On Saturday, the Beautiful Game turned into the Frigid Game.
Snow is a relatively rare commodity in soccer. It feels like it should feature more prominently in the world’s game, but several rules mitigate its effects: Scandinavian soccer leagues usually follow a spring-to-fall calendar, UEFA tends to prevent Northern European teams from hosting games in the winter, and so on and so forth.
Therefore, soccer fans should savor what took place in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
Real Salt Lake defeated Los Angeles FC 3–0 in snowy conditions that provided a surreal backdrop to the home team’s first win of the season.
In the 18th minute, winger Andrés Gómez—a native of Quibdó, Colombia, where the high Saturday was 92 degrees—opened the scoring with a goal that charmed the bundled-up crowd and viewers around the world.
❄️ SNOW GOAL ALERT ❄️ pic.twitter.com/6vRh5gIxfj
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 2, 2024
Fans were later seen dancing shirtless as Real Salt Lake polished off a shutout victory, with Gómez scoring again shortly before halftime.
guys bein dudes pic.twitter.com/sp1EKNLOdF
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) March 2, 2024
There was also an interesting exchange when a referee had to draw a line in the snow to communicate where Real Salt Lake forward Chico Arango should stand.
referee draws a line in the snow to tell chicho arango to stand 10 yards back.
— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) March 2, 2024
this is football heritage. pic.twitter.com/N2POGDi2G5
With a market for egregiously frigid soccer conditions clearly in place, MLS expansion to Anchorage seems necessary.
