Logan Erb

Goalkeeper - Real Salt Lake
28 Mar 2032
Sunday
Process

Marked for Logan Erb

279 Edition

The Real Salt Lake Post

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Real Salt Lake

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Real Salt Lake is running low.

Market

Keegan Hughes puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Real Salt Lake, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Logan Erb: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Salt Lake have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Real Salt Lake

Lukas Engel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Real Salt Lake

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Morgan Guilavogui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Kobi Henry gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Morgan Guilavogui gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Morgan Guilavogui is on it.

Market

The Lukas Engel question follows Real Salt Lake around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lukas Engel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

A season on the outside for Néstor Giménez

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Real Salt Lake has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

Back issues
260 Edition

The Real Salt Lake Post

21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Real Salt Lake bid $620.0K for Aleksandr Guboglo

The offer went to CF Montreal this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

Words exchanged at Real Salt Lake

Morgan Guilavogui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Real Salt Lake baulk at the price for Ricardo Pepi

New York City wanted more than $370.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Real Salt Lake rebuffed over Nico Cavallo

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New York City have kept their man, and Real Salt Lake go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at Real Salt Lake

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emeka Eneli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Filip Mirkovic gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Morgan Guilavogui question follows Real Salt Lake around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Morgan Guilavogui’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Filip Mirkovic

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against St. Louis CITY SC in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

When it matters, George Moore plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

254 Edition

The Real Salt Lake Post

9 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Logan Erb is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Logan Erb: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

Real Salt Lake march on in the cup

DC United are out and Real Salt Lake go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Squad

Luke Pruter stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from George Moore at 19 — 7.75

The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. George Moore did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Morgan Guilavogui, 33, rolls back the years — 7.96

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

5 matches without a win for Real Salt Lake

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Real Salt Lake are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Real Salt Lake

Morgan Guilavogui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Owen Presthus beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at Real Salt Lake

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafael Mosquera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

245 Edition

The Real Salt Lake Post

7 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Logan Erb wins the shoot-out

3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.

Boardroom

The interim tag comes off Interim Coach

Real Salt Lake interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Máximo Mendoza

45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Real Salt Lake lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Real Salt Lake march on in the cup

New York Red Bulls are out and Real Salt Lake go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

No end in sight to Real Salt Lake's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Real Salt Lake has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Diego Rocio

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

Colorado Rapids tell Real Salt Lake: Sagir Arce is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words exchanged at Real Salt Lake

Morgan Guilavogui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Real Salt Lake

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafael Mosquera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

242 Edition

The Atlanta United FC Courier

17 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Atlanta United FC

0‑3 against Charlotte Football Club, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

The wait goes on for Atlanta United FC

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Match

The goals have deserted Atlanta United FC

5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Atlanta United FC can tell you which week it ends in.

Transfer targets

Kaio due for a Atlanta United FC medical

Everything agreed with Atlético Mineiro, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Market

Logan Erb moves on

Real Salt Lake pay $1.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Steven Alzate in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlanta United FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Mauricio Amaro falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Transfer targets

New York City tell Atlanta United FC: Seymour Reid is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ethan Hoard

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

242 Edition

The Real Salt Lake Post

17 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Máximo Mendoza out for 66 days

66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Real Salt Lake lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Reid Roberts

Real Salt Lake and Portland Timbers have settled on $1.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Match

Real Salt Lake leaking at the back

7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Match

The wait goes on for Real Salt Lake

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Diego Luna

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Real Salt Lake sign Logan Erb for $1.0M

The paperwork is done: Logan Erb joins from Atlanta United FC in a deal worth $1.0M. Now comes the harder part.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Real Salt Lake walk away from Zakaria Taifi

$680.0K was the most the club would pay and Orlando City were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Squad

A falling-out at Real Salt Lake

Morgan Guilavogui and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Real Salt Lake rebuffed over Ștefan Chirilă

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chicago Fire have kept their man, and Real Salt Lake go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

240 Edition

The Atlanta United FC Courier

3 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Atlanta United FC run out of patience with Interim Coach

The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.

Boardroom

An empty coaching office at Atlanta United FC

There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.

Boardroom

Interim Coach minds the shop at Atlanta United FC

“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.

Market

Logan Erb hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlanta United FC can pretend not to have heard.

Market

FC Cincinnati come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Atlanta United FC did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Atlanta United FC bid $680.0K for Malcolm Fry

The offer went to Real Salt Lake this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

John Nelson in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlanta United FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

13 academy players handed senior numbers at Atlanta United FC

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Atlanta United FC

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

In brief

239 Edition

The Atlanta United FC Courier

24 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

A $3.1M sale, and a town that did not want it

Jake Davis has gone, the accounts have $3.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Market

Business is business: Jake Davis goes

Inter Miami CF paid $3.1M and Atlanta United FC took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Chituru Odunze

Atlanta United FC asked and New York City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A falling-out at Atlanta United FC

Steven Alzate and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

No deal for Lucas Bartlett at that price

Atlanta United FC offered $44.0K; Seattle Sounders said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Words at Atlanta United FC training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Amaro is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market

Logan Erb attracts admirers

The name of Logan Erb has come up in conversations Atlanta United FC were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

The dugout

Ervin Torres gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Junior Alonso story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Junior Alonso signs something — a contract at Atlanta United FC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

200 Edition

The Atlanta United FC Courier

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Joaquín Giudice stands alone

8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Both of them Alex Verón's — 8.21

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

The dugout

Logan Erb: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Atlanta United FC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Atlanta United FC

Paulo Díaz and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Mauricio Amaro falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Alex Verón the difference as Atlanta United FC beat Orlando City

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Verón. 2‑1 against Orlando City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Atlanta United FC lose Logan Erb

15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Player ratings

Mauricio Amaro was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

196 Edition

The Atlanta United FC Courier

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ricardo Sargent

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlanta United FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

A hiding for Atlanta United FC

Beaten 1‑4 by DC United, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Player ratings

Jake Davis was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 13 in, 3 out at Atlanta United FC

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

A falling-out at Atlanta United FC

Steven Alzate and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Mauricio Amaro falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

No hiding place for Paulo Díaz

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulo Díaz, and the manager let it.

Squad

Atlanta United FC count the cost of losing Logan Erb

43 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Atlanta United FC dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Andrew Thomas dropped after a run of poor form
  • Market The Steven Alzate story refuses to die