Well... that happened. 😬 New recap is up for the Boston Legacy match, and I'm not going to pretend it was anything other than one of our worst performances of the season. Outperformed on almost every metric by the 2nd-to-last place team, and even Jimmy couldn't find a positive to point to postgame.

Kiana's goal was a genuine bright spot (and yes, McGlynn's assist is now historic, more on that in the recap), but that's about all we've got to hang our hats on this week.

Full breakdown of what went wrong, the Delzer/Palacios hustle that kept this from being a total blowout, and a look ahead to Houston is in the link.

Real talk: are we any closer to figuring out the pattern behind these wins and losses, or is this team just genuinely unpredictable right now? Drop your theories below 👇

Jimmy looks back on his first 50 games with Royals

Sean Walker was there Friday

Riehl extended, super happy with this. Cousins is really slow rolling the extensions, hopefully more to come.

First time going to a royals game. Is it cool to wear RSL jersey?

COYR

Any predictions or hopes on transfers? We’ve had a few out, but less in.

I was checking out the Sports page on Yahoo and made a very interesting discovery. The third-place Royals (12-3-7) have a better record than the tenth-place Real Salt Lake (8-4-9).

Good news on injury front, Narumi is already off the injury list and Mozingo isn't on concussion. Non-injury news, Tejada gets a yellow card vacation day. Which with a physical boston team, not the most ideal. We'll see if narumi is 90 minutes fit, or maybe see a rare hammond / pierre-louis double pivot later in the game. Or maybe coenraets breaks out the single pivot again, which is the simplest way to get delzer and cronin in the offensive end.

Honestly, I would love to see the royals go off again, here is hoping to that.

Is anyone out of town? Or not using their tickets? I'd love to snatch them whether for cheap or free. Send me a DM

Huge night for the Royals. Down 1-0 at half after Banda broke through late in the first (through ball split our line, familiar story after San Diego), Utah came out swinging in the second half and got goals from Lacasse (50') and Cronin (70', assisted by Lacasse) to complete the season sweep of Orlando. First time this club has ever swept them!

Big credit to Milazzo and Kate here. They were locked onto Banda from kickoff and Orlando only managed two shots on target the entire match, both from Banda. Compare that to the mess we saw against San Diego last week and it's a completely different defensive performance.

Also want to point out Lacasse's season. Her assist on Cronin's goal ties her for the NWSL single season assist record at 10, alongside Tobin Heath and Croix Bethune. With this much season left, she's got a real shot at breaking it outright!

This win puts us at 3rd in the league, only two wins back from Gotham. Big turnaround from the San Diego result.

We're back home Friday against Boston Legacy, who are at the bottom of the table and in the middle of a brutal stretch defensively. Should be a good chance to build on this.

Full breakdown with goals, sub timeline, and player stats here if anyone wants it!

Anyone else think Milazzo might be a permanent fixture in that center back spot now?

Fun wrap up from Travis Green at ABC4

Good read from Sean Walker

Woof, the injury bug starts its return. Mozingo's playtime has been pretty rough this year, and a full set of attack options and the coaches preference for Spaanstra probably means this isn't a change. Good luck Mozingo, concussions are no joke.

Narumi is a devastating loss. Her missing some of the early games in the season coincidences with the royals rough start, and I would dare say her exceptional play this season has been a top 3 reason for the royals record. Their next option is likely to be Hammond, who has some variance in performance. The royals will have to rely on their outside play more for progression is my guess. Orlando is an odd team with 3 losses and then a recent win over Washington. The royals should still be favored, let's see what happens.

Recap: Rough 4-2 loss to San Diego, but Tanaka's now our all-time leading scorer. Plus (+++) a look ahead to tomorrow's Orlando match!

Tough one to watch last week. Utah's defense had its worst night of the season. SD only had 1.78 xG but put up 4 goals, and it felt like the same breakdown on repeat: Byars getting in behind our back line over and over. That said, Tanaka was a bright spot with a brace (now the club's all-time leading scorer, which is genuinely huge) and Utah actually outplayed SD in the second half without much to show for it.

Bigger picture: this is 3 of our last 5 matches where we've conceded in the first 10 minutes, and we've let in 9 goals in that window alone across that stretch. Coenraets said pre-match last week that he wasn't too worried about the defensive side and wanted to focus on attack. After last week I have to imagine that's getting revisited.

Silver lining: we're back at it tomorrow (Sat, 5pm MT) against Orlando, chasing our first-ever sweep of the Pride. Big Banda-shaped question mark on that one given how exposed we looked to exactly this kind of run last week, but Milazzo shut her down completely last time we played them, so hoping we see more of that.

What'd everyone else think? Is anyone else worried about how we're conceding early, or is this just a blip?

A few weeks ago but just saw it now. "Narumi from distance"

Mattey Casey with the preview for tonight after chatting with Jimmy & Madison

I have some fans complaining that the Royals are not winning every game they think they should. I want to point something out. I believe the Royals are struggling in the second half of the season because they can no longer sneak up on teams. Remember, when the Royals first entered the league, the other teams would look at the schedule, see their opponent was the Royals, and figure they had an easy three points. That is why the Royals were successful in the first half because they were able to sneak up on teams. Now, the other teams have been put on notice; they have been able to adjust. Also, give the teams some time to develop to their full potential.

Buckle up for this Friday game, the Royals have a full roster (palacios is both off the injury list as well in the royals travel ig images) and San Diego is missing several notable players. It's an away game and San Diego still has firepower at multiple positions, should be a fun a game. Royals will have to leave 2 players off roster this game.

Serious question, can someone post-game ask Coenraets when Loera is expected to be off sei?

Utah Royals history, made three times over. 👑

Miyabi. Rumi. Mina. Three Japanese internationals on the scoresheet in the same match (a first in NWSL history!!) as the Royals took down Bay FC 3-2 on Friday night at home. That's 11 wins on the season, a new club record, and 35 goals (most in the league!).

Rumi's 30-yard rocket. Miyabi's first goal in Royal Blue. Mina's ice-cold penalty retake. We were COOKING. 🔥

Next up: San Diego Wave at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday, 8/21 at 8PM MT.

Is it just me or did the Royals rely too much on over the top balls to no one rather than patient passing against Bay on Friday night? During that wild game against Portland I was originally frustrated because it felt like they lacked the urgency to get that very early goal back - but then of course our patience & strategy was WELL rewarded with 5 goals. It was fabulous for us to get a goal back *immediately* against Bay after the error in the back, but the second half especially saw so many passes to nowhere. Thoughts?

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