Rapids’ biggest rival Real Salt Lake hire Pablo Mastroeni

Former Colorado skipper joins Head Coach Freddy Juarez as an assistant

The Real Salt Lake soccer club announced today that they have hired former Colorado Rapids player and head coach, Pablo Mastroeni as their newest assistant coach.

Mastroeni, 44, was most recently an assistant coach to Tab Ramos with the Houston Dynamo. According to MLSSoccer.com, RSL will send $50,000 in General Allocation Money to the Dynamo.

In the announcement, Jaurez said, “Pablo is a great fit for us for three main reasons – his experience as a coach, his experience as a player and his reputation as a great person. He has the experience of being a head coach in this league. He understands the demands of this league as a coach and as a player. As a player, he brings a high pedigree as an international player that played in a World Cup. We are a young and developing team and we need people that have been there and seen it. On top of that, he’s a great person and for me that was important.”

After long-time head coach Mike Petke was fired in August 2019, Juarez took over as interim and then was promoted to permanent head coach in December 2019.

John A. Babiak – @Photog_JohnB

“What really resonated with me was the culture that Freddy is building, how he goes about his work and how I’d be utilized,” said Mastroeni, a member of the Colorado Rapids Gallery of Honor. “One of the things that I think is really important is culture. If the environment is great, you increase your odds of having a great campaign and I look forward to contributing to that with the staff at Real Salt Lake.”

Mastroeni will be reunited with former Rapids goalkeeper, Zac McMath, and fellow former Rapids defender Tyrone Marshall, who also is a RSL assistant coach.