> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://verdeallday.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Foreign Exchange: Three questions with Wasatch Soccer Sentinel's Matthew Montgomery - URL: https://verdeallday.com/foreign-exchange-three-questions-wasatch-soccer-sentinel-matthew-montgomery-atxvrsl-102826/ - Published: 2026-10-28T22:39:08.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-28T22:39:08.000Z - Description: If Austin FC loses to or draws Real Salt Lake tonight, the dream of playoffs in 2026 is officially over. Learn more about who this version of RSL is; they're different than the team Verde lost to in March. - Author: Phil West - Tags: 2026 season, austin fc, foreign exchange, match preview The equation for Austin FC tonight is simple. Beat Real Salt Lake, and stay in the playoff hunt — with a chance to get within a point of 9th-place LA Galaxy by beating them on Saturday. Do anything else on Wednesday, and officially become eliminated from the 2026 MLS postseason picture. It's as stark as that, and what's more, this is a decidedly different RSL than the team that beat Austin in March in Sandy, Utah. To explore the match up and learn more about our visitors from the mountains, we checked in with Matthew Montgomery of [Wasatch Soccer Sentinel](https://www.wasatch.soccer/?ref=verdeallday.com) to catch up on Austin's midweek opponents. To the questions! ### RSL had a 13-match winless streak but are 3-1-1 in their last five. Despite that working out to being 3-10-5 in their last 18 matches, they could get above the playoff line with a win on Wednesday. What's been the reason for the recent uptick in form? I think it's actually an incredible simple explanation: Better players are playing on the back line. Luc de Fougerolles stepped in at center back and immediately moved the needle, and I don't think it's a coincidence that the three matches he's started for the team, they've not lost. I want a richer explanation for that, and I'm sure there's something, but from my perspective, it all starts there. Now, it's not just that he's playing — I think he brings a significantly improved balance to the three center backs, and he's edged DeAndre Yedlin out of the starting lineup. Yedlin, I'm increasingly convinced, isn't meant to be a center back. I don't think that's particularly controversial. I also don't think it's a coincidence that Kobi Henry has been playing significantly better. ### When these teams last played, Zavier Gozo and Diego Luna were the two most pivotal players for RSL, and now they're both out of the lineup for very different reasons. Have they been able to find players or solutions to make up for Gozo heading overseas and Luna being hurt? Not particularly. Luna's absence hasn't really been dealt with, but I also don't think his goalscoring output in 2026 have demanded that it's been dealt with. It's an odd thing, though, because Luna was near the top of the league in expected assists at one point after his injury. That really does feel like an accurate reflection of Real Salt Lake in 2026: Something's been going well, it's not been reflected properly on the field, and then we just sort of forget about it. And now that the team's been playing well, the inevitable question is if it really mattered in the first place. The team has, of course, signed some players that theoretically could fill that gap. Taylor Booth, the RSL Academy product, has returned stateside — but after a couple bright appearances off the bench, he's been absent, both from the team and the team's official injury report. The team also signed Dusan Zagar, a 17-year-old Serbian winger, to a U-22 deal, though we've yet to see him touch the field. As it has been for a solid six years, roster building in Salt Lake is highly unusual, and signings appear and disappear with some startling frequency. Will those two potential replacements be on the field in 2027? I have no idea. ### There's a very real possibility that this year's Western Conference play-in match could involve Colorado and RSL. How has the Rocky Mountain Rivalry been this season, and how might today's RSL fare against a changed Rapids squad? And how far could they realistically go in the playoffs? I'm very uncomfortable with that idea, mostly because I have some ideas about how it would pan out, and there are few teams I'd rather not lose to than Colorado Rapids. The rivalry has been, at best, muted, and I think that's because we don't have our own house in order. Or didn't? Or maybe we still don't. I don't know if you've seen *You Can See Everything* yet (it's incredible), but the core conflict in the movie for me was uncertainty and the nature of truth. (*Phil's note: I haven't yet. I know I need to. There's too much discourse floating around about it and I'm now living in constant fear of spoilers.*) It's sort of an epistemological movie at its core, which I think you miss if you read it as a raw comedy. That's how I see Real Salt Lake in 2026\. When performances are good, I don't know how to determine what makes them good — how to separate truth from not-truth. When performances are bad, I feel the same way. The core thing at the center, Pablo Mastroeni's coaching and that 'xDawg' mentality, hasn't changed. Or has it? Anyway, I think we bow out at the first opportunity, as has been tradition under Mastroeni (save that first year — that was a fun year, until I went to see that Western Conference Final match in Portland and the team looked like they ate a bug.) *Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. 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