Coach Mike Petke
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – Kyle Beckerman in an unfamiliar role as comes off the bench to put RSL on top of Houston for the win. It has been a long time since we have seen RSL hit the pitch without perennial captain, Kyle Beckerman, running the midfield, however with Real set for 4 matches in the next two weeks it may have been a good idea to keep him in reserve. Damir Kreilach showed a little more of what we can look forward from him as he showed us a highly mobile and aggressive midfield.
RSL Celebrates Luis Silva goal
Real Salt Lake took charge early in the match, with lots of movement and great control, each time down the pitch just felt like something good was going to happen. In the 34th minute the hard work began to pay off with a great switch from Brooks Lennon that was picked up by Sebastian Saucedo who was able to put it right in front of Luis Silva. Silva’s shot was too much for Willis, even with a hand on the ball Silva found the back of the net to put RSL on top going into the first half.
Houston tried to get things going in the second half with a substitution of Kevin Garcia for Jared Watts. With Watts not seeing MLS minutes since last September and fellow defender Adam Lundqvist seeing his first Major League action, the addition of Garcia was just not enough to keep RSL from pressing the goal all night. Damir Kreilach kept penetrating the weakened Houston defense and his best chances were in the 67th minute when he hit the post on a clear shot at the goal, and then in the 69th minutes, but Willis was on top of it. Houston was able to pull one back in the 75th minute on a header shot from Alberth Elis. Mike Petke then brought in Joao Plata for Jefferson Savarino to add fresh legs along with Corey Baird (67′) and Kyle Beckerman (63′), this
Jefferson Savarino streaks toward the goal
ended up being too much for Houston with Kyle Beckerman finding the ball at his feet after Damir Kreilach chested the ball down, and the rest was history as RSL tops Houston 2-1.
Nick Besler battles with Romell Quinoto
Goals by Period 1 2 FS
Real Salt Lake 1 1 2
Houston Dynamo 0 1 1
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Luis Silva – 34′
HOU – Alberth Elix – 75′
RS:L – Kyle Beckerman – 82′
Misconduct Summary:
HOU – Tomas Martinez – 28′ – unsporting behavior
HOU – Eric Alexander –70′ – unsporting behavior
HOU – Romell Quito – 90’+4” – unsporting behavior
RSL – Marcelo Silva – 90’+7′ – unsporting behavior
Officials
Referee: David Gantar
Assistant Referee: Nick Aranga
Assistant Referee: TJ Zablocki
4th Official: Nima Saghafi
Video Assistant Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
Attendence: 16,613
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake Starting XI
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Justen Glad; Marcelo Silva; Brooks Lennon; Danilo Acosta; Damir Kreilach; Sunny (Kyle Beckerman, 64′); Nick Besler; Sebastia Saucedo; Luis Silva (Corey Baird, 67′); Jefferson Savarino (Joao Plata, 76′)
Substitutes Not Used: David Horst; Aaron Herrera; Pablo Ruiz; Connor Sparrow
Houston Dynamo Starting XI
Houston Dynamo: Joe Willis; DeMarcus Beasley; Jared Watts (Kevin Garcia, HT); Leonardo; Adam Lundqvist; Alverth Elis; Oscar Boniek Garcia; Romell Quioto; Eric Alexander; Tomas Martinez (Luis Gil, 83′); Mauro Manotas (Arturro Alverez, 66′)
Substitutes Not Used: Eric Bird; Chris Seitz; Andrew Wenger; Memo Rodriguez
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake stays home for their second match this week when the Seattle Sounders enter the RioT on Saturday June 2nd and try to get payback for the loss last week at CenturyLink Field.