Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – It was a chilly Wednesday night at the Riot where Damir Kreilach finally found the back of the net with a header in the 75th minute after Brooks Lennon chases down the ball after an RSL corner and plays a cross toward the goal.
The first half of play looked like a close affair with San Jose looking a little better than the home team with the exception of Duels won. The best opportunity for Real Salt Lake was a header from Damir Kreilach in the 35th minute that was only kept out of the goal thanks to Daniel Vegas feet. The match was a scoreless draw at the break.
The second half was a completely different story with Vega having to come up big on several occasions to keep his side in the match. With Damir Kreilach taking 5 shots on goal, 3 of them on target, the Earthquakes defense was kept busy on their end of the pitch. It was in the 75th minute that RSL was able take advantage with one of their only 3 corner kicks on the night was deflected out of the box. Brooks Lennon chased down the ball and crossed it back in where it found Kreilach waiting to put the ball past Vega for the goal and the win.
With tonight’s 3 points the Claret and Cobalt move back into 2nd place in the west with only 5 matches left before the playoffs. RSL is now tied with LAFC for most home wins where they both sit at 11. Daniel Martinez played his first match for RSL after a very successful run with the Monarchs, he was able to occupy the backfield of San Jose very successfully which might explain the number of shots taken by RSL. Jefferson Savarino returned this morning after playing last night in Tampa and after being substituted in for Douglas Martinez played 26 minutes.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
San Jose Earthquakes 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Damir Kreilach – 75′
Misconduct Summary:
SJE – Judson – 28′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Kyle Beckerman – 31′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Brooks Lennon – 60′ – unsporting behavior
SJE – Florian Jungwirth – 90’+2′ – unsporting behavior
SJE – Anibal Gadoy – 90’+4′ – unsporting behavior
Officials
Referee: Joe Dickerson
Assistant Referee: Jeff Hoskings
Assistant Referee: Kevin Klingler
4th Official: Allen Chapman
Video Assistant Referee: Edvin Juresevic
Attendence: 17,196
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Aaron Herrera; Justen Glad; Nedum Onuoha; Donny Toia; Everton Luiz; Kyle Beckerman (Kelyn Rowe, 84′); Brooks Lennon; Joao Plata (Sebastian Saucedo, 64′); Douglas Martinez (Jefferson Savarino, 64′); Damir Kreilach
Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Putna; Marcelo Silva; Erik Holt; Tate Schmitt
San Jose Earthquakes: Daniel Vega; Tommy Thompson; Guram Kashia; Florian Jungwirth; Paul Marie; Anibal Godoy; Judson (Adres Rios, 66′); Cristian Espinosa; Magnus Eriksson; Chris Wondolowski (Danny Hoesen, 66′); Carlos Fierro (Valeri Qazaishvili, 74′)
Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Tarbell; Francois Affolter; Shea Salinas; Eric Cavillo
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake has another quick turn around as they return to action at Minnesota this Sunday, September 15th.