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Real Salt Lake’s Chicho Arango was named MLS player of the match day after his 21-minute hat trick in his club’s 3-1 win over City SC on Saturday. In the eyes of a lot of people, he never should have had that chance.

In the 63rd minute, seven minutes before Arango scored the first of his three goals, he was fighting for position in the penalty area with City SC’s Tomas Totland. Totland grabbed hold of him, and as they battled in the box, Arango then swung at Totland and hit him. But was he trying to knock Totland’s arm away, or was he trying to hit him? Referee Drew Fischer made no call on the play, and after a lengthy look by the video assistant referee — almost five minutes — Fischer was not called to the monitor to take another look and play resumed.

On the MLS postgame show on Apple TV+, former U.S. international Sacha Kljestan said he thought Arango should have been sent off. Colleague Bradley Wright-Phillips said a red card would have been excessive.

Totland’s stance was not surprising.

“That incident on the corner I think that’s a clear (red) card,� Totland said Tuesday. “And then them checking it for five minutes and not figuring out that, I think that’s pretty crazy. And it’s like, it just shows that that you can start hitting people on the corners, but we’re not the ones that are doing the calls. But of course it’s super frustrating when the player that hits you scores a hat trick when you think he should be sent off. But that’s out of our control.

“When somebody hits you, it should be a red card. But I’m not the one making the calls. I can’t really tell what they’re thinking.�

At the critical moment of the play, when Arango makes contact with Totland, the camera with the best view of the play, inside the goal, is momentarily obscured by City SC goalkeeper Roman Burki and doesn’t provide a clear enough view of the force of the blow. The play ended with Totland on the ground and Arango standing over him, leaning down to say something to him and shove his arm, which is a whole different issue.

“People say that he tried to take my arm away,� Totland said, “but I don’t think I was holding that hard. I think it was a clear harm, like he tried to get me. ... It wasn’t a knockout throw, but it was a clear contact on that. Yeah, that shouldn’t happen.�

That wasn’t the first time Totland and Arango had met up during the game. Real Salt Lake had 11 corner kicks in the game, and Totland was marking Arango on them before he came out in the 68th minute, right before play resumed.

“It felt like it was coming for quite a while,� Totland said. “They had a lot of set pieces, and I was marking him the whole match. And I mean, we were stepping on each other’s toes and holding and pushing and that’s all fine, but as soon as people started hitting each other, that’s when the the refs should come in.�

As for what Arango said when he leaned over to yell at Totland, lying on the field, Totland said he had no idea.

“At that point. I’m just like, ‘What happened?’� he said, “and he was speaking in Spanish to me, which I don’t understand one word of.�

Red card or no, just three minutes after the no-call, RSL started its scoring run, which may have bothered City SC coach Bradley Carnell more.

“Something we cannot impact,� Carnell said, “and that shouldn’t sway our decisions. In training, we give decisions, we don’t give decisions, just to fight through these demons on our shoulders, to quit, to give up, to complain. Just get on with it, next-play mentality.�

Injury update

Joakim Nilsson, who missed Saturday’s game with a broken rib, worked out separately from the team Tuesday, mostly running. Eduard Lowen was not on the field. Both will probably be out Saturday when City SC plays Dallas at CityPark.

“Progressing pretty well,� Carnell said of both. “I think Lowen still needs a couple of days, Joakim needs a couple as well, still aggravated by the rib injury, and we’re still progressing through this week.�

Asked specifically if Lowen could play this week, Carnell said, “I don’t think so. I think it’s a week too soon, but we’ll see how he progresses.�

Big names

Two of City SC’s academy teams have faced some big-name opponents at the Generation adidas Cup in Bradenton, Florida. City SC’s under-15 team faced Manchester United’s U-15 squad and won 1-0 on its way to winning its first-round group. The team will face another English heavyweight, Arsenal, at 11 a.m. Thursday, in a game that will be streamed on Apple TV+ Season Pass. City SC’s U-17 squad faced Flamengo of Brazil in the first round and won 1-0 also, though the U-17s came in last in their group.

“Things that we dreamt about as kids,� said Carnell, “to come up against such opponents and to have this on our doorstep here, to have the academy playing against esteemed opposition like that and to be competing and be winning, it’s pretty amazing, just to show the work everyone’s put in behind the scenes.�