Salt Lake City – Nick Rimando sets a new standard for MLS tonight as Real Salt Lake has a stellar night against DC United as they get 3 points on a 3-0 victory. Rimando wasn’t the only one to have a great night as Chris Schuler gets a brace on his two first half goals.
Nick Rimando started the match tied with Kevin Hartman for most shutouts in Major League Soccer and a great team performance, he walked away with sole possession of the record.
Real Salt Lake came out firing on all cylinders tonight. Jeff Cassar was faced with a difficult problem with two of his lineup staples out because of yellow card accumulation with Chris Wingert and Tony Beltran who both received yellow cards last week as the club was matched against the Colorado Rapids. The staffing problem seemed to be well in hand as Chris Schuler and Nat Borchers both stepped up to have a great defensive match.
RSL looked great from the start of the match and set the tone early with a Joao Plata striking first in the 11th minute of play. This goal put Plata into the lead for RSL leading scorer for his first time this season with his 10th goal of the year.
There was no letting up on the pressure as Chris Schuler took a Javier Morales service in for his first goal of the night in the 13th minute of play. This was the first goal of the season for Chris Schuler, but he showed no signs of stopping as he found the net again in the 24th minute.
It was a tremendous team effort as both Carlos Salcedo and Abdoulie Mansally filled in for the suspended players and added to the defensive effort that kept DC United out of the goal.
Quotes for Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On Nick Rimando – “I don’t really know what to say. What an amazing career so far, but there’s so much left for him. It couldn’t happen to a better person. He’s a leader within our team and locker room. He’s a fantastic goalkeeper. It’s an amazing individual award, but as I’m sure Nick [Rimando] said, there’s a lot of people that were involved in it. I think there’s more to come. I think there’s a lot more to come.”
Quotes from DC United ead Coach Ben Olsen
On the Match – “It was an extremely poor first half, obviously. We were just off the pace. They cam in hungrier than we did.
On Nick Rimando – “I want to congratulate Nick Rimando. There nobody better to have the record than him. He’s a dear first and I’m proud of him. He’s been a huge part of the success that Salt Lake has seen over the years.”
Lineups
Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando; Chris Schuler; Nat Borchers; Abdoulie Mansally; Carlos Salcedo; Javier Morales (Luis Gil, 68′); Kyle Beckerman; Ned Grabavoy (Sebastian Velasquez, 88′); Luke Mullholland; Olmes Garcia; Joao Plata (Robbie Findley, 65′)
DC United: Bill Hamid; Chris Korb; Steve Birnbaum; Bobby Boswell; Sean Franklin; Chris Rolfe (Lewis Neal, 69′); Davy Arnaud; Jared Jeffrey; Nick DeLeon (David Estrada, 77′); Luis Silva (Fabian Espindola 49′); Eddie Johnson
Next up for RSL:
Real Salt Lake takes on Club Tijuana on Tuesday the 12th at Rio Tinto Stadium in friendly competition.
Real Salt Lake (10-4-9) welcomes the Seattle Sounders (13-6-2) to Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, August 16th at 3:30 PM.