America First Field, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake settled for a draw tonight against a visiting Portland Timbers club. It was the late dynamic play of Rafael Cabral that preserved his clean sheet and kept RSL from falling at home. With two very evenly matched clubs for most of the night Portland had a couple of great chances as they both clubs were charging in the waning minutes of the match. The best scoring chance of the match was a real goal line exhibition from Cabral as he was able to parry away 2 great shots from Portland followed by Sam Junqua saving the match with a denial of a ball headed into the goal.
The first half had a few highlights and there was a couple of chances for both clubs to go ahead but good defending at both ends shut every opportunity down. The best chance for RSL was a shot by Gozo but Portland was able to deflect the ball away before he could get a good touch. The best chance for Portland was stopped before it began and earned Bode Hidalgo a yellow card for a tug on the jersey and an end to the effort.
The second half seemed to have an uptick in energy and there were chances again for both clubs. Early in the half Diego Luna followed up a Portland yellow card with a shot at the goal that bounced off the crossbar. Portland answer back in the 54th minute with Antony taking a shot at Cabral with some pace but the ball sailed wide and turned the ball over. Zavier Gozo gave the home fans a thrill late in the match when he chased the ball down behind most of the Portland squad but they were able to recover enough to shut him down before he could complete his run. The most excitement came in the waning minutes of the match when Portland was able to get behind most of the RSL defenders and it was Rafael Cabral that came up big to stop multiple shots and Sam Junqua to save the draw for RSL by denying a goal right at the line. Just moments after that Cabral deflected another shot to a very relieved crowd.
Tonight the National Anthem was sung by the missionaries from the Salt Lake City East Mission. They stayed to watch the match and seemed to really enjoy the spectacle. We are still waiting to see newcomer Johnny Russell hit the pitch for Real Salt Lake, here’s hoping he can back in playing form quickly and add his abilities to the lineup. RSL continues this tightly packed week when they pay a visit to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park this Saturday, May 17 in another Rocky Mountain Cup match against the Colorado Rapids.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 0 0
Portland Timbers 0 0 0
Scoring Summary
Misconduct Summary
RSL – Bode Hidalgo – 21′ – foul
POR – Cristhian Paredes – 46′ – foul
RSL – Noel Caliskan – 64′ – foul
RSL – Diego Luna – 69′ – foul
Officials
Referee: Drew Fischer
Assistant Referee: Kathryn Nesbitt
Assistant Referee: Ricardo Ocampo
4th Official: Brad Jensen
Video Assistant Referee: Shawn Tehini
AVAR: Tom Supple
Attendance: 19,616
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Rafael Cabral; Bode Hidalgo; Sam Junqua; Noel Caliskan; Alex Katranis; Braian Ojeda (Pablo Ruiz, 78′); Diego Luna; Diogo Goncalves (Jesus Barea, 59′); Emeka Eneli; Zavier Gozo; Ariath Piol (Dominik Marczuk, 59′)
Substitutes Not Used: Tyler Wolff; Lachlan Brook; Mason Stajduhar; Zackery Farnsworth; Johnny Russell; Griffin Dillon
Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni
Portland Timbers: Maxime Crepeau; Kamal Miller; Cladio Bravo; Antony (Jonathan Rodriguez, 61′); Dario Zuperic; Juan Mosquera; David Da Costa (Omir Fernandez, 72′); Cristhian Paredes; Santiago Moreno (Ariel Lassiter, 79′); Joao Ortiz (Diego Chara, 61′); Kevin Kelsy (Felipe Mora, 72′)
Substitutes Not Used: Eric Miller; Finn Surman; David Ayala; Trey Muse
Head Coach: Phil Neville
Tags: Major League Soccer, MLS, Portland, Portland Timbers, Real Salt Lake, RSL, Soccer, Timbers