Damir Kreilach's last minute goal send Real Salt Lake to MLS Playoffs

Two points below the playoff line, any result besides a win would have ended RSL’s season. The team had one more chance with their backs against the wall; score and survive, fail to score and go home empty handed.

Enter Damir Kreilach, the hero of the day and savior of the season for Real Salt Lake. 

The Croatian midfielder knocked home a missed bicycle kick from Justin Meram in the 95th minute of Real Salt Lake’s Decision Day match at Sporting Kansas City, sending the team back to the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2019.

When Kreilach scored, chaos ensued.

“As you can imagine it was pandemonium in there,” interim head coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the postgame celebration.

“There are a lot of adult beverages being thrown about and sprayed. It’s the culmination of a really interesting year, an exciting year at times with a lot of ups and downs. What was never lost throughout the year was the belief that we could achieve something as a group.”

Krealich’s game-winner was his 16th goal of the season, and came right in the nick of time, as RSL were on the edge of elimination. The attempted bicycle kick from Meram, which set up the goal, might not have been intended to go Kreilach’s way.

Regardless of Meram’s intentions on the kick, it all worked out for RSL.

“I don’t know if he wanted to shoot or not, but at the end of the day it couldn’t be better,” Kreilach said. “I thought I might be in an offside position, but I looked to the ref and didn’t see the flag up so I just went to celebrate with my teammates and then I crossed my fingers that they wouldn’t check VAR and call offsides. At the end of the day it was perfect, it was a great moment.”

After a chaotic finish to their regular season campaign, RSL are officially playoff bound. Next up for the club is a postseason contest at Seattle Sounders.

While Seattle are one of the top clubs in the league and a tough place to play, RSL are confident that after winning at Kansas City, they can compete at any stadium.

“We know we can win on the road, and we did that the last two road games,” Meram said after the match “It was essentially what got us into the playoffs. We gotta regroup, we’ve got a couple weeks before the playoff game.”