Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT – Real Salt Lake welcomed the Seattle Sounders to the RioT for their home opener and sent them packing without any points in their second straight match. Even with a weather delay that lasted over two hours and snow throughout the delay and the second half RSL would not be denied. It was a strong performance throughout the match and the lone goal from Bobby Wood the home club finished the clean sheet and three points.
For the first time in recent memory Real Salt Lake hit the pitch without either Damir Krielach or Albert Rusnak in the lineup. Rusnak signed with Seattle in the off-season and Damir is out with a an unspecified injury, he was listed as a game time decision on whether or not he would play.
In the 43rd minute of the first half a lightning strike was spotted in the area and the resulting weather delay kept both clubs off the pitch for over 2 hours and when it resumed the final 2 minutes of the half were played before a brief 5 minute break before the second half started.
It only took the Claret and Cobalt 1 minute into the second half to get on the board with a feed from Maikel Chang and then taking his own rebound to beat Stefan Frei. Seattle had a couple chances at the equalizer if it were not for Zac MacMath denying the visitors anything to celebrate.
With tonight’s result RSL moves to 1-0-1 and pushes Seattle to 0-2-0 on the year. Maikel Chang put on a great performance tonight keeping pressure on the Seattle defense and being instrumental in the one goal of the match.
Saturday March 12th RSL travels to Gillette Stadium to take on the New England Revolution
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1
Seattle Sounders 0 0 0
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Bobby Wood – 46′
Misconduct Summary:
SEA – Albert Rusnak – 48′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Scott Caldwell – 70′ – unsporting behavior
SEA – Kelyn Rowe – 73′ – unsporting behavior
RSL – Jasper Loffelsend – 90’+1′ – unsporting behavior
Officials:
Referee: Nima Saghah
Assistant Referee: Nick Uranga
Assistant Referee: Adam Garner
4th Official: Lukasz Szpala
Video Assistant Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: TJ Zabloski
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake: Zac MacMath; Justen Glad; Erik Holt; Marcelo Silva; Andrew Brody; Pablo Ruiz; Justin Meram (Sergio Codova, 70′); Scott Caldwell; Maikel Chang (Jasper Loffelsend, 80′); Tate Schmitt; Bobby Wood (Everton Luiz, 85′)
Substitutes Not Used: Johan Kappelhof; Chris Garcia; Bode Davis; Jonathan Menendez; Tomas Gomez
Seattle Sounders: Stefan Frei; Xavier Arreaga; Jackson Rogen; Abdoulaye Cissoko (Yeimar Gomez, 46′); Joao Paulo (Cristian Roldan, 46′); Albert Rusnak (Obed Vargas, 66′); Alex Roldan (Nounou, 46′); Reed Baker-Whiting; Kelyn Rowe; Leo Chu (Jordan Morris, 59′); Fredy Montero
Substitutes Not Used: Sam Adeniran; Stefan Cleveland; Danny Leyva