Nick Besler puts one past Knighton
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT –The New England Revolution took on Real Salt Lake for the last regular season match at Rio Tinto Stadium and were sent home with nothing to show for their efforts as the home team scored 4 goals to the lone goal from the Revolution. With the win RSL still controls their own destiny en-route to the playoffs with the Galaxy right on their heels. If the Galaxy do not win both of their upcoming matches against Minnesota and Houston RSL takes the playoff spot. With a Galaxy tie and and RSL loss, RSL still makes it in with the tie-breaker.
Saucedo Celebrates his goal
The home club came out firing right from the start striking in the 4th minute from a shot by Nick Besler past goal-keeper Brad Knighton. Sebastian Saucedo took an assist from Damir Kreilach and turned it into another point in the 14th minute and Corey Baird finished off the first half scoring in the 29th minute when he rolled one past a Knighton who looked like his boots were stuck to the pitch. Nick Rimando showed once again why he is the Wall of the Wasatch with not only a handful of great saves but when Teal Bunbury was fouled in the box in the 35th minute and stepped up with the PK attempt Nick followed the ball perfectly and kept New England off the board.
The second half began with New England making its second substitution of the night with Mark Segbers replacing Scott Caldwell but that wasn’t enough to hold off the RSL attack and Damir Kreilach put away number four for the Claret and Cobalt in the 50th minute. The Revolution didn’t give up and Kelyn Rowe pulled one back for the visitors in the 69th minute the signaled the scoring for the night with Real Salt Lake 4 New England Revolution 1.
Nick denies Bunbury’s PK attempt
Coach Petke made it a point in his post-match interview to call out the Academy and how they were able to mimic perfectly the Revolution play for them and how much it helped them prepare for tonight’s match. With the stellar performance from the lineup he put on the field Coach Petke only had to use one of his substitutions bringing in Pablo Ruiz for Damir Kreilach in the 76th minute. It was also great to see Luke Mulholland in the starting XI tonight after a long recovery from back surgery this last spring. With Rusnak, Plata, Savarino and Glad all able to watch tonight’s match from the bench they should be all ready for the short turn-around before they travel to Portland for the last match of the regular season on Sunday.
Mike Petke and Brad Fiedel before the match
Goals by Period 1 2 F
Real Salt Lake 3 1 4
New England Revolution 0 1 1
Scoring Summary:
RSL – Nick Besler – 4′
RSL – Sebastian Saucedo – 14′
RSL – Corey Baird – 29′
RSL – Damir Krielach – 52′
NE – Kelyn Rowe – 69′
Aaron Herrera with a solid defensive night
Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Brooks Lennon – 35′ – dissent
RSL – Damir Kreilach – 41′ – foul
NE – Diego Fagundez – 60′ – unsporting behavior
Officials:
Referee: Jair Muffuro
Assistant Referee: Jeffery Greeson
Assistant Referee: Adam Garner
4th Official: Nima Saghafi
Video Assistant Referee: Alex Chilowicz
Attendence: 19,536
Lineups:
Real Salt Lake Starting XI
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Marcelo Silva; Aaron Herrera; Brooks Lennon; Nick Besler; Luke Mulholland; Chinedum Onuoha; Damir Kreilach (Pablo Ruiz, 76′); Luis Silva; Sebastian Saucedo; Corey Baird
Substitutes Not Used: Albert Rusnak; Joao Plata; Justen Glad; Danilo Acosta; Andrew Putna; Jefferson Savarino
New England Revolution: Brad Knighton; Jalil Anibaba; Brandon Bye; Kelyn Rowe; Michael Mancienne; Cristian Penila; Diego Fagundez; Scott Caldwell (Mark Sebers, HT); Wilfreid Zahibo (Juan Agudelo, 31′); Luis Caicedo (Brian Wright, 77′); Teal Bunbury
Substitutes Not Used: Matt Turner; Cristhian Machado; Isaac Angking; Guillermo Hauche
Next up for RSL
Real Salt Lake travels to Portland on Sunday October 21st for their last regular season match when they try to secure a position in the 2018 MLS playoffs