Diego Luna’s first goal happened fast.
It took the Real Salt Lake winger just two minutes into Saturday night’s game to find the bottom right corner of the net.
Luna’s second goal of the night?
As the 19-year-old danced over the ball in front of a helpless goalie, it felt to him like an eternity.
“I just had a lot of time in my head to finish,” he’d say after RSL’s 3-1 win over New York Red Bulls. “I just picked out a spot and slipped it in.”
That ability is one of the reasons Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni believes the teenage Luna has the chance to do big things before his playing days are over.
“The ceiling is high for Luna,” Mastroeni said. “He’s got a lot of tools that you can’t teach, that are innate in the way his brain works about soccer, the passes he that he makes, the way he sees the game.”
But even in Luna’s rapid rise from lower-division El Paso a year ago to Real Salt Lake starter now, it has taken time to get that mind right.
“There was … a lot of stuff going through my head that was clogging me up,” Luna acknowledged Saturday.
There were disruptions in his schedule as he left RSL each month to train and play with the United States’ U-20 team. There was a pinch on playing time in Salt Lake. There were other things, too.
“There’s all these things, me being young and away from my family — a whole bunch of things that clog up a young kid’s brain,” he said. “I like to think that I’m mature but it always gets to people. That’s something everybody will face in their life and it was my time at the moment.”
And now, in this moment?
“I’m having fun playing and it shows who I really am,” he said. “When I came back [from the U-20 World Cup], I felt free and open to the game.”
Luna now has three goals and three assists in his last six league games, helping Real Salt Lake move up to third in the Western Conference standings heading into the Leagues Cup and a monthlong break from MLS play.
“It was just finding our DNA,” Luna said of RSL finding its form of late. “I think it’s it’s always been there, but … I think we’re getting on the right path. And I think we’re just gonna keep building that and making it stronger because I don’t think we’re, we’re close to where we can be.”
The same could be said of Luna.
The teen said he still feels most comfortable playing as an attacking midfielder but is acclimating to playing on the wing for RSL.
“I’m happy and I’m glad to be out there on the field and contribute to the team,” he said. “I still feel I think more comfortable playing as a 10, and that’s my my natural position. But that’s where you have to adapt. And that’s where you have to grow as a player. And I’ve been asked to play in the left wing and, and I’m starting to enjoy every game more and learn about the position.”
Mastroeni, meanwhile, believes Luna’s willingness to fight through difficult times will set him up for success.
“Never do we talk about some of the most important things about development — and I’m talking about for all of us, whether you’re a player, or you’re a human being,” Mastroeni said. “Going through tough times allows you to evolve in a way that you are a different person than you were before. I think the hardship that Luna went through … put him in a position to dig in a little bit deeper.”
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