Inter Miami Oppo Research: Real Salt Lake

Here's a quick rundown of Inter Miami's opening day opponent, plus a quick transfer roundup.

photo credit: Real Salt Lake

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Hello and welcome to a new series at The Heron’s Nest dubbed, “Oppo Research” where I give you guys a quick rundown of Inter Miami’s upcoming opponents during the 2024 MLS season.

I want to thank Black Herons United member Ukeba Simmons for the idea. It was such an obvious thing to write about, but it never occurred to me to do so until he mentioned it, haha.

In any case, I’m glad to bring you all more coverage of other MLS sides besides Inter Miami.

Without further delay, let’s take a look at Inter Miami’s opening-day rival, Real Salt Lake:

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• Manager: Pablo Mastroeni

• Projected Formation XI vs. Inter Miami: 4-2-3-1

• Incoming Transfers:

  • Matt Crooks, 30, attacking midfielder. Crooks joined RSL from Middlesbrough, where he scored 23 goals through 115 league appearances.

  • Alexandros Katranis, 25, left-back. The former Greek youth international signed with Salt Lake from Polish side Piast Gliwice.

  • Fidel Barajas, 17, winger. Barajas is a stud. Still a teenager, the youngster was named the USL Championship’s Young Player of the Year in 2023.

• Key Players:

  • Diego Luna, 20, winger. The US international is a dynamic presence on RSL’s left-hand side. Racked up 7 goals in 32 league appearances last season.

  • Cristian ‘Chicho’ Arango, 28, forward. Leads the line well for Salt Lake, and will be the one to watch for Miami’s center backs. Lethal in the box, scored eight goals in 18 games after signing for Claret and Cobalt last summer.

• Weaknesses:

According to RSL fans on Reddit, most supporters believe that their back line is most in need of improvements.

“Things of note our offense looks good and as you go back it gets worse with our defense making several errors in preseason,” one fan said of RSL’s preseason troubles.

“The defense is just as concerning as last year,” another supporter added.

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Transfer Roundup:

• Federico Redondo will be an Inter Miami player. Despite misleading social media ‘reports’ that the deal collapsed, both Gaston Edul and Cesar Luis Merlo have come out in the last 14 hours stating that the contract details have been settled. Inter Miami and Argentinos Juniors are finalizing a few things before the youngster dons pink and black.

• Inter Miami has also initiated a trade involving Houston Dynamo right-back Franco Escobar. According to Merlo, Miami has sent an offer, and Escobar is interested in the move. Though nothing is close, I could see this going through.

• Edison Azcona will be leaving Inter Miami on loan to the Las Vegas Lights, according to Tom Bogert. The deal includes an option to buy.

Here’s how this could all look like if the Escobar deal goes through. Not bad, eh?

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How do you think Inter Miami will do against RSL? Let’s discuss it in the comments!