Ilijah Paul isn’t your usual homegrown. Technically, he’s not a Homegrown, at all.

Sure, the Real Salt Lake rookie left his home to play for the RSL Academy at age 16. But Paul, who also played for Valparaiso United, Barca Academy and Phoenix Academy in Arizona, never spent 12 consecutive months with the academy now based in Herriman before his 18th birthday.

So the 6-foot, 185-pound center forward from Gilbert, Arizona opted for college soccer, first at San Francisco and then at Washington. A year after scoring 11 goals with four assists in 19 games, including 15 starts for the 15-2-3 Huskies, the sophomore entered his name in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft and signed a Generation adidas contract.

That contract took him right back to where it all began when the 2022 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year was selected by RSL with the No. 7 overall pick after a draft-day trade with Atlanta United that included $175,000 in 2023 General Allocation Money (GAM).

And just like that, Paul was playing for Real Salt Lake — again.

“I left too early for the homegrown rights, went all over, and then went to college and now I’m really excited to be back,” Paul said. “I know the whole area, and some of the players on the team.

“I was really excited when they called my name.”

Listen to the full conversation on the Salt City FC podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you download podcasts.

Sean is back with Season 5 (is that the right number? Well, it is now!) of Salt City FC, as Real Salt Lake embarks on the 2023 MLS preseason. The hosts talk to RSL manager Pablo Mastroeni to discuss the first day of preseason training camp, the philosophy and culture of a team building through homegrowns and the SuperDraft, and why fate played as big of a role in the signing of breakout midfielder Jasper Loffelsend before the 2022 regular season.

Listen to the full show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor.fm, or where ever else you listen to podcasts. 

Ellie Walbruch, who helped UCLA win a Women's College Cup national championship last year, joins the show to talk about her decision to transfer home and play for BYU women's soccer, her relationship with longtime head coach Jennifer Rockwood, and the Cougars' first season in the Big 12 Conference. 

Theme song, "Rocking Royal" by Kody Epps, Malik Moore and Carter Wheat, c/o Coug Connect on Apple Music.

After 18 years on the air, Real Salt Lake's local broadcast for over-the-air television and streaming in Utah has gone dark as Major League Soccer shifts all local television and streaming rights to Apple in a new, 10-year deal beginning in 2023. 

That means the end of an era for play-by-play voice David "DJ" James and revered color analyst Brian "Dunny" Dunseth. The two established broadcasters signed off for the final time on KMYU last Sunday, and Salt City FC was there to catch up with them, to react with them, and to reflect on the end of an era in Salt Lake City. 

Listen to the full show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor.fm, or where ever else you listen to podcasts. 

It’s been quite the weekend for Real Salt Lake supporters, who saw their first team give up a late lead with a 75th-minute equalizer to Toronto FC in a disappointing 2-2 draw in front of a sold-out Rio Tinto Stadium. It’s the third-straight match without a win for RSL, which exploded out of the gates.

But is the magic running out on a team that currently sits tied for second in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference?

Elsewhere, in RSL Land, the U-15s are on fire, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Generation adidas Cup in Dallas with a 1-0 win Tuesday night over Austin FC. Tony Ramirez scored the only goal of the match early, an easy finish from Zavier Gozo in the eighth minute, and Ty Rinker earned the shutout in goal for RSL.

”It was a nervous and difficult game,” RSL director of coaching Arnold Rijsenburg said. “I think [Austin FC] was the first opponent we played against who was physically stronger than we were. I think the lack of experience of [the U15s] made them nervous. They didn’t play the game we expected them to play, but they got the result. I think this was an important experience for them, and let's go to the next game.”

As always, Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or where ever else you engage audibly. And don't forget to subscribe on Substack, where you can have Salt City FC delivered directly to your email inbox on a regular basis.

Real Monarchs took a 2-2 draw from Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 in the club's first home match in MLS NEXT Pro player, Saturday, April 2, 2022 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah. 

But the Whitecaps took the extra point in the form of a 3-1 win in the ensuing penalty shootout, an interesting quirk in the new league's rules and regulations. The Monarchs improved to 0-1-1 in league play, and will next face Minnesota United FC 2 on Friday at Zions Bank Stadium. 

After playing his first 45 minutes at center back for Real Salt Lake in a 1-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City, 17-year-old RSL Academy product Jaziel Orozco sat down with the media to discuss the move, his first minutes, and how his family — including former Mexican footballer and father Alberto Orozco — reacted to his first-team debut. 

Listen to the entire interview here, and read about Orozco's path to RSL in Own Goals, the official newsletter of the Salt City FC podcast.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or where ever else you engage audibly. And don't forget to subscribe on Substack, where you can have Salt City FC delivered directly to your email inbox on a regular basis.

Sean and "The Coach" Mark Davis are back with the only Utah soccer podcast with a national championship ring to break down Real Salt Lake's 1-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City, the first loss of the season during a remarkably fast start.

Johnny Russell got the goal, but more concerning are the injury issues plaguing Salt Lake. Also, Jaziel Orozco debuted for RSL at 17 years old — and the we can already tell the Mexican-American dual national has a bright future ahead of him. Can he step up if he is one of just two center backs available for head coach Pablo Mastroeni against rival Colorado on Saturday? 

There are a lot of injuries plaguing this RSL squad, and recovery times may keep several of them out for an extended period. Mastroeni told ESPN 700 that Justen Glad is still 3-4 weeks away, Bobby Wood is still up to four weeks away, and Aaron Herrera hasn't even started to train with the team in his comeback. Johan Kappelhol will miss 3-4 weeks with an injury suffered during pregame warmups at Kansas City, and Erik Holt — who was subbed at the half with plantar fasciitis to make way for Orozco, could miss 3-6 months for the Claret and Cobalt. 

If you've got a spare center back, off one up to RSL right now. 

Elsewhere in the soccer world, the United States all-but clinched qualification for November's World Cup in Qatar with a dominant 5-1 win over Panama in Orlando. Christian Pulisic had a hat trick, and The Coach almost had a struck because he was so happy.

All the Americans have to do is not lose to Costa Rica 6-0, and they are through to Qatar. Even if they do lose by a big margin, they'll likely face New Zealand (or the Oceania qualifier) in a playoff spot to go to the World Cup. Easy enough, right? 

As always, Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or where ever else you engage audibly. And don't forget to subscribe on Substack, where you can have Salt City FC delivered directly to your email inbox on a regular basis. 

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is BACK on television and streaming everywhere, and that means the oldest inter-league tournament in North American soccer starts this week. 

Among the early participants is Park City Red Wolves SC, the fourth-division debutant that qualified for the first round of the tournament by virtue of winning the Mountain division title in USL League Two last year. Led by second-year manager and academy director Scott Mackenzie, the Red Wolves will open the Open Cup at 8:30 p.m. MDT Wednesday night in Las Vegas against Eric Wynalda and the NPSL side Las Vegas Legends FC. 

The match will stream on ESPN+. 

Before the match, Mackenzie sat down with Salt City FC to discuss his new club, the Red Wolves' academy system, and what participating in the country's oldest inter-league national tournament means for an amateur club in Park City. 

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or where ever else you engage audibly. And don't forget to subscribe on Substack, where you can have Salt City FC delivered directly to your email inbox on a regular basis.

Sean and "The Coach" Mark Davis sit down to look back on Real Salt Lake's 2-1 win over Nashville SC, a second game-winning goal by Tate Schmitt, and RSL's unbeaten start to the season that has a lot of fans dreaming — maybe way too early — of MLS Cup glory. 

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or where ever else you engage audibly. And don't forget to subscribe on Substack, where you can have Salt City FC delivered directly to your email inbox on a regular basis.