Salt Lake City –Joao Plata gave Real Salt Lake the early lead Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium, but they just couldn’t hang on and had to settle for 1 point.
Real Salt Lake started off the match with a high intensity of play, that saw Joao Plata getting past Robles in the 18th minute off of a Chris Wingert pass. There were several good scoring opportunities but RSL just could not capitalize early As the half proceeded, the midfield had trouble controlling their passes and Jamison Olave showed that he has some speed as he closed off several opportunities on his own.
As New York got into their stride in the later portion of the first half they pressured Nick Rimando and had several opportunities of their own. The most notable came in the 36th minute when Nick came off his line and Ambroise Oyongo had a clear shot at the net if he could get past Nat Borchers. Borchers was able to break up the play enough that Oyongo missed to the left and at put the ball in the side of the net.
In the 57th minute Thierry Henry took advantage of a breakdown in the RSL back line when Tim Cahill sent in the ball and he made it look easy as he fired past Rimando to tie the score at 1-1.
The entire club had a good night on the pitch, with the exception of late in the first half. The intensity was kept up for most of the second half, and it is important to note that with none of our players on yellow card accumulation warning receiving a card, Jeff Cassar should have a full bag of tricks to pull from on Saturday against the Rapids..
Nick Rimando will have to wait until at least August 2nd to tie Kevin Hartman’s clean sheet record.
Quotes for Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On the Match – “I’m pleased with the performance, I’m not pleased with 1 point.”
Quotes from New York Red Bulls Head Coach Mike Petke
On the Match – “We haven’t won here since 2008, and I think the guys did enough to win tonight, but we’ll take a point.”
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Chris Schuler; Nat Borchers; Tony Beltran; Chris Wingert; Javier Morales:; Kyle Beckerman; Ned Grabavoy; Luke Mullholland (Luis Gil, 67′); Olmes Garcia (Robbie Findley, 82′); Joao Plata
New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles; Chris Duvall; Jamison Olave; Ibrahim Sekagyu; Roy Miller; Eric Alexander (Ruben Bover Izquirdo, 79′); Tim Cahill; Dax McCarty; Ambroise Oyongo; Bradley Wright-Phillips; Thierry Henry (Peguy Luyindula, 90′)
Next up for RSL:
Real Salt Lake (8-4-9) travels to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to take on the Colorado Rapids (8-7-6) on August 2nd.