

Cabral named 2025 Most Valuable Player…