America First Field, Sandy, UT – Diego Luna was able to shine tonight with his first brace with Real Salt Lake as he lifted his club over the New York Red Bulls. The presence of Chicho demanded extra attention from the Red Bulls and it freed up Luna to score the fastest goal almost four months added another in the second half and with Frankie Amaya and Jefferson Savarino trading goals late in the match the home club came out on top.
With the early goal from Luna and multiple chances to add to the lead the Claret and Cobalt dominated the first half of play. Chicho took a beating from New York and although he couldn’t notch a goal, his presence was felt until he left the match in the 75′ minute.
RSL kept the press on when they returned from the locker room and Diego Luna recorded his brace in the 53rd minute to increase the lead over RBNY. After the goal things definitely calmed down and this allowed the Red Bulls to build up some momentum. The shift culminated with a goal from substitute Frankie Amaya in the 80th minute but Jefferson Savarino was not going to be denied and the next minute he gave his club back the 2 goal lead. A bizarre string of yellow cards followed and then 5 minutes of stoppage time before RSL was able to put their second home win in a row on the board.
Diego Luna is the youngest RSL player to score multiple goals in a match. Real Salt Lake continues with their home stand when they welcome the Seattle Sounders to America First Field next Saturday, July 22nd.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 2 3
New York Red Bulls 0 1 1
Scoring Summary
RSL – Diego Luna – 2′
RSL – Diego Luna – 53′
RBNY – Frankie Amaya – 80′
RSL – Jefferson Savarino – 81′
Misconduct Summary
RBNY – John Tolkin – 55′ – foul
RSL – Andrew Brody – 83′ – foul
RSL – Brayan Vera – 84′ – foul
RSL – Anderson Julio – 90′ – foul
Officials
Referee: Alexis Da Silva
Assistant Referee: Kyle Atkins
Assistant Referee: Cameron Blanchard
4th Official: Rosendo Mendoza
Video Assistant Referee: Kevin Stott
AVAR : Rene Parra
Attendence: 20,556
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Zac MacMath; Andrew Brody; Brayan Vera; Justen Glad; Bode Hidalgo; Braian Ojeda; Pablo Ruiz (Nelson Palacio, 75′); Jefferson Savarino (Andres Gomez, 86′); Diego Luna (Brian Oviedo, 75′); Chicho (Damir Kreilach, 75′); Danny Musovski (Anderson Julio, 65′)
Substitutes Not Used: Emeka Eneli; Jasper Loffelsend; Marcelo Silva; Gavin Beavers
Head Coach: Pablo Mastoeni
New York Red Bulls: Carlos Corenel; Andres Reyes; Sean Nealis; John Tolkin; Peter Stroud; Cameron Harper; Wikelman Carmona (Kyle Duncan, 46′); Omir Fernandez (Luquinhas, 46′); Daniel Edelman (Frankie Amaya, 56′); Cory Burke (Tom Barlow, 46′); Dantge Vanzelr (Elias Manoel, 74′)
Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Meara; Ronald Donkor; Hassas Ndam
Head Coach: Troy Lesesne