Pre-season results can notoriously be misleading.
Often a ground to try and build match fitness and trial prospects for the first team, we’ve all seen teams light it up in pre-season and then struggle mightily once things get serious — the opposite as well. What we can, however, gain from these matches is a bit of insight into any formational and player role changes that the coaching staff have cooked up over the off-season.
While Real Salt Lake didn’t give an all-too inspiring performance in their three matches up at Providence Park, they did at least leave behind some clues as to how they might approach the 2022 campaign.