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RSL Dominant in 5-2 Home Trouncing of Atlanta United | Real Salt Lake

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RSL Dominant in 5-2 Home Trouncing of Atlanta United |  Real Salt Lake


SANDY, Utah (Sat., July 6, 2024)Real Salt Lake (12-3-7 / 43 points / T-1st West) came out red-hot in front of a fifth consecutive sold-out crowd at America First Field (20,396, and its seventh in 11 home matches this season. RSL needed only 43 seconds to claim the advantage over Atlanta, as MF Matt Crooks’ early score with assists from Diego Luna and Braian Ojeda claimed the title of fifth-fastest goal in Club history. Following a lackluster first half, the final 45 minutes would be dominant for RSL, matching its season high with another five-goal performance, improving to 8-2-1 / 25 points at home this season.

The clear “Man of the Match” for RSL tonight was 20-year-old playmaker Diego Luna, finishing with a goal and three assists. The “hat trick” of assists marks just the fourth time in the Club’s 636-game MLS history that an RSL player has set up three goals (Espindola, 2012; Ruiz, 2023; Luna, 3/3/24 & tonight). The four total goal contributions for Luna are the most in any match in his professional career, matching the most of any RSL player in a game this season (Arango). Alongside Luna on the scoresheet was MLS MVP and Golden Boot frontrunner, RSL Captain Chicho Arango, the Colombian frontman bagging his 17th goal of the campaign. Arango’s 17 goals are the most in MLS, while Luna’s 12 assists rank third-most in the league entering Sunday’s action.

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Also contributing was midfielder Braian Ojeda, his 59th minute goal his second in as many games, previously playing 66 consecutive RSL appearances without a goal, scoring in the last two. In addition to Ojeda, DF Alex Katranis also came forward from his natural position to get on the scoresheet, the former Greek youth international scoring for the third time in his inaugural stateside season.

The win was a comprehensive example in ball control for Manager Pablo Mastroeni’s side, his team dominating 62% of possession and outpassing Atlanta 650-383. RSL’s three points keeps it even with LAFC at 43 points atop the Western Conference table, now staring down a three-match road trip to Portland Timbers, LAFC and Colorado Rapids July 13, 17 and 20, heading into the MLS All-Star break and then the Leagues Cup kickoff.

RSL – 1’ – Matt Crooks (Diego Luna, Braian Ojeda): As RSL took possession to open the match, calmly passing throughout the midfield for players’ first touches of the evening, Braian Ojeda took control in the midfield. Seeing green grass ahead, Ojeda launched himself forward, pulling off a devastating dribble to cut between the only two oncoming defenders. Now drawing the attention of the entire ATL defense, he laid it off to Diego Luna charging into the right side of the box. Without taking a touch, Luna whipped it back across the face of goal with pace for the incoming run of Matt Crooks, his English teammate able to tap in the point-blank scoring chance.

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ATL – 31’ – Saba Lobjanidze (Daniel Ríos, Bartosz Slisz): Despite Real dominating possession and more than doubling Atlanta in completed passes, the Five Stripes equalized in the 31st minute of play. Controlling possession deep in Claret-and-Cobalt territory, the ball found its way to the feet of Bartosz Slisz on the edge of the box. With his teammate flashing to the ball, Slisz fired a quick pass to the center of the box for Saba Lobjanidze with a defender at his back. Lobjanidze played a flashy back-heel give-and-go with Daniel Ríos, popping out on the other side with just enough space to get off the shot – his right-footed attempt bending around the outstretched glove of Gavin Beavers and inside the near post.

RSL – 59’ – Braian Ojeda (Unassisted): Coming out for the second 45 with refreshed legs, it wouldn’t take long for Real Salt Lake to re-establish control of the game. As Alex Katranis stood alongside the flag, preparing to take a 59th minute corner kick, his teammates flooded the box. Katranis floated a high, arcing ball to the center of the box when Captain Chicho Arango rose up and headed it at goal. As Arango’s attempt deflected by an ATL defender up into the air, Braian Ojeda, with his back to the goal, flipped his hips and sent it into the side netting with a spinning shot. After having not scored in his first 66 RSL appearances, Ojeda has now gotten on the scoresheet in consecutive matches.

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RSL – 68’ – Chicho Arango (Diego Luna): Keeping the feet on the gas, Pablo Mastroeni’s side took a commanding two-goal lead in the 68th minute. With Diego Luna standing over a free kick opportunity on the edge of the attacking third, his teammates flooded the box in a coordinated rush. As Luna’s cross zipped over the main crowd and towards the back post, Arango outpaced his only marker on the outside to get on the end of it, sending a thundering downward header back against the ‘keeper’s momentum and into the far post side netting.

RSL – 78’ – Alex Katranis (Diego Luna): Pouring it on in front of the home fans, Real pushed the lead to three goals in the 78th minute. Another corner kick, this time from the left side, began as Luna stood over the ball with menacing intentions. Faking as if he was sending in a traditional cross, Luna unleashed a worm burner to Alex Katranis on the near side. Shuffling his feet as the ball approached, Katranis caught it pure on his left boot with a first-time shot, his attempt curling up and over the glove of Brad Guzan as it sailed into the back of the net.

ATL – 80’ – Daniel Ríos (Brooks Lennon): Against the run of play, Atlanta immediately stole one back in the 80th minute. With Atlanta pressing far up the pitch in desperation, a long cross made its way from the left side through the box untouched, resettling at the feet of Brooks Lennon on the other side. Holding play for the run of his teammate, Lennon whipped in an accurate ball to the head of Daniel Ríos in the box, Ríos able to connect and send it into the back of the net.

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RSL – 84’ – Diego Luna (Maikel Chang): Capping off an unreal flurry of offensive action, RSL scored yet again in the 84th. As Atlanta attempted to break out from its own end, an errant pass was intercepted by Maikel Chang and immediately converted into a counter attack. Running directly at the defenders, Chang reached the edge of the box when he sent a line drive pass to the chest of Luna in the box. Controlling it with a masterful first touch to set up the shot, Luna pounded a half-volley back into the ground that bounced perfectly into the corner.

NOTES FROM RSL 5 : 2 ATLANTA UNITED

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  • Chicho’s goal tonight represents his 17th this year, tying the franchise single-season record of 17 goals, set by Alvaro Saborio over a decade ago in 2012. RSL’s captain now needs just one more to break and claim sole possession of the all-time single-season RSL scoring mark.
  • Matt Crooks’ goal 43 seconds into the match now stands as the fourth-fastest goal scored in RSL Club history.
  • 19-year-old Gavin Beavers gets the win in goal, bringing his season record to 4-1-1 (+9 Goal Differential) when between the posts.
  • Captain Chicho Arango extends his MLS Golden Boot lead to three goals with his 17th of the campaign, ahead of both Christian Benteke (DCU) and Denis Bouanga (LAFC), with 14 goals each.
  • Diego Luna’s three assists now represent his second triple-assist game of the year, and only the fourth time a player has recorded up to three assists in a game in RSL’s 636-game MLS history (Fabian Espindola and Pablo Ruiz in 2012 and 2023); Luna’s 12 assists this season now ranks him third in all of Major League Soccer.
  • RSL improves to 8-2-1 / 25 points at home in 2024. With one more win, RSL would equal its home point total from 2023 (6-7-4 / 22 points), with six home League games remaining, all coming in the final nine MLS matches after Leagues Cup, resuming Aug. 24
  • MF Braian Ojeda earns a goal for the second time in as many matches, and the second MLS/RSL goal in his 68th game across all competitions since first joining the Claret-and-Cobalt in Sept. 2022.

Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Gavin Beavers; Brayan Vera (Bryan Oviedo, 67’); Bode Hidalgo; Philip Quinton (Andrew Brody, 46’); Alex Katranis; Emeka Eneli (Nelson Palacio, 46’); Braian Ojeda; Andrés Gómez (Maikel Chang, 79’); Diego Luna; Matt Crooks (Anderson Julio, 67’); Chicho Arango ©

Subs not used: Zac MacMath, Tommy Silva, Zavier Gozo, Noel Caliskan

Atlanta United (4-2-3-1): Brad Guzan ©; Ronald Hernández (Matthew Edwards, 89’); Derrick Williams; Brooks Lennon; Noah Cobb; Caleb Wiley; Bartosz Slisz (Luke Brennan, 90’); Saba Lobjanidze (Jay Fortune, 69’); Dax McCarty (Tristan Muyumba, 60’); Xande Silva (Tyler Wolff, 60’); Daniel Ríos

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Subs not used: Luis Abram, Efrain Morales, Josh Cohen, Nicolas Firmino

RSL: Diego Luna (Caution, 57’)

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ATL: Derrick Williams (Caution, 67’)

ATL: Jay Fortune (Caution, 89’)

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Atlanta, GA

Denny Hamlin questions if NASCAR can learn from Atlanta to fix racing at Daytona, Talladega

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Denny Hamlin questions if NASCAR can learn from Atlanta to fix racing at Daytona, Talladega


Denny Hamlin spelled out his issues with the current on-track product at Daytona and Talladega during last week’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

Six days later, Hamlin competed in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta, which has become a drafting track of its own over the last few years. The race was widely praised by fans, and even Hamlin himself. Hamlin said on Monday’s podcast that the harder tires Goodyear brought to Atlanta contributed to the racing that took place. Hamlin pondered if a similar tire change at Daytona and Talladega could help improve superspeedway racing.

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“The tire we run at Atlanta is somewhere in the range of 20% harder than any tire we run on an intermediate track. So, it’s a very hard tire,” Hamlin said. “If Goodyear or NASCAR see that we start stringing out a little bit, maybe they add some grip to the tire to bunch us all back up and then we reset the clock. But with this tire being really hard, it doesn’t really wear out. But it still new tires you can tell that it plays a little bit of a factor.

“I’m wondering, though, is that something we can do at Daytona or Talladega to like — maybe we soften the tire or harden the tire, I’m not sure which one. There was a lot of discussion over the week of what do we do to fix the drafting tracks. I think from an entertainment standpoint, it probably can’t get a lot better. I acknowledge that, I’m just trying to make it to where there’s a balance there of entertainment and a balance of sport where the drivers that are the superstars can feel like they have a legit changing of the outcome based on decisions they make.”

Denny Hamlin pleased with racing at Atlanta

Sunday’s race was a thrill ride from start to finish and showed the kind of racing a drafting track can produce in 2025. For Hamlin, the same couldn’t be said about the Daytona 500.

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“I feel like the Daytona 500 is a microcosm of the sport in general as to how we crown our champion now as well,” Hamlin said last week. “It started with the competition group a decade ago when we took away horsepower because we wanted to look good on TV, we wanted you to think they can pass, but not that they can actually pass. For me, it’s gotten to the place where the entertainment of it has far taken over the sport of it. And I don’t know how to reverse things.”

Hamlin clearly wants a happy medium between entertainment and sport. Whether that is possible at Daytona and Talladega in the Next Gen car is the question.

But at Atlanta, entertainment and sport blended quite well together.

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“If you talked to most drivers they would say, ‘Man, this is how superspeedway racing used to be.’ … I think that we’re still probably a couple years away from the prime of what Atlanta could be. It’s still got a little bit maturity to go in the pavement,” Hamlin said. “But it’s getting there pretty quickly, and we’ve seen fantastic races there over the last few years. So, a great show for the fans. I thought it put on a good race from my standpoint.”



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Delta flight forced to return to Atlanta airport Monday morning because of 'haze'

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Delta flight forced to return to Atlanta airport Monday morning because of 'haze'


Photos courtesy of Kevin McKinney

Delta Air Lines has faced a series of unsettling incidents recently, including smoke or haze in the cabin on two flights and a separate crash that injured more than 20 people.

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What we know:

Delta Flight 876 was forced to return to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday morning because of “haze” inside the aircraft.

According to Delta, the flight crew followed procedures, declared an emergency for priority handling from air traffic control, and returned to Atlanta after the haze was observed.

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Upon landing on Runway 27, emergency slides were deployed for egress.

The Boeing 717, which departed Atlanta for Columbia, South Carolina, at approximately 8:30 a.m., was carrying 94 customers, two pilots, and three flight attendants. Delta teams arranged ground transportation and rebooking for passengers.

According to the registry information for the aircraft involved, the Boeing 717 was declared airworthy on Sept. 16, 1999.

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The backstory:

There have been two other recent incidents involving Delta flights. 

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On Saturday night, Delta Flight DL43 departed Los Angeles bound for Sydney, Australia.

Delta flight diverted back to LAX after smoke detected in galley

Smoke was detected in the galley of the Airbus A350-900, forcing the flight to return to the airport. The aircraft landed safely and proceeded to an arrival gate. There were 162 passengers on the flight. 

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Additionally, a Delta flight operated by Endeavor Air crashed and landed upside down at Toronto Pearson Airport last week after departing from Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

Delta releases new information about captain, first officer flying plane that crashed in Toronto

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No fatalities were reported, but more than 20 people were injured, including three critically injured passengers.

What they’re saying:

A Delta spokesperson explained the actions taken on Monday morning’s Flight 876:

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“The flight crew followed procedures to return to Atlanta when a haze inside the aircraft was observed after departure. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, and we apologize to our customers for the experience.”

The FAA sent the following to FOX 5 Atlanta:

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Delta Air Lines Flight 876 returned safely to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 9 a.m. local time on Monday, February 24, after the crew reported possible smoke in the flightdeck. The Boeing 717-200 was headed to Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina. The FAA will investigate.

Why you should care:

These incidents have raised fresh concerns about safety protocols as Delta Air Lines works to address the challenges and ensure the well-being of its passengers amid these recent events.

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NASCAR admits it should have called a caution at end of Atlanta Xfinity race

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NASCAR admits it should have called a caution at end of Atlanta Xfinity race


HAMPTON, Ga. — NASCAR stated Sunday that it should have thrown the caution flag on the last lap of Saturday night’s Xfinity race and if the situation happens again in today’s Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the caution flag will wave.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, made the comments during the drivers meeting about an hour before Sunday’s Cup race.

“My last comment will be, based on (Saturday) night’s race, our goal is to finish our races under green conditions,” Sawyer told drivers. “That’s our No. 1 goal. Also, we’re not going to be racing through a debris field. So you can expect cautions to come out based on (Saturday) night. That was on us.

“So a situation that comes up today like (Saturday) night will be a caution.”

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As the leaders exited Turn 2 on the last lap of Saturday’s Xfinity race at Atlanta, a few cars in the top 10 crashed. Behind the initial incident, three other cars crashed.

The race stayed green as Austin Hill beat Justin Allgaier for the win. The caution came out shortly after Hill crossed the finish line but at least a couple of cars had to drive through both incidents while the green remained out.

When NASCAR throws a caution flag at the end of a race has been an escalating issue since last week’s races at Daytona.

NASCAR threw a caution in the second qualifying race at Daytona with the leaders in sight of the start/finish line. Jusan Hamilton, a NASCAR race director, said on the NASCAR podcast “Hauler Talk” that the race should have finished under green.

“That’s one when you look back I would say we could do it differently,” he said. “I would say that we could let them get to the start/finish line but that’s looking back now on a Tuesday, going back on all our reviews and having the luxury and time to review the full situation.”

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In last week’s Craftsman Truck race, a couple of vehicles spun off the track near Turn 3 and the race remained green. Multiple trucks wrecked in between Turns 3 and 4. The race ended under caution because some trucks would have to drive through the incident.

In last weekend’s Daytona 500, a crash on the backstretch on the last lap did not bring out the caution.

Instead, NASCAR allowed William Byron to race back to the finish line, throwing the caution after he took the checkered flag.

NASCAR stated that with the field bunched and past the incident site — along with no one in immediate need of emergency aid — NASCAR could call for some emergency vehicles to head to the site. Since the incident area was more than a mile from the finish line, drivers would have time to slow before reaching the scene.

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