Brooks Lennon beats Alejandro Romero Gamarra for the header
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake put the demons from last weeks disaster against LAFC behind them with a win over the New York Red Bulls at Rio Tinto Stadium tonight. The snow that had been falling all day in Salt Lake City, it let up just before the starting whistle, but picked up again after the half. It was in the 4th minute of play that RSL was able to get on the board, when David Horst was fouled in the box by Carlos Rivas, after video review, Albert Rusnak went head on and beat Luis Robles on his PK attempt. Although the Red Bulls dominated most of the stats, Real held on to get their first 3 points of the season beating the Red Bulls 1-0.
The Claret and Cobalt had some interesting lineup changes this week as Luis Silva suffered a minor injury in practice yesterday as well as Shawn Barry who has played well on defense. Mike Petke decided to start Alfredo Urtuno for Silva and move Brooks Lennon to Right Back.
The Red Bulls pushed hard all night, even with their midweek CCL match this week along with lineup changes, they were dominant in most of the stats. The visitors just couldn’t find a way to get to the goal with most of their efforts and when they did Nick Rimando does what he is know for and slammed the door shut.
Albert Rusnak shows his skill
This early in the season RSL doesn’t really have their backs against the wall, even though it might have felt like it after last week. The new additions to the club have played well, and the team seems to have the same focus and determination that they had at the end of 2017. Corey Baird came on in the 66th minute and showed some great maturity with his decision making throughout the match. Overall, it wasn’t the best looking play we have seen from the home club, but it if this is any indication of what we can look forward to, it is going to be an exiting year.
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 1 0 1
New York Red Bulls 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Albert Rusnak – 4′
Kreilach bests Bezecourt
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Damir Kreilach– 37′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Brooks Lennon – 43′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Demar Phillips – 59′ – time wasting
RSL – Corey Baird – 88′ – dissent
Officials
Referee: Ted Unkel
Assistant Referee: Eduardo Mariscal
Assistant Referee: Michael Kampmeinert
4th Official: Fotis Bazokos
Video Assistant Referee: Drew Fischer
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Sebastian Saucedo (Corey Baird, 66′); David Horst; Demar Phillips; Justen Glad; Brooks Lennon; Jefferson Savarino (Luke Mulholland, 90’+4′); Damir Kreilach; Kyle Beckerman; Albert Rusnak; Alfredo Ortuno (Sunny, 79′)
Substitutes Not Used: Luis Silva; Adam Henley; Alex Horwath; Danilo Acosta
New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles; Fidel Escobar (Derrick Etienne, 79′); Tim Parker; Kyle Duncan; Connor Lade; Aaron Long; Mark Rzatkowski (Daniel Royer, 62′); Vincent Vezecourt; Alejandro Romero Gamarra; Tyler Adams; Carlos Rivas (Bradley Wright-Phillips, 72′)
Substitutes Not Used: Aurelian Collin; Ryan Meara; Alex Muyl; Michael Murillo
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake travels to Canada to take on Toronto FC on March 31st.